THE SENATE
S.B. NO.
1506
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to professional land surveyors.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Act 207, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007, authorized the establishment of design claims conciliation panels to protect design professionals against frivolous lawsuits. Under chapter 672B, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the definition of design professional includes a professional engineer, architect, surveyor, or landscape architect licensed under chapter 464, Hawaii Revised Statutes (chapter 464).
The legislature further finds that under chapter 464, the professional services provided by architects and professional engineers involve the safeguarding of life, health, or property. However, under chapter 464, the professional service provided by a land surveyor does not. Rather, land surveyors are those who practice land surveying, which is defined in part as involving "the application of specialized knowledge of the principles of mathematics, the physical and applied sciences, and the act of measuring, locating, establishing, or reestablishing lines, angles, elevations, [and] natural and manmade features on the surface and immediate subsurface of the earth . . . for the purpose of determining . . . [the] legal or geodetic location or relocation, or orientation of improved or unimproved real property . . .".
The purpose of this Act is to establish a statute of repose for professional land surveyors by prohibiting the commencement of a civil action if ten years has elapsed since the latter of the completion of a contract or final payment for land surveying work.
SECTION 2. Chapter 464, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"[Underlined: §464- ] [Underlined: Professional land surveyors; contract; statute of repose.] [Underlined: No civil action shall be commenced against a professional land surveyor if ten years has elapsed since the latter of the date of completion of a contract or final payment for professional land surveying work.]"
SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2025.
INTRODUCED BY:
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Report Title:
Professional Land Surveyors; Statute of Repose
Description:
Establishes a statute of repose prohibiting the commencement of a civil action against a professional land surveyor if ten years has elapsed since the latter of the date of completion of a contract or final payment for land surveying work.
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