Louisiana PE and architect license renewal: what firms need to track

Last checked Sep 28, 2026. Not yet confirmed with the Louisiana boards. Confirm anything you act on with the board. Not legal advice.

If your firm has engineers or architects licensed in Louisiana, you track three kinds of dates: each person’s license expiration, the end of each person’s CE period, and the firm’s own registration. Engineers answer to the Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board (LAPELS). Architects answer to the Louisiana State Board of Architectural Examiners. Worth knowing up front: an A/E firm keeps two firm registrations.

PE license renewal in Louisiana

Individual and firm licenses renew every two years on the date shown on the renewal form and board records (for example, a September 30 group), with a 120-day late window.

The board: Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board (LAPELS). Look up each engineer’s current expiration date on the board’s license lookup rather than trusting the date on an old spreadsheet.

License numbers: Digits, sometimes zero-padded; "PE-12345". This is how SealBench reads the numbers on an imported roster; it isn’t a board rule.

PE continuing education (PDH)

• Hours: 30 PDH every two years. Hours are owed per calendar year (15 PDH each January to December), not per license period. Licenses renew biennially on the individual expiration date on the renewal form, and compliance is verified at the end of each biennial renewal period. 24 months and 30 PDH are the two-year equivalent; the window does not line up with the license expiry.
• Ethics: At least 1 PDH in professional ethics in each calendar year (2 over a two-year renewal).
• Also required: Only for PEs who design buildings or building systems, or review or approve such plans, in Louisiana during the calendar year: at least 4 PDH per calendar year (8 over two years) in Life Safety Code, building codes and/or ADA Accessibility Guidelines.
• Limits on some activities: teaching (at most 30), papers and publications (at most 16) and committee and task-force service (at most 10) hours.
• Carryover: Up to 7 PDH above the annual requirement may carry into the next calendar year. Carried hours may include ethics and building-code hours.
• New licensees: Partial, not a full exemption. New licensees are exempt only for the calendar year in which they are licensed. They owe 15 PDH (including 1 ethics) for each later calendar year, including the rest of their first license period.
• Records: Keep certificates or other proof and the board activity log for at least six consecutive calendar years.
• Reporting: Licensee certifies CPD compliance on the biennial renewal form. The board may ask for proof at any time and randomly audits up to 30% of licensees renewing in a calendar year, twice a year. A license is not renewed until an audited licensee proves compliance.

Architect license renewal and CE in Louisiana

The architect rules on this page come from our rule tables and haven’t been checked against the architecture board’s rules yet. Check with the board before you rely on them.

Individual: annual, expires December 31. Firms: Certificate of Authority renews annually by June 30. The board: Louisiana State Board of Architectural Examiners; each architect’s date is on the license lookup.

• Hours: 12 hours every year, all in health, safety and welfare (HSW) topics. Calendar year January 1 - December 31
• Carryover: Excess hours may not be credited to a future calendar year (LAC 46:I.1315.D.3).
• New licensees: Newly registered architects are exempt during their initial year of registration (LAC 46:I.1315.B.1).
• Records: Rule conflicts with itself: 1315.G.2 says keep evidence two years after the renewal period; 1315.G.5 says keep documentation six years from the date of award. Use six years.
• Units: An AIA learning unit (LU) is one hour.

Firm registration (COA) and qualifier rules

Engineering firms

A firm offering engineering in Louisiana needs a firm credential from the board: Firm license (engineering firm licensure). A firm must be licensed with the board before it offers engineering in Louisiana, and must apply within 30 days of getting its Secretary of State certificate. A sole proprietorship that is not a legal entity and carries the owner PE's full name is exempt. The firm must name one or more supervising professionals who are Louisiana PEs in active status and either work for the firm as primary employment (12-month average of at least 30 hours a week) or own at least 25 percent of it. No deadline in days to replace a supervising professional was found (not yet confirmed).

Architecture firms

A firm offering architecture needs a firm credential: Certificate of Authority. Firms need a Certificate of Authority from the board. Three kinds: professional architectural corporation (PAC, under R.S. 12:1086 et seq.), architectural-engineering corporation (AEC, under R.S. 12:1171 et seq.) and architectural firm (any other entity, LAC 46:I.1705). AECs and architectural firms must name one or more supervising professional architects who are Louisiana-licensed, full-time active employees whose primary occupation is with that firm. If a firm's only supervising architect leaves, its authority is suspended until another is named. A sole proprietor practicing under his or her own registered name needs no certificate; one using another name does. Organizational changes must be reported to the board; no day count is stated.

Ownership: PAC: per the board's licensing page, a majority of shares must be held by Louisiana-licensed architects and a majority of directors must be licensed architects (R.S. 12:1086 et seq.; statute text not read directly). AEC and general architectural firms: no ownership percentage in the board rules; a designated supervising architect is required.

Architect in charge: One or more designated supervising professional architects: Louisiana-licensed natural persons, full-time active employees, primary occupation with the firm, who perform or directly supervise all architectural services and answer to the board for the firm (LAC 46:I.1703.D, 1705.G-J).

Firm renewal: Annual, on or before June 30 (LAC 46:I.1701.G, 1703.G, 1705.R).

Firms that offer both

Separate boards. An architectural-engineering corporation needs a Certificate of Authority from the architects board (LAC 46:I.1703) naming a supervising architect; the board page says AECs designate supervising architects and engineers. Engineering-board firm licensure (LAPELS) is presumably also needed but was not checked.

Who can seal drawings in Louisiana

Louisiana issues a PE license without limiting it by discipline; engineers seal only work within their competence, which your firm judges. Louisiana lists each PE in one or more NCEES disciplines, which can include structural, but practicing in another discipline is allowed if the engineer is qualified; no separate SE license (not yet confirmed).

On architectural sheets, our data says an engineer may seal architectural work only in limited cases. LAC 46:I.1307 lets PEs do architecture only as necessarily incidental to engineering. Since July 1, 2025 (Acts 2024, No. 104), R.S. 37:155(A)(2) exempts civil engineers only for Factory/Industrial and Storage (any load) and High Hazard and Utility/Misc (under 300 occupants), and never for Mercantile, Residential, Educational, Institutional, Assembly or Business. Anyone may design single-family homes, personal-use buildings, certain alterations, and new buildings/additions under the gross-floor-area limits in R.S. 37:155(A)(4)(f).

Before a set goes out, every sheet has to pass four checks: a Louisiana license, the right discipline, a license still active on the issue date, and the firm’s registration. Compare Louisiana with other states on who can seal drawings, by state.

Common mistakes

• Treating an engineer’s license as the firm’s. A licensed PE can’t make up for a missing firm license (engineering firm licensure). In Louisiana the firm needs its own before it offers engineering, and the four sheet checks fail without it.
• Registering an A/E firm with only one board. Louisiana regulates engineering and architecture firms separately, so a firm that offers both keeps two registrations and two renewal dates.
• Losing the firm’s qualifying engineer without noticing. If the person the firm’s registration depends on leaves, the registration can be at risk. Our data doesn’t record a replacement deadline for Louisiana, so ask the board. See what to do the day someone gives notice.
• Assuming every engineer renews on the same date. Louisiana doesn’t use one statewide date for everyone. Individual and firm licenses renew every two years on the date shown on the renewal form and board records (for example, a September 30 group), with a 120-day late window. Read each person’s date from the board’s lookup.
• Having enough hours but not the required topic. A Louisiana PE needs at least 2 hours in ethics. Extra general hours don’t make up for a missing topic.

Where to file

SealBench never files anything with a board for you. Renewals, CE reports and firm registrations go to the board directly:

• Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board (LAPELS) (engineers and engineering firms)
• Louisiana engineer license lookup
• Louisiana State Board of Architectural Examiners (architects and architecture firms)
• Louisiana architect license lookup

How SealBench helps

SealBench keeps every PE and architect license and every firm registration on your roster in one list, soonest expiration first. Reminders at 90, 60 and 30 days before each date are coming soon. It counts each person’s CE hours and required topics against Louisiana’s rules, and Set Check shows who can seal each sheet in a Louisiana permit set, and why anyone can’t. One license is free to track; see pricing.