Dive Brief:

• Starting Jan. 1, anyone seeking a new license as an architect, or to renew their existing license, in Texas will have to submit a set of fingerprints to the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners so it can run a criminal background check
• The requirement puts architects in the same boat as doctors, nurses, lawyers, anyone whose job is regulated by the Texas Racing Commission and speech pathologists, among others.
• The Texas Society of Architects said the motivation was legislators' thinking that anyone who had access to people's homes, money or children or who had access to drugs or explosives should be fingerprinted if they wanted to get a state license, and architects went into the mix.

Dive Insight:

The new law will put Texas out on the edge of licensing with Massachusetts, which is the only other state that requires criminal background checks for architects. That is a pairing many would find improbable indeed. Architects in the state saw where the legislature was going with licensing and how much momentum it had and decided fighting the law would be a waste of energy.