EXEMPTIONS.

The following activities do not require a license under this chapter:

(1) geoscientific work performed by an employee or a subordinate of a license holder under this chapter if the work does not include the responsible charge of geoscientific work and is performed under the direct supervision of a licensed geoscientist who is responsible for the work;

(2) geoscientific work performed by an officer or employee of the United States practicing solely as such an officer or employee;

(3) geoscientific work performed exclusively in exploring for and developing oil, gas, or other energy resources, base metals, or precious or nonprecious minerals, including sand, gravel, or aggregate, if the work is done in and for the benefit of private industry;

(4) geoscientific research conducted through an academic institution, local, state, or federal governmental agency, nonprofit research institution, or for-profit organization, including submission of a report on the research to a public agency, unless the work is covered by Section 1002.251(c);

(5) teaching geoscience or a related physical or natural science;

(6) work customarily performed by a cartographer, technician, or physical or natural scientist, including a geologist, geophysicist, soil scientist, chemist, archaeologist, geographer, or oceanographer, if the work does not include the public practice of geoscience;

(7) work performed by an archaeologist, geoscientist, or other person conducting a stratigraphic or historical geological investigation for archaeological purposes;

(8) testifying or preparing and presenting an exhibit or document for the sole purpose of being placed in evidence before an administrative or judicial tribunal or hearing if the testimony, exhibit, or document does not imply that the person is licensed under this chapter;

(9) the evaluation by a state agency, as defined by Section 2001.003, Government Code, or by a hearing examiner of an exhibit or document offered or placed in evidence before an administrative tribunal; or

(10) the determination of the suitability of a site for a specific on-site sewage disposal system by a person who has successfully completed site evaluation training approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and is:

(A) registered by the commission as:

(i) an installer, if the commission recognizes only one level of installer; or

(ii) the highest level of installer recognized by the commission, if the commission recognizes more than one level of installer;

(B) a designated representative; or

(C) a registered professional sanitarian.