California to District of Columbia: master electrician license reciprocity

The District of Columbia issues a person-held Master Electrician license through the Board of Industrial Trades in the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (DLCP). It is the District's highest individual electrician credential; the Board also issues a Master Electrician Limited (low voltage) specialty license with journeyman-level qualifications, and a separate Electrical Contractor business license that requires an electrical bond. Under D.C. Code § 47-2853.92(c) a master applicant must meet the journeyman requirements (a DC Electrical Code class within 2 years and 8,000 apprentice hours over 4 years or equivalent) and in addition have worked as a journeyman electrician for at least 4 years, then pass the PSI-administered master exam. Fees are a $65 application fee and a $120 license fee for a 2-year term ($155 on renewal). Maryland and Virginia master electricians licensed by examination are licensed by reciprocity without the DC exam under a program the Board opened on February 8, 2021.

California does not issue a master electrician license or any personal electrician credential above the DIR General Electrician certification. The state-level credential above that is a C-10 Electrical Contractor license from the Contractors State License Board (CSLB), which is issued to a business (sole owner, partnership, corporation or LLC) and qualified by a named individual rather than held by the electrician personally, so an out-of-state master electrician has nothing to transfer to unless they intend to contract. A master electrician who only wants to work for an employer needs the DIR electrician certification described at the journeyman level. To contract independently the qualifying individual must document at least four years of journeyman-level or higher experience within the past 10 years, pay the $450 application fee, pass both the CSLB Law and Business exam and the C-10 trade exam through PSI within 18 months, be fingerprinted, post a $25,000 contractor's bond (plus a $25,000 bond of qualifying individual where applicable), carry workers' compensation or file an exemption, and pay the initial license fee of $200 (sole owner) or $350 (non-sole owner) for a two-year license. CSLB's reciprocity program covers contractors licensed for the previous five years in good standing in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada or North Carolina, but only classifications on the Reciprocal Classifications List: for electrical work the only mapped classifications are Arizona C-11, K-11 and L-11 Electrical, which map to California C-10; Nevada's C-2 Electrical is not mapped (only Nevada C-2d Low Voltage maps to C-7), and the Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina entries cover only general building. Where reciprocity is granted CSLB may waive the C-10 trade exam but retains the right to require it, staff determine comparability case by case, and the Law and Business exam, bond, fingerprinting and all other licensure requirements still apply. A DIR electrician certification is not required for a licensed contractor's own work, only for electricians employed by C-10 contractors.