Where a Louisiana journeyman HVAC technician license transfers

How local licensing works. The Contractors Licensing Law (La. R.S. 37:2150.1 et seq.) regulates contractors: a mechanical contractor is anyone who contracts for air conditioning, refrigeration, heating, plumbing, ventilation, boiler or piping work valued at $10,000 or more, and the LSLBC licenses the business through a designated qualifying party. Individual mechanics and technicians are licensed, where at all, by parish or city ordinance, and R.S. 37:2156.1(I) preempts local examination or certification of the employees of a statewide-licensed mechanical contractor when they work for that contractor.

New Orleans. The Department of Safety and Permits issues a Class 'B' Journeyman Mechanical Contractor License covering mechanics (air conditioning and refrigeration) and gasfitters. A mechanic applicant must be 18 or older and submit a passing ICC Official Results Report for exam G31 National Journeyman Mechanical (unofficial stamped reports are not accepted), a driver's license or state ID, a passport-style photo taken within the last 3 to 6 months, the mechanical license application and a signed Journeyman Acknowledgement. The license costs $55 per year, expires on the holder's birthday (delinquent fee $5 per month; a license delinquent more than two years requires retesting with ICC), and the journeyman must be employed by and work under the supervision of a Class 'A' Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor. The city page states no experience-hour requirement and no reciprocity for other jurisdictions' licenses; an out-of-state journeyman who has already passed the ICC G31 exam can apply on that score.

Jefferson Parish. The Department of Inspection and Code Enforcement requires that installation or replacement of air conditioning and heating equipment, including any condenser, be filed by a Jefferson Parish licensed mechanical contractor; the parish issues a $200 trade contractor license to a license holder/qualifying party whose checklist includes the state license. No separate journeyman mechanic card or reciprocity rule was found on the parish site.

Shreveport. The city requires every HVAC contractor performing work in the city to hold a city contractor's registration and the state license for work over $10,000, and refers HVAC journeyman and master testing to the International Code Council or the LSLBC.

Baton Rouge and Lafayette. No official page describing a journeyman mechanic license or exam was located for the City of Baton Rouge/East Baton Rouge Parish or Lafayette Consolidated Government; their permit pages cover permitting and inspection only. Applicants should contact the local building official.

Out-of-state holders. No parish or city page reviewed publishes reciprocity or endorsement for journeyman HVAC licenses from other states. The LSLBC's reciprocity (trade-exam waiver for anyone who passed another state's exam) applies only to its contractor license.