Louisiana to Oklahoma: journeyman HVAC technician license reciprocity

Oklahoma issues statewide mechanical journeyman licenses through the Construction Industries Board (CIB) under the Mechanical Licensing Act. The HVAC/R Unlimited category has no size limit; HVAC/R Limited covers cooling up to 25 tons and heating up to 500,000 Btu/h per appliance; both include refrigeration, sheet metal, natural gas and related process piping, and stand-alone Refrigeration, Sheet Metal, Natural Gas Piping and Process Piping journeyman categories also exist. A new applicant needs three years (6,000 hours) of verifiable experience in the category while employed by a licensed mechanical contractor, with approved trade-school hours substituting for up to two years, pays $75 ($25 application plus $50 initial license) and passes the PSI exam with 70% ($92 per portion). CIB's rules allow written reciprocity agreements and a case-by-case exam equivalency for licensees of jurisdictions whose exam the Board has approved, but CIB publishes no list of mechanical reciprocity partners or approved jurisdictions. Journeymen must work under a licensed mechanical contractor, renew annually in their birth month, and complete six hours of continuing education every 36 months.

Louisiana does not issue a statewide journeyman or technician license for heating, air conditioning or refrigeration work. The only state HVAC credential is the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors (LSLBC) commercial contractor license in the Mechanical classification (or its Heat, Air Conditioning, Ventilation, Duct Work and Refrigeration subclassification), required for any mechanical project of $10,000 or more and issued to the contracting business or sole proprietor on the strength of a qualifying party who passed the trade exam; the LSLBC's FAQ and Types of Licenses pages list no journeyman, master or technician license. Journeyman mechanic licensing exists only where a city or parish ordinance creates it: New Orleans issues a Class 'B' Journeyman Mechanical Contractor License ($55 per year) to applicants who pass the ICC G31 National Journeyman Mechanical exam and work under a Class 'A' air conditioning and refrigeration contractor, Jefferson Parish requires air conditioning and heating equipment to be installed or replaced by a parish-licensed mechanical contractor, and Shreveport registers contractors and refers journeyman and master testing to the ICC or the LSLBC. Under La. R.S. 37:2156.1(I), however, employees of a statewide-licensed mechanical contractor cannot be required to pass any local examination or certification as a condition of working for that contractor, so a local journeyman card matters mainly to technicians working for contractors below the state threshold or outside the state system. None of these jurisdictions publish reciprocity for out-of-state journeyman licenses; the portable credential in practice is the ICC journeyman mechanical exam. Federal EPA Section 608 certification is required of anyone who handles refrigerants.