Oregon to Texas: journeyman HVAC technician license reciprocity

Texas has no journeyman HVAC license in the usual sense; the person-held credential for an employee who does air conditioning and refrigeration work is the Registered ACR Technician registration issued by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). Anyone who assists a licensed ACR contractor with non-exempt maintenance or repair work must register: the applicant must be at least 16, file a one-page application with a $20 fee and answer a criminal history questionnaire, and there is no exam, no experience requirement and no continuing education. The registration is valid one year and is renewed for $20. TDLR also offers a voluntary Certified ACR Technician credential for technicians with 24 months of supervised experience or a TDLR-approved 2,000-hour training program who pass a PSI exam ($50 application, $60 exam, renewed for $35); it is not required to work. Because the registration is not an examined license, an out-of-state journeyman or technician license has nothing to transfer to: every technician must register with TDLR regardless of licenses held elsewhere, and all work must be performed under a Texas-licensed ACR contractor. Technicians who handle refrigerants also need federal EPA Section 608 certification.

Oregon does not license HVAC technicians or journeymen. The Building Codes Division licenses individuals only in the electrical, plumbing, boiler, elevator and manufactured dwelling trades, and no state HVAC, mechanical or refrigeration certificate exists, so an out-of-state HVAC journeyman license has nothing to transfer to and is not needed to work as an employee of a licensed contractor. The credential most HVAC/R technicians in Oregon hold is the Limited Maintenance Electrician (LME), an electrical license that lets its holder repair and maintain existing electrical installations in operable plants, commercial buildings and institutions (no new installations or service work); it requires an approved Oregon apprenticeship or, for training earned outside Oregon, 288 classroom hours plus 4,000 on-the-job hours or 8,000 on-the-job hours, a 2-hour 28-question open-book exam and a $100 fee, and it renews every three years with 8 hours of continuing education. The LME has no reciprocity (Oregon's electrical reciprocity covers only the general journeyman and supervising licenses), so an arriving technician documents out-of-state hours and sits the LME exam. Employers doing HVAC/R maintenance also hold the division's Limited Maintenance Specialty Contractor HVAC/R (LHR) business license, and anyone handling refrigerants needs federal EPA Section 608 certification. Gas piping and boiler work fall under separate plumbing and boiler licenses.