Minnesota to Texas: master HVAC technician license reciprocity

Texas's highest HVAC credential is the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor license issued to an individual by TDLR, so it is mapped here to the master level. The license comes in Class A (units of any size) and Class B (cooling up to 25 tons and heating up to 1.5 million Btu/h) with Environmental Air Conditioning, Commercial Refrigeration and Process Cooling or Heating endorsements. A new applicant must be 18, document 48 months of practical ACR experience under a licensed contractor in the past 72 months (or 12 months as a certified technician plus 36 months of experience, with substitutions for HVAC/R degrees, engineering licenses and military training), pay a $115 application fee, pass the PSI exam for each class and endorsement ($74 Class A, $60 Class B, 70% to pass) within one year of filing, and file proof of commercial general liability insurance ($300,000 per occurrence/$600,000 aggregate for Class A; $100,000/$200,000 for Class B). The license is valid one year, renews for $65 and requires 8 hours of continuing education a year; a company must employ a licensed contractor at each permanent location. TDLR has reciprocity agreements with Georgia and South Carolina only; licensees from every other state or municipality apply under TDLR's substantial-equivalence review and may be required to take the Texas exam.

Minnesota issues no master HVAC, master refrigeration or HVAC contractor license. The only statewide requirement is the $25,000 mechanical contractor bond that a business files with the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) under Minn. Stat. 326B.197 ($100 filing fee, valid two years) before contracting for gas, heating, ventilation, cooling, air conditioning, fuel burning or refrigeration work; DLI states that there is no state license for mechanical contractors or their employees and that cities may require licensure or a competency card. The master-level credential therefore exists only at the city level: Minneapolis issues Master Warm Air Ventilation and Master Refrigeration Certificates of Competency (four years of experience and education plus an ICC exam) and requires a master card holder behind each HVAC Class A or Refrigeration Systems Installer contractor license; Saint Paul issues Master Warm Air, Ventilation and Refrigeration competency cards and requires one for each Warm Air/Ventilation business trade license; Rochester licenses individual HVAC Master Installers after a city certificate of competency; Bloomington licenses mechanical contractors on a Minneapolis or Saint Paul card or its own test. An out-of-state master HVAC or mechanical contractor license has no state-level recognition and none of these cities publish a path that accepts it; Minneapolis and Saint Paul recognize each other's master cards. Federal EPA Section 608 certification is separately required of anyone handling refrigerants.