Mississippi to Alabama: master HVAC technician license reciprocity

Alabama's HVAC credential is the Certified Heating and Air Conditioning Contractor certification (with a parallel Certified Refrigeration Contractor certification for commercial refrigeration) issued by the Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors. It is treated here as the master level because it is earned personally by examination: under rule 440-X-3-.04 an individual must satisfy every requirement, and when a partnership, corporation or LLC is certified the certificate is issued in the name of the person in responsible charge together with the business name. A new applicant must show 3,000 hours of work experience (the exam application asks for notarized employer affidavits covering at least two years within the past five years, with W-2 forms) or graduation from an approved HVAC or refrigeration curriculum, then pass the open-book Prov exam ($175; 115 questions, 70% to pass). Active certification costs $220 per year and requires a business name and a $20,000 performance bond; inactive status is $110 with no bond; four hours of continuing education are required each year after the first, and renewal is due by December 31. The Board accepts licenses by reciprocity from Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, South Carolina (Residential Building Commission or Contractor's Board), Texas, West Virginia and Louisiana when the applicant passed an equivalent exam with at least 70%; there is no business and law exam, and §34-31-28(d) prohibits counties and municipalities from requiring further local testing of certified contractors.

Mississippi does not issue a personal master HVAC license. The state-level HVAC credential is the Mississippi State Board of Contractors (MSBOC) contractor license: commercial 'Heat, Ventilation, A/C - HVAC' under the Mechanical classification (required on commercial jobs over $50,000; application and renewal $400, $300,000/$600,000 liability insurance, CPA-reviewed financial statement) or Residential HVAC (required for residential work over $10,000 in remodeling or $50,000 new construction; application $50, renewal $100). The license is issued to the business through a Certificate of Responsibility with a named qualifying party who passes the open-book PSI HVAC (or Residential HVAC) trade exam and the mandatory Mississippi Law and Business Management exam, so a master HVAC mechanic who only wants to work for an employer has nothing to transfer to at the state level; the personal master credential exists only in cities such as Southaven (Master Mechanical, $100, which itself requires an active MSBOC license, a $10,000 bond and liability insurance) and Gulfport (Mechanical/HVAC contractor license issued to the qualifying party, $100). MSBOC waives its HVAC trade exam, for $50 per exam, for qualifying parties who have held a license for at least one year with the Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors, the Alabama General Contractors Board, the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors, the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (HVAC or Refrigeration), the South Carolina Residential Builders Commission (Residential HVAC) or the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors, provided the license was obtained by that board's exam and there has been no disciplinary action in the period stated in each agreement; the Business and Law exam is never waived. EPA Section 608 certification is a separate federal requirement.