Delaware to Louisiana: journeyman plumber license reciprocity

Louisiana licenses Journeyman Plumbers statewide through the State Plumbing Board of Louisiana (SPBLA), which also registers apprentices and licenses Residential Plumbers, Master Plumbers, natural gas fitters and medical gas and WSPS endorsements. A new in-state applicant must be a registered apprentice with 7,000 hours (indentured, in a Louisiana Workforce Commission-approved program) or 8,000 hours (unindentured) of supervised plumbing work documented by payroll records or W-2s, file a notarized application with $135 ($125 exam + $10 processing), and pass a Board-administered 80-question, 3-hour written exam on the 2021 IPC/IRC plus a 1-hour practical, scoring at least 70% in each category. The first license costs $50; licenses expire December 31 each year and renewal requires annual continuing education (hours for journeymen are not stated on the pages reviewed). A journeyman works under a licensed Louisiana Master Plumber and must be employed by a licensed master company for the license to be 'workable'. The Board has signed journeyman reciprocity agreements only with Texas and Arkansas; a plumbing license from any other state qualifies the holder to sit the Louisiana journeyman exam without Louisiana apprentice registration, provided the origin state required at least 8,000 on-the-job hours. Act 908 of the 2026 session transfers plumbing licensing to the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors; the transition was under public discussion in late 2026 and no changed requirements had been published.

Delaware does not issue a journeyman or journeyperson plumber license. The Board of Plumbing, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Examiners licenses only master plumbers (and master HVACR / master HVACR restricted), and 24 Del. C. § 1807(c)(1) lets an apprentice, journeyman, mechanic or other person provide plumbing services without a Board license while working under the supervision of a master plumber who is their employer or a full-time employee of the same business. An out-of-state journeyman plumber license therefore has nothing to transfer to in Delaware and is neither required nor recognized as a Delaware credential for employment. Delaware's own 'journeyman's certificate' in 24 Del. C. § 1808(a)(1) is a certificate of completion from a plumbing apprenticeship that meets or exceeds federal BAT/OA standards, issued in any state: it is an experience credential used toward the Master Plumber license, not a license. With that certificate, two years of post-apprenticeship work under a master plumber (or a similar-level licensee in another state) qualifies an applicant for the master exam; without it, seven years of such supervised experience plus the apprenticeship equivalency (bypass) tests are required. Out-of-state journeyman hours gained under a licensed master count toward those master-exam experience requirements.