Mississippi to Oklahoma: journeyman plumber license reciprocity

Oklahoma issues statewide plumbing journeyman licenses through the Construction Industries Board (CIB) under the Plumbing License Law of 1955 and OAC Title 158, Chapter 30, in Unlimited and Residential categories. An Unlimited Plumbing Journeyman applicant must be 18 and show three years of verifiable experience in the plumbing trade while employed by a licensed plumbing contractor (about 2,000 hours per year, so roughly 6,000 hours; Oklahoma hours count only while registered as an apprentice), or equivalent U.S. military experience, with a Committee-approved 1,000-hour program substituting for two years and a 500-hour program for one year. The applicant pays $75 ($25 application plus $50 initial license), and must score 75% on the Oklahoma plumbing journeyman exam administered by PSI ($92 per portion). CIB has one published plumbing reciprocity agreement, with Arkansas (effective October 21, 2024, journeyman only); other out-of-state journeymen may seek exam equivalency if the Board has approved their jurisdiction's exam, and a current out-of-state license otherwise expedites processing of the experience requirement. Journeymen must work under a licensed plumbing contractor, renew annually ($75) and complete six hours of continuing education every 36 months.

Mississippi does not issue a journeyman plumber license. The Mississippi State Board of Contractors (MSBOC) licenses contracting businesses - commercial contractors and subcontractors on jobs over $50,000 and residential contractors and residential plumbing subcontractors above the residential thresholds - through a Certificate of Responsibility held by the company with a tested qualifying party, and its FAQ states that it does not license individual journeymen; none of its Plumbing, Mechanical or Residential Plumbing classifications, exams or reciprocity agreements apply to a plumber who only wants to work for an employer. Individual plumbers are licensed, where they are licensed at all, by cities under their own ordinances: Southaven's Building Department issues apprentice, journeyman and master trade licenses and accepts a current journeyman license from another jurisdiction or a passed ICC journeyman exam in place of its own testing, while coastal cities such as Gulfport license only the contractor's qualifying party and have no journeyman card. An out-of-state journeyman plumber license therefore has no state-level recognition in Mississippi; the plumber must check the ordinance of each city where they will work and apply locally, and Southaven-style acceptance of another jurisdiction's card or an ICC score is the closest thing to reciprocity that exists.