Mississippi to Utah: journeyman plumber license reciprocity

Utah issues a statewide Journeyman Plumber license through the Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) under the Utah Construction Trades Licensing Act (Utah Code 58-55) and Rule R156-55c; DOPL also licenses Apprentice Plumbers, Residential Journeyman Plumbers (residential work only, 6,000 hours plus schooling or 12,000 hours) and Residential Master Plumbers. A new journeyman needs either completion of an approved apprenticeship program (576 classroom hours) plus 8,000 hours of licensed apprentice experience, or 16,000 hours, and must pass the Prov-administered Utah Plumber Written (theory) and Practical exams before applying; the DOPL application fee is $116 and exam fees are paid to Prov. Utah has no signed reciprocity agreements. Instead, under Utah Code 58-1-302 it licenses by endorsement anyone whose license appears in green on DOPL's Endorsement to Utah: Journeyman Plumber map, provided the license has been held at least one year and is active and in good standing; no Utah exam is required for journeyman endorsement. Applicants from jurisdictions without an equivalent statewide license use verified out-of-state hours toward the standard route. Renewal requires 12 hours of approved CE per licensing cycle (8 core).

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.