Mississippi to Washington: journeyman plumber license reciprocity

Washington issues a statewide Journey Level Plumber (PL01) certificate of competency through the Department of Labor & Industries; anyone working in the plumbing trade must hold a journey level, specialty, residential service, trainee or temporary permit credential. A new applicant needs four years and at least 8,000 hours as a Washington plumber trainee (4,000 in commercial or industrial work), 16 hours of approved classroom education, and must pass the closed-book Washington journey level exam administered by PSI ($202.10 application fee plus PSI's scheduling fee, then a $242.70 certificate fee). Washington's only plumber reciprocity agreement is with Idaho for journey level plumbers: holders of an active Idaho journey level card receive the PL01 certificate without examination. Every other out-of-state plumber submits a copy of an active state license for L&I review; if L&I finds it comparable, the applicant is approved to sit the Washington exam and may buy a one-time 120-day temporary permit ($100.30) to work while waiting to test. Hours worked for out-of-state employers or in out-of-state apprenticeships are not credited. Certificates renew every three years on the holder's birthdate for $242.70 with 24 hours of continuing education (at least 12 hours of plumbing code and 4 hours of electrical).

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.