Nebraska to South Dakota: journeyman plumber license reciprocity

How local licensing works. Nebraska has no state plumbing license. The Contractor Registration Act requires every contracting business to register with the Department of Labor before working ($40 annual fee from August 1, 2026, plus a workers' compensation certificate when there are employees), but registration is not a competency license and applies to the business, not the tradesperson. Individual journeyman licensing exists only in cities whose ordinances create it, and each city examines its own applicants.

Omaha. The Planning Department's Plumbing Board licenses Journeyman Plumbers, Master Plumbers and registered Apprentice Plumbers under Omaha Municipal Code chapter 49. To sit the journeyman exam (Sec. 49-241) an applicant shows one of: a four-consecutive-year city-certified apprenticeship; an equivalent course of study with matching classroom and on-the-job hours; at least seven consecutive years of training with 300+ hours each year and 7,000 hours total; a journeyman license from 'a city of equivalent size that requires similar qualification criteria'; or, if the applicant's community requires no instruction for a license, a properly issued license or eight consecutive years (300+ hours/year, 14,000 hours) at the Board's discretion. Applications are due by 9:00 AM on the 15th of March, June, September and December for exams in May, August, November and February; the journeyman test fee is $54.00, and the form asks for copies of every current or expired plumbing license with the origin exam's format (written questions, drawing, practical, open book). Passed sections carry forward for three test dates. After passing, the journeyman license costs $1.00 plus a $19.50 identification badge and $1.64 technology fee, renewing at the same price with 8 continuing-education hours; apprentice registration is $20.00 + $1.60 with Board approval. Out-of-state treatment: an out-of-town license serves only as evidence of eligibility to test; the plumbing pages and exam application contain no exam waiver or reciprocity provision, and the only reciprocal-license process Omaha publishes is for Building Contractor licenses.

Lincoln. Building and Safety issues a Plumbing Journeyman certificate after at least four years of practical experience in the design, layout, construction or installation of plumbing equipment (one year of credit per year as a registered apprentice; two years for a four-year engineering degree; one year for a Board-approved course; three years for a Nebraska-registered professional mechanical engineer; military and adult-education training at the Board's discretion) and passing the city exam. The exam is given the third Thursday of February, May, August and November at the ABC Training Center, 830 West Gate Boulevard: a two-hour copper practical project at 6:30 a.m. (applicant supplies pipe, fittings, solder, torch and tools) and a five-hour written exam at 9:00 a.m. based on the 2018 UPC with Lincoln amendments and the Lincoln Gas Piping Code (LMC 24.05). Exam filing fee $183, due two weeks before the exam. The annual journeyman registration is $50 (apprentice $25), renewed March 1-May 31 with 6 CEU hours; a lapse beyond 60 days revokes the license and requires retesting. Out-of-state treatment: 'An applicant holding a valid Journeyman or Contractor/Master Plumbing License or Certificate, received by examination from another state or Municipal Governmental agency, shall be entitled to take the equivalent respective City of Lincoln Journeyman or Contractors examination without submitting any additional qualifications.' The experience review is waived; the exam is not.

Grand Island. The Building Services Division requires plumbers to be 'individually licensed as a master, journeyman, or registered as an apprentice' and to work under a city-licensed plumbing contracting company. Applications, exams and renewals run through the CitizenServe portal, which (per an earlier read of the page) offers both an exam application and a license-reciprocity application, but the city publishes no experience thresholds, exam identifiers, fees or list of accepted jurisdictions online.

Bellevue, Kearney, Norfolk and other cities also license plumbers under their own codes but were not verified in this pass; Bellevue's Permits and Inspections documents page (linked below) posts contractor testing information for plumbing contractors. Treat every city as a separate licensing authority and confirm current requirements with the local building department before working.