Ohio to Vermont: journeyman plumber license reciprocity

Vermont issues a statewide Journeyman Plumber license (ledger code PJ) through the Plumber's Examining Board in the Division of Fire Safety. A new applicant must document a Vermont-registered plumbing apprenticeship (instruction plus practice verified by the Vermont Apprenticeship Council) or equivalent training and experience in or outside Vermont acceptable to the Board, then pass a written examination covering plumbing theory and practice, State laws, and Health and Environmental Conservation rules; the two-year license fee is $90 (26 V.S.A. s. 2193(c)). A journeyman installs plumbing and water-treatment or heating specialties under a master, may supervise an apprentice employed by a master, and shall not act as a master. Out-of-state journeymen have a statutory path without examination: uniform endorsement if the origin license has been held in good standing in another U.S. jurisdiction for at least three years (s. 2194(a)(2)), plus a narrower reciprocity path if the origin state or municipality has equivalent standards and grants Vermont licensees a like exemption (s. 2194(a)(1)). The Board publishes no named plumbing partner list on the DFS plumbing pages. Licenses last two years; renewal requires eight hours of Board-approved instruction in the prior 24 months plus the Vermont Energy Goals module (not more than two hours). Vermont also licenses Plumbing Specialists (PS: P1 water heater, P2 heating system, P3 water treatment), which are not the journeyman credential.

Ohio does not issue a journeyman plumber license. The Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (OCILB) licenses individual plumbing contractors for commercial work under R.C. Chapter 4740, and R.C. 4740.01 defines everyone else on the job as a 'tradesperson' employed by a contractor, with no state license or card. Where a personal journeyman plumber credential exists it comes from a city ordinance: Toledo's Division of Building Inspection examines and licenses Plumbing Journeymen and registers apprentices, and Hamilton County Public Health directs consumers to journeyman or master plumber licenses issued by 'surrounding cities such as City of Cincinnati, Middletown or Norwood' because Ohio counties are not permitted to license plumbers. An out-of-state journeyman plumber license therefore has no state-level recognition in Ohio; it is useful only as proof of experience where a city requires it, or as one of the documents OCILB accepts (an active journeyman's card) toward the five-year tradesperson requirement for the state plumbing contractor exam.