Pennsylvania to Georgia: journeyman plumber license reciprocity

Georgia issues a statewide Journeyman Plumber license through the Construction Industry Licensing Board's Division of Master and Journeyman Plumbers. Rule 121-3-.02 is the only CILB licensing rule that creates both master and journeyman credentials (electrical and conditioned-air rules license contractors only). Senate Bill 553 (2026) repealed and re-enacted the licensing statute, O.C.G.A. Title 43, Chapter 14, effective July 1, 2026, and the qualifications are now set in law: a journeyman applicant documents one year of full-time plumbing experience (2,000 documented hours) of a type covered by the state plumbing code, supervised by a licensed Master Plumber and attested by a signed affidavit from each supervising master, scores at least 70 on the Board-approved examination, consents to a criminal background check, and pays the Board's published application fee. The Division's application checklist still also asks for three licensed-plumber references, and Rule 121-3-.02 still lists secondary experience such as county water or public-works maintenance and full-time plumbing inspection, so confirm with the Division how it applies the new statute. Medical-gas piping is a separate statewide certificate (Rule 121-2-.11) available only to a current Georgia master or journeyman. O.C.G.A. § 43-14-23 lets the Division, in its discretion, license without examination someone who has practiced for at least two years under a license from a state with substantially equal requirements that gives Georgia licensees equivalent privileges; Rule 121-2-.03 still frames this as a formal written agreement, and the Division's FAQ states that Georgia has no reciprocity with any other state for master or journeyman plumbers. In practice everyone therefore applies by examination, with out-of-state plumbing work counting toward the experience minimum. Exams are given by PSI, and licenses renew every two years by November 30 of even-numbered years with 8 hours of continuing education.

Pennsylvania has no statewide plumber license at the journeyman level: none of the Department of State's 29 professional licensing boards covers plumbers or plumbing contractors (the only construction-related board is Crane Operators), and there is no Commonwealth journeyman or master plumber credential. Individual licensing exists only where a city ordinance creates it. Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections, advised by the Plumbing Advisory Board, issues a Journeyman Plumber License (Philadelphia Code Title 9-1003) that authorizes plumbing work under a licensed master plumber but not running a business: four years as a Philadelphia-registered apprentice (or a similar authorization from another state or local jurisdiction with equal or greater requirements, subject to L&I approval), the ICC Journeyman Plumber Examination referencing the current Philadelphia Code or applied within 12 months of passing, and a $126 annual fee ($25 of that is the non-refundable application fee). Allentown posts 2026 journeyman and master plumber exam applications and licenses the plumbing trade separately from a business license. Scranton's published form is a master electrical/mechanical/plumbing/general contractor application with no journeyman plumber form on that page. There is no state-level reciprocity; Philadelphia's other-jurisdiction clause substitutes for local apprentice registration only and does not waive the ICC exam.