Mississippi to Georgia: master plumber license reciprocity

Georgia issues statewide Master Plumber licenses in two classes through the Construction Industry Licensing Board's Division of Master and Journeyman Plumbers. Under the licensing statute as re-enacted by Senate Bill 553 (2026), effective July 1, 2026, Class I covers single-family dwellings, townhomes and multifamily buildings (including duplexes, hotels, motels and apartments) up to three stories and commercial buildings up to 20,000 square feet; Class II is unrestricted and is the master-level equivalent used here. Class II needs five years of full-time experience (2,000 documented hours each) under a licensed master plumber, at least four of them licensed as a Journeyman Plumber and at least two in unrestricted-scope work; Class I needs four years within the restricted scope, at least three of them licensed as a Georgia Journeyman Plumber. Anyone already licensed as a Georgia journeyman before March 1, 2025 needs only two licensed years for Class II and one for Class I. The applicant scores at least 70 on the appropriate master examination, files a signed affidavit from each supervising master, consents to a criminal background check and pays the Board's published fee; the Division's checklist still also asks for three licensed-plumber references (Class I: at least one master; Class II: at least two). 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. The statute's Class II wording does not require the licensed journeyman years to be Georgia years, so out-of-state journeyman licensure is expected to count there, but Class I's licensed years must be under a Georgia Journeyman Plumber license.

Mississippi does not issue a personal master plumber license. The state-level plumbing credential is the Mississippi State Board of Contractors (MSBOC) contractor license: the commercial Mechanical major classification or its 'Plumbing (Test Required)' specialty (required on commercial jobs over $50,000; application and renewal $400, $300,000/$600,000 liability insurance, CPA-reviewed financial statement showing $50,000 net worth for Mechanical or $20,000 for the Plumbing specialty) or Residential Plumbing / Residential Mechanical (required for residential plumbing subcontracting over $10,000 in remodeling or $50,000 new construction; application $50, renewal $100). The license is issued to the business through a Certificate of Responsibility with a named qualifying party who passes the open-book PSI Plumbing (or Residential Plumbing) trade exam and the mandatory Mississippi Law and Business Management exam, so a master plumber who only wants to work for an employer has nothing to transfer to at the state level; the personal master credential exists only in cities such as Southaven (Master trade license, $100, which itself requires an active MSBOC license, a $10,000 bond and liability insurance) and Gulfport (contractor license issued to the qualifying party, $100). MSBOC waives its plumbing trade exam, for $50 per exam, for qualifying parties who hold a current license obtained by examination from the Alabama Plumbers and Gas Fitters Examining Board (commercial Plumbing exam only), the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (Plumbing), the South Carolina Residential Builders Commission (Residential Plumbing, no discipline in three years) or the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (all exams, no discipline in the last year); the Alabama General Contractors Board, Arkansas and Louisiana agreements expressly exclude plumbing, and the Business and Law exam is never waived.