Nevada to Texas: master plumber license reciprocity

Texas licenses Master Plumbers statewide through the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (TSBPE). An applicant may sit the Master Plumber Examination after holding a Journeyman Plumber license in Texas or another state for at least two years, or for one year plus completion of a US DOL Office of Apprenticeship program (Occ. Code §1301.002(5)); a master licensed in another state qualifies by showing the same prior journeyman history. The applicant pays a $25 exam processing fee to TSBPE and a $128.50 exam fee to Pearson VUE, submits fingerprints, passes the exam and pays a $75 initial license fee; the license renews annually for $75 with six hours of continuing professional education. A master plumber works under a Responsible Master Plumber unless he or she registers as an RMP, which requires a $300,000 commercial general liability certificate and allows contracting, permitting and supervising a plumbing company's work. TSBPE publishes no reciprocity agreements, but out-of-state journeyman experience counts directly toward master exam eligibility.

Nevada does not issue a master plumber license to individuals, and no county or city was found to issue a master-level plumbing card; Clark County recognizes a 'plumbing qualified individual', which is simply the person who qualifies a contractor's C-1 license with the State Board. The state-level credential is a classification C-1 Plumbing and Heating Contracting license from the Nevada State Contractors Board (NSCB), issued to a sole proprietor, partnership, corporation or LLC and qualified by a named individual rather than held by the plumber personally. An out-of-state master plumber who only wants to work for an employer needs no Nevada license at all (apart from the local journeyman card in Clark County and Reno). To contract, the qualifying individual must show four years of experience as a journeyman, foreman, supervising employee or contractor within the past 15 years (NRS 624.260), pass the PSI-administered Nevada Business and Law exam and the C-1 trade exam within six months of filing (three attempts each), and the business must pay the $300 application fee and $600 biennial license fee, submit a financial statement, fingerprints and background check, and post a bond of $1,000 to $500,000 set by the Board, plus the Residential Recovery Fund assessment ($200 to $1,000) if it does residential work. Under licensure by endorsement (NAC 624.600 and 624.615) the C-1 trade exam and the experience certification are waived for a qualified individual who has held an active license, as the same qualified individual, with no discipline or pending action for the past four years in Arizona (CR-77 Plumbing Including Solar), California (C-36 Plumbing together with C-4 Boiler, Hot Water Heating and Steam Fitting) or Tennessee (CMC Full Mechanical Contractor); a Florida CF Plumbing Contractor gets experience credit but must pass the Nevada C-1 trade exam; the Business and Law exam is never waived. The NSCB equivalency charts contain no Utah chart and no C-1 row for Connecticut, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Mexico, Hawaii, Alabama or West Virginia.