Oregon to Alaska: master plumber license reciprocity

Alaska has no master plumber licence; Mechanical Inspection's FAQ answers 'Does Alaska issue a Master license for the plumbing or electrical trades? No.' The highest person-held plumbing credential is the Mechanical Administrator licence issued under AS 08.40.210-08.40.490 by the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing (CBPL), which is treated here as the master level. It is a supervisory licence: a person may not act as a mechanical administrator without it, every registered mechanical contractor doing plumbing must hold or employ one, the administrator is responsible for all mechanical work done under the contractor's licence and may qualify only one contractor (AS 08.40.260, 08.40.280; 12 AAC 39.902), and it does not by itself authorise hands-on code work, which still requires a DOLWD certificate of fitness (a person may hold both, which the FAQ says 'allows the holder to function like how a master trades license works in many other states'). The plumbing categories are Unlimited Commercial and Industrial Plumbing (UCIP: journeyman plumber or plumbing field-superintendent experience for four of the last six years, or an ME degree or PE registration plus one of the last three years, where a year is at least 1,500 hours) and Residential Plumbing and Hydronic Heating (RPHH: two of the last four years as a journeyman in residential plumbing and hydronic heating; single-family and duplex dwellings only). Qualification is by a PSI-administered examination passed at 70% within the prior 12 months, or by credentials for administrators licensed in another state. Fees are $150 to apply plus $200 for the licence ($350); the licence is biennial, expires December 31 of odd-numbered years, and renews for $200 with an eight-hour Uniform Plumbing Code workshop per category. The mechanical contractor registration itself is a separate business licence under AS 08.18 from the same division.

Oregon has no master plumber license and no other person-held plumbing credential above journeyman. ORS 693.095 permits the State Plumbing Board to adopt rules for a 'supervising plumber' license, but no such rule exists in OAR chapter 918, division 695, and the Building Codes Division's license table lists only the Journeyman Plumber (JP) and three limited specialty licenses (residential water-heater, water-treatment and solar heating and cooling installer) as individual plumbing licenses; the Journeyman Plumber is therefore the highest license an individual can hold. The business-side credential is the Plumbing Business (PB) license under ORS 447.040, issued by the Building Codes Division to a firm that already holds a Construction Contractors Board (CCB) license: the owner or corporate officer files the Contractor/Business License Application (form 440-2888) with a $150 non-refundable fee and the CCB number, no signing supervisor or qualifying-person experience is designated for a plumbing business, no exam is taken, and the license renews on a three-year cycle (all PB licenses next expire July 1, 2029). A plumbing business license 'does not authorize the contractor to work as a journeyman plumber,' and the business may not let anyone perform journeyman work without an individual JP license. An out-of-state master plumber therefore has nothing to transfer to at this level: to work with the tools they obtain the Journeyman Plumber license through the journeyman path (Idaho or Montana reciprocity, or experience credit plus the Oregon exam), and to contract they register a business with the Secretary of State, license it with the CCB, and add the $150 BCD Plumbing Business license.