Washington to California: master plumber license reciprocity

California does not issue a license titled 'master plumber'. The statewide credential that sits above municipal journeyman cards is the C-36 Plumbing Contractor license from the Contractors State License Board. The license is issued to a business entity (sole owner, partnership, corporation or LLC) but is qualified by a named individual who personally meets the experience and exam requirements and is responsible for the classification, so an out-of-state master plumber or plumbing contractor who intends to contract in California applies as that qualifying individual. A master plumber who only wants to work as an employee needs no C-36 license (B&P §7053) and should instead check city journeyman-card rules. To qualify C-36, the individual documents at least four years of journeyman-level or higher plumbing experience within the past 10 years, pays the $450 original application fee, passes both the CSLB Law and Business exam and the C-36 trade exam through PSI within 18 months of application acceptance, is fingerprinted (DOJ $32 plus FBI $17 plus Live Scan rolling fees), posts a $25,000 contractor's bond (and a $25,000 bond of qualifying individual where applicable), carries workers' compensation or files an exemption, and pays the initial license fee of $200 (sole owner) or $350 (non-sole owner) for a two-year license. CSLB reciprocity can waive the C-36 trade exam for a contractor who has held an active license in good standing for the previous five years in an Arizona classification mapped to C-36 (C-37, C-37R Plumbing, K-37, K-77, L-37, L-77). Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina reciprocity entries are general building only; Nevada's published list as extracted has no class mapped to C-36. Even when reciprocity is granted CSLB retains the right to require the trade exam, and the Law and Business exam, bond, fingerprinting and all other licensure requirements still apply.

Washington has no master plumber license. WAC 296-400A-010 lists every certificate the state issues (journey level PL01, residential PL02, residential service PL04, pump and irrigation PL03, domestic well PL03A, backflow PL30, and trainee), and the Journey Level Plumber certificate is the highest credential an individual can hold; the only add-on is the Medical Gas Piping Installer endorsement (MG01), which is a specialty, not a supervisory tier. Since July 1, 2021 a business that advertises, bids or performs plumbing work must hold a Plumbing Contractor license under RCW 18.106.400, but that is a business registration rather than a person-held trade license: the firm registers with the Department of Revenue, files a $6,000 surety bond, carries $250,000 combined (or $200,000/$50,000) liability insurance, pays a $148.10 license fee plus $53.20 to designate a Washington-certified plumber who works for the firm full time, and renews every two years; no exam is taken by the owner. An out-of-state master plumber therefore has nothing to transfer to at this level. To work as a plumber they obtain the journey level (PL01) certificate through the journeyman path (Idaho reciprocity or license review plus the Washington exam), and to contract they form a business and license it as a plumbing contractor with themselves or an employee as the designated certified plumber.