Arkansas trade license reciprocity

Arkansas issues a statewide Journeyman Electrician license through the Board of Electrical Examiners in the Department of Labor and Licensing; the Board also issues residential journeyman, residential master, industrial maintenance, air conditioning and specialist sign electrician licenses. A new applicant qualifies by completing a four-year USDOL-approved apprenticeship or by documenting eight years (16,000 hours, maximum 2,000 per year) of electrical construction experience, then passes the journeyman exam ($80 exam fee) and pays the $25 license fee; the license renews annually for $25 and requires eight hours of continuing education each NEC cycle. Arkansas has journeyman reciprocity agreements with seventeen states, and a qualifying journeyman from one of them is licensed without taking the Arkansas exam; a master electrician from a journeyman-only partner state can likewise be reciprocated into an Arkansas journeyman license. The Board only reciprocates an original license issued by the partner state, never a license that was itself obtained by reciprocity.

Arkansas issues a statewide Master Electrician license, an unlimited classification that authorizes the holder to plan, lay out and supervise electrical work; a journeyman who wants to contract with the public must employ at least one full-time master. A new applicant needs six years of construction-industry experience (residential and commercial) including two years as a licensed journeyman, or an electrical engineering degree plus two years of construction experience, or a Board-approved equivalent, then passes the master exam ($80) and pays the $50 license fee; the license renews annually for $50 with eight hours of continuing education per NEC cycle. Master-level reciprocity is limited: the Board's page lists Iowa, Oregon and Texas under its Master Reciprocal Agreement (and its explanatory text also names North Dakota). A master from any other journeyman-partner state can only be reciprocated into an Arkansas journeyman license, and the Board only reciprocates an original license, never one the partner state itself granted by reciprocity.

Arkansas has no journeyman HVAC license; the person-held credential for an employee who performs heating, air conditioning or refrigeration work is the HVACR Registrant registration issued by the Department of Labor and Licensing. Ark. Code §17-33-303(c) lets an individual perform HVACR work under a Class A, B, C, D or E license holder by registering with the department and paying an annual fee ($25), and every licensee is responsible for making sure each HVACR employee holds a current registration or license. Registration is not credential-based: the one-page application asks for no experience, education, exam or prior license and is signed by the employer's designated license holder, so it must be obtained by everyone regardless of any journeyman or technician license held in another state, and no out-of-state license shortens or replaces it. A registrant may work only for an HVACR licensee; under §17-33-104 a registered individual cannot be required to obtain any city or county license, though local permits and inspections apply. The Board has no reciprocal agreements with any state at any level. Federal EPA Section 608 certification is separately required of anyone who handles refrigerants.

Arkansas's highest HVAC credential is the HVACR license issued in five classes by the HVACR Licensing Board: Class A (unlimited), Class B (systems up to 15 tons cooling, 1,000,000 BTUH heating or 15 hp refrigeration), Class C (service and repair only), Class D (sheet metal ductwork) and Class E (refrigeration). It is treated here as the master level because Ark. Code §17-33-303(a) issues it to the individual who designs, installs or services HVACR systems, and that person becomes the 'designated license holder' responsible for the work and for registering employees. A new applicant with no licensing background must be 18, show two years of experience as an HVACR contractor or employee (Board-approved education may substitute) through notarized employer affidavits, and pass the open-book class exam administered by Prov ($80 computer-based, 70% to pass); the annual license fee is $200 for Class A, $150 for B, D and E and $100 for C, with $250,000 liability insurance and four hours of continuing education per year. The Board states it has no reciprocal agreements with any other state, but its rules direct it to approve, without examination, apprenticeship, education or training, any applicant holding a license in good standing from a jurisdiction whose HVACR licensing laws are 'substantially similar', meaning one that has adopted a national model mechanical code and uses a comprehensive exam created and proctored by a national examination agency. Under §17-33-104 a state licensee needs no city or county license.