Montana trade license reciprocity

Montana issues a statewide Journeyman Electrician license through the State Electrical Board within the Department of Labor & Industry. A new applicant qualifies under MCA 37-68-305 by completing an approved apprenticeship, a bona fide union or trade-association training program, 8,000 hours of legally obtained practical experience (no more than half residential), or 20,000 hours of electrical maintenance work, and then passes the PSI-administered open-book exam on the 2020 NEC with 70%. The $190 application fee includes the original license; a $50 temporary practice permit lets exam candidates work for a licensed contractor for 90 days. Licenses renew every two years for $140 with 16 hours of continuing education. Out-of-state journeymen are handled through substantial equivalency (SE): the board publishes a state-by-state determination table, and licensees from the twenty 'Yes' states are licensed by endorsement without the exam, while everyone else must test. Licenses issued by cities or counties are not considered.

Montana issues a statewide Master Electrician license through the State Electrical Board. Under MCA 37-68-304 an applicant needs either an electrical engineering degree from an accredited college plus 2,000 hours of practical experience, or at least 8,000 hours of legally obtained journeyman-level experience in planning, laying out or supervising electrical installations (no more than 50% residential), and must pass the PSI open-book exam on the 2020 NEC (at least 80 questions) with 75%. The $190 application fee includes the original license; renewal is $140 every two years with 16 CE hours. Out-of-state masters are reviewed for substantial equivalency: the board's published determinations mark only Alabama, Idaho, Nebraska, Utah and Wyoming as 'Yes', and their licensees are licensed by endorsement without the exam; masters from all other states must take the Montana exam. The board does not sign formal master-level reciprocity agreements (ARM 24.141.504(1) limits those to residential and journeyman licenses).

Montana does not license HVAC technicians at any level, and none of its larger cities does either. The former HVAC licensing chapter, MCA Title 37 chapter 70, is repealed, and the Department of Labor & Industry's list of 41 licensing programs contains electricians, plumbers, boiler operators, elevator mechanics and construction contractors but nothing for heating, cooling, refrigeration, sheet metal or gas fitting. HVAC installers work for a construction contractor that, since January 1, 2026, must hold a Montana construction contractor license under MCA Title 37 chapter 45 (proof of workers' compensation, no trade exam; a sole operator without employees uses the $125 Independent Contractor Exemption Certificate instead), and the work is inspected under the state-adopted International Mechanical and Fuel Gas Codes through state or certified-city mechanical permits that carry no licensing condition. The only adjacent state credential is the boiler engineer license under MCA 50-74-301 to 50-74-304, which anyone operating a covered steam or hot-water boiler must hold (six classes from limited low-pressure to first class, by experience and department exam, with no reciprocity provision). Billings, Missoula, Great Falls and Bozeman require a city business or contractor license from the HVAC business (Missoula: $300,000 liability insurance and employee background checks; Great Falls: a 'Mechanical' contractor license type at $45 per year with $1,000,000 insurance and a city-licensed gas fitter of record for gas fitting; Bozeman: $75), but none tests or licenses individual HVAC journeymen. An out-of-state journeyman HVAC license therefore has nothing to transfer to in Montana; the only credential every technician must carry is federal EPA Section 608 certification for handling refrigerants.

Montana has no master HVAC, master mechanical, refrigeration or HVAC contractor license; MCA Title 37 chapter 70 (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) is repealed and the Department of Labor & Industry runs no HVAC program. The nearest state credential is the construction contractor license that every contractor with employees must hold from January 1, 2026 under MCA Title 37 chapter 45 (formerly the $70 construction contractor registration under MCA 39-9): it is issued to the business on proof of workers' compensation compliance with no examination, experience or trade qualification, and a sole operator with no employees instead obtains a $125 Independent Contractor Exemption Certificate, for which 'a test is not required'. Licensed electricians and plumbers are exempt from that chapter, which is why Montana's larger cities license those two trades by their state cards but treat HVAC firms as ordinary contractors: Missoula issues a contractor business license (expires February 28) on $300,000 liability insurance, background checks and state registration, with a $3,000 bond only for gas fitting; Great Falls issues a 'Mechanical' contractor license type for $45 a year on proof of state registration or ICEC, $1,000,000 liability insurance and, for gas fitting, a city-licensed gas fitter of record; Billings and Bozeman require only a city business license ($75 in Bozeman). Boiler operation is separately licensed by the state under MCA 50-74 (six engineer classes, exam-based, no reciprocity provision), and mechanical permits under the state-adopted International Mechanical and Fuel Gas Codes are open to any permit applicant. A master HVAC or HVAC contractor license from another state therefore transfers to nothing in Montana; the holder who wants to run an HVAC business applies for the state construction contractor license (or ICEC), a city business/contractor license where required, and keeps federal EPA Section 608 certification for refrigerant work.