Licensing Acts of various states

[goldstar]

I'm not sure if this forum is the right place to post this topic, but if it's not I apologize in advance and I trust the moderators will remove it.

At a recent State of NJ Electrical Contractor's meeting I learned that there are no reciprocity agreements for licensing between New Jersey and many other states. What I mean by this is that if an electrician from New Jersey moves to say Florida, his/her license will not transfer over without taking an exam. Now, if this were due to some bureaucracy or other type of red tape that's one thing. However, it was my understanding that the reason was because our standards (here in NJ) for acquiring a license are not up to those of other states.

We are at a juncture where we can make changes to our standards, but I would like to find out more about what other states require so that we can become more in line with the requirements of other states. If any of you know of a way that I can obtain those requirements from your state would you please contact me privately through this forumThanks,

Phil Bufis,
Gold Star Electric

 

[bphgravity]

Re: Licensing Acts of various states

Florida reciprocates directly with several other states in the southeast, but will reciprocate with any other state without you having to take an exam if you meet the administrative requirements that Florida has.

One of the speed bumps in this process is residency. The state will require you to have a permanent place of residence for at least 6 months before you can even apply for reciprocity. Also, you must have local credit references established. This can be hard to accuire quickly.

I know of at least one electrical contractor from NJ that has succesfully reciprocated his license to Florida without having to take the Florida contractors exam.

 

[charlie]

Re: Licensing Acts of various states

Leave Indiana out of the discussion, we are not advanced enough to have state wide licensing. Each jurisdiction can require their own and a lot of jurisdictions have no licensing at all.

 

[izak]

Re: Licensing Acts of various states

Arkansas is really starting to crack down on licensing requirements since April this year, when civil penalties came into effect..
The state can enforce the licensing laws as much or as little as they want to now... (mainly as much)
Arkansas requires an Electrical license for ANYONE doing electrical work in the state and they are pretty strict on how they enforce things.

As far as reciprocity, i only know they are working on about 13 states total for us to reciprocate with.. not sure who tho...

you can find out alot more about the requirements on licensing here:

www.contractors-license.org/ar/Arkansas.html#ar3

 

[petersonra]

Re: Licensing Acts of various states

Originally posted by izak:

Arkansas requires an Electrical license for ANYONE doing electrical work in the state and they are pretty strict on how they enforce things.

]

Does this apply to repairs work as well? This must be a real pain for maint types who have to do some electrical work but certainly don't need to pull wire and pipe and thus probably aren't "real" electricians.

How serious are they about it? Can an unlicensed person change a lightbulb? What about replacing a motor?

 

[jeff43222]

Re: Licensing Acts of various states

Minnesota has reciprocity with about a dozen states. With three states, the reciprocity is for master and journeyman licenses, while with the others it is only good for journeyman licenses. You must have had the license from the other state for at least a year, and you are not eligible for a reciprocal license in Minnesota if you've ever failed the exam in Minnesota (i.e., you can't fail the Minnesota exam, then pass the South Dakota exam, then apply for a Minnesota license via reciprocity with South Dakota).

I've also wondered why there are such big differences in the licensing laws around the country, making it difficult to get licensed if you decide to relocate. Are there really such big differences between being an electrician in Florida vs. being an electrician in New Jersey? Other professions seem to have successfully dealt with this issue (e.g., doctors, engineers, commercial drivers, etc.). Does anyone know of any effort to make things more uniform nationally?

 

[goldstar]

Re: Licensing Acts of various states

Thanks for your responses guys. Izak, I went to the site you suggested and found it very informative. I did some further research and found this site http://www.electric-find.com/license.htm which gives information as to where to get licensing requirements for some 42 states.

Jeff, I don't know that there's any effort to standardize licensing acts on a national level. Bar exams for lawyers and the Miller's analogies or GRE exams for teachers are requirements for many states. My son went to college in NY state and is certified to teach there. However, he took a job in MD and his certification is not recognized there unless he takes one of these exams. But it seems like there should be some sort of standard electrical test you could take that would be acceptable on a national level. I wouldn't even know where start to get that type of legislation started.

[ October 11, 2004, 08:15 PM: Message edited by: goldstar ]

 

[roger]

Re: Licensing Acts of various states

Mike Holt has a very informative page on State licensing here.

Roger

 

[goldstar]

Re: Licensing Acts of various states

Thanks Roger. This was a great site and saved me a ton of research work.

Phil

 

[izak]

Re: Licensing Acts of various states

Originally posted by petersonra:

Originally posted by izak:

Arkansas requires an Electrical license for ANYONE doing electrical work in the state and they are pretty strict on how they enforce things.

]

Does this apply to repairs work as well? This must be a real pain for maint types who have to do some electrical work but certainly don't need to pull wire and pipe and thus probably aren't "real" electricians.

How serious are they about it? Can an unlicensed person change a lightbulb? What about replacing a motor?

light bulbs are light bulbs.. they dont care about that...
the state literature states that ' an electrical license shall not be required for the replacement of the "occasional switch or receptacle"'

really it depends on where you are and what you think you can get away with... they are in the formative stages right now and will sometimes cut ya some slack.. as time goes on tho, there will develop a 'take no prisoners' attitude

 

[bradleyelectric]

Re: Licensing Acts of various states

http://www.mikeholt.com/statelicense.php