Getting a license in Texas coming from California

I completed an electrician's apprenticeship in California through ABC (4000 hours and 4 years of school) which has an affiliate in Houston Texas and put in over 8000 journeyman hours in California. I passed the Master's Electrician test in Texas.

I am having nothing but problems trying to get a license in the state of Texas. I have sent in paperwork after paperwork proving hours, school information for over 8 months! It started with "I don't have a journeyman card" I have an apprenticeship card that you only get after completing the program. I explained it is the same as a journeyman card in Texas. I have sent in letters from the school saying I was a journeyman. I have sent in letters from employers stating I was a journeyman. I have sent in letters from the state that I received when I graduated stating that I was a journeyman. Now they are saying they don't recognize California electrical journeymen? Does anyone have any pointers on getting a license in this state besides starting all over again?

to be honest with you your problem is that the program you went through in cali. (abc) is crap they should of given you a jw card from the get go and you wouldn't be in this prob.

tx recognizes wa jw's,so i suggest pass the jw test in wa... that will get u a test date in tx for a jw card. ... but explain how u got your tx master license in ca.

Matthew in Henderson, Texas said: I completed an electrician's apprenticeship in California through ABC (4000 hours and 4 years of school) which has an affiliate in Houston Texas and put in over 8000 journeyman hours in California. I passed the Master's Electrician test in Texas.

I am having nothing but problems trying to get a license in the state of Texas. I have sent in paperwork after paperwork proving hours, school information for over 8 months! It started with "I don't have a journeyman card" I have an apprenticeship card that you only get after completing the program. I explained it is the same as a journeyman card in Texas. I have sent in letters from the school saying I was a journeyman. I have sent in letters from employers stating I was a journeyman. I have sent in letters from the state that I received when I graduated stating that I was a journeyman. Now they are saying they don't recognize California electrical journeymen? Does anyone have any pointers on getting a license in this state besides starting all over again?

Texas does not recognize any other state jouryman cards. I had this problem as well. You will have to take the Texas state test to get a j-card.

your completion of the 4 year ABC program does not constitute that you are now a licensed journeyman in the state of california. you have to pass the examination first that is given statewide, separately from the ABC-non union and JATC-union programs. all those programs do is log in enough hours for you to individually take your journey exam. once you pass the exam in california, you are certified to work as a journeyman licensed electrician WITHIN the state of california. if you are to do work in any other state, you would have to retest for the journeyman cert in that state as well. in california, its the DIR, dept of industrial relations. you download an app, send in the proof of the program, pay 125, and then set up the time and date for the exam. then do the same for texas.

CA did not have a state test when I went through the program. They had testing for contractors equivalent to a master license in Texas.

Anyways, I now have a journeyman's license in the state of Texas. I gave up on the Masters until another 2 years.

Paul I didn't get the Texas Master's license. I passed the test you have to pass in order to get try to get it.

You passed your masters in Texas, but cant get a jw cert? And I thought Californastan sucks. I just don't get this certification BS I've been doin elect. for 33 years and all of a sudden the state wants money for me to keep my job WTF.

And another thing, if our work still gets inspected, and passes, what is a certification for? If it don't pass then we become a plumber, simple.
And if a "handiman" can do the same work without a cert.(not as well).When I did service calls they mostly consisted of fixing what joe homeowner, or his"landlord" did. But I have to be certified. What is it I'm just not seeing?

Matthew, I would like to get in touch with you and any others who have the same story here in Texas. My story is close to same as yours. It took me five months of tring to run down all the Masters I worked for in Iowa to come up with my hours. There has to be something we can do to fix this problem of out of state electricians.

Jason King

they are making it hard on us I took my exam in Nevada and passed now I'm living in Texas scheduled
to take the J test in a month but can't work until I pass. They should make a temp card for new residents coming into the area

JOE BANANA your not seeing the insurance cost behind the whole thing...b4 there was no cert but there still was for hair dressers really "our" jobs are delacate and over all can cost life if done wrong...regulation is good!!!

Its funny with 6 years of App., that I can install Med-Gas systems that life depends on, yet when the contract is over the J-card holders who arnt as good as toilet paper, (one Master that thought he should hold the fish tape with the linemans teeth instead of the handle with the fish tape puller) It just means that you can pass the book smart test, yet still not be a Master of the trade.
TEXAS LIVEs in fairy tales

Bob said: JOE BANANA your not seeing the insurance cost behind the whole thing...b4 there was no cert but there still was for hair dressers really "our" jobs are delacate and over all can cost life if done wrong...regulation is good!!!

But, if "handymen", "homeowners", and even "landscapers" can do electrical work without a cert., and we've been doing it for many years without one, why all of a sudden, will we be safer if we're certified, the test I took didn't have any "safety" related questions, and any moron that can use an index, can pass, there were no 'practical application questions,it was all code, NATIONAL code, so why aren't JW cards national, so local jurisdictions can get their cut of the pie. Normally, people pay for stuff to better their livelihood, we are paying to better someone else's. If we're certified the contractor gets a break on his insurance, what do we get for $175, the chance to spend a Saturday taking a test, and we get to pay for it too, plus we get to pay for "continuing education", the gas to get there, the time which we don't get paid for, and get to miss dinner twice a week, only to buy dinner, all so the contractor gets a break on his insurance. How many "tie off" questions were on your test? How many "ladder safety" questions? Any "outrigger"? "load calcs".?

There was one load calc question...yes the rest were code...yes that is bull...you have to remeber the code is bare min. It is not meant as an installation manual so in theory the entire industry is flawed and geared to bare min.! My "contuinuing Ed" classes are free. So it's really no skin of my back. And idk about you but I make a lili more $ than Joe blow homeowner when I'm doing elect work. For me the state test took me 56 min and I got 91/100 but as I sat wating for my friend to come out I saw 3 guys walk out that had failed..one of them for the 3rd time...I DONT WANT TO WORK NEXT TO THEM...Granted the cert system is flawd (very) but it is better than nothing. All you see is what it's costing you out of pocket but you turn a blind eye to the rewards!!!!

What rewards, and if you've been in the trade long enough you know who you don't want to work with, or, you show them what there doing wrong. Back to "rewards" The only "reward" I seek is a job well done, and a pay check. How has certification made the trade any safer? Before certification, the ones that weren't worthy, were weeded out real quick by the contractor, since it's his reputation on the line. And, the majority of home electrical fires are caused by the homeowner, not the installation. And the final okay comes from the inspector, If there is a fire, who do you think is going to be the first questioned by the insurance company during the investigation. And yeah I'm looking at MY cost, the overtime, that's part of labor laws, that's REQUIRED to be paid, not only by local laws, but federal law.
That isn't, the gas and travel time to and from school, the lost overtime on jobs that you have to leave to go to school. books, the dinner that I usually eat at home, I have to buy twice a week. And did you get a raise for being certified? How have your working conditions improved? Do you feel safer on the job? Do you do better work, more work, do you know more, after certification? Just who benefit's, you, the customer, the state? California took in $7,040,775 in the first year of the scam. All totaled it costs me around $2,068 every 3 years to keep my cert. including lost wages. And, that's figured at time and a half, since school is after an 8 hr. day. So, how has your job improved?