1.4 Experience Credit, Registration, Reciprocity, Renewal & Continuing Education

Why these rules matter to a candidate

Before you can sit for the exam, DLI must accept your experience. After you pass, you must renew on time with the right continuing education (CE) or you lose the right to work. These rules live in Minnesota Rules chapter 3800 and Minn. Stat. 326B.33 and 326B.092, all in the exam booklet. They also produce straightforward exam questions with exact numbers.

The journeyworker experience schedule

Minnesota Rules part 3800.3520, subpart 5, item B sets the minimum experience for a Class A journeyworker at 48 months total. Each category has a minimum and a maximum credit:

DLI's Work Experience Verification Form expresses the same requirement as 48 months (8,000 hours) with 2 years of electrical installation. Because planning, layout, and supervision carry zero credit for this license, a journeyworker applicant must build the 48 months from hands-on work, with at least half of it in wiring and installing.

The two-year program credit

Both the statute (326B.33, subd. 2(b)) and the rule allow one year of credit for successfully completing a two-year post-high-school electrical program approved by the department. DLI's exam guide adds that the program must have been approved before you completed it; DLI does not approve programs for individual applicants. An applicant with the credit still needs 36 months of acceptable work experience.

Limits on credit (subpart 3)

• No credit for experience before age 17.
• At most 12 months for experience in foreign countries.
• No credit for work during the school term of a department-approved two-year program or other full-time daily program. You cannot count the same months as both school credit and field experience.

Acceptable situations (subpart 4)

Experience counts when earned:

1. while employed by a contractor licensed under 326B.33, subdivision 14;
2. in Minnesota for an employer not required to be licensed, if the work was inspected under 326B.36 and done under a properly licensed electrician's supervision;
3. outside Minnesota, when DLI finds it substantially equivalent based on the employer's certification; or
4. in the armed forces, when DLI finds it substantially equivalent based on military certification. DLI asks military applicants to include a DD214.

Registration of unlicensed individuals

Section 326B.33, subdivision 13 requires unlicensed individuals who perform electrical work for a contractor or employer to register with DLI. It adds the rule that most often decides eligibility disputes: experience for work performed in Minnesota after January 1, 2009, is not credited if the applicant was not registered with or licensed by the department at the time.

Minnesota Rules part 3800.3525 and DLI's registration page fill in the details:

• Registrants must be at least 17 and must register before performing work that requires a license.
• Required information must be kept current, with changes reported within 30 days.
• Renewal requires verification of employment during the prior year and two hours of approved NEC CE.
• A registrant must carry the registration card while working and show it on request.
• DLI fees are $14 for a new registration, $19 to renew before expiration, and $24 to renew or reinstate an expired registration.
• A registration lasts one year and expires on the last day of the month. A registrant who has not renewed within 12 months after expiration must file a new initial application.

Reciprocity

Under 326B.33, subdivision 20, DLI may issue a personal license without examination under a board-approved reciprocity agreement. Minnesota's journeyworker agreements cover Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Holders of the equivalent of a Minnesota master license in those states may also obtain the Minnesota journeyworker license. Master-level agreements exist with Iowa, North Dakota, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Wisconsin is not on the list.

Conditions in the statute and DLI's guide include:

1. The license in the other state was obtained by state-level examination, not through a city or another reciprocity agreement.
2. The applicant held it continuously for at least one year and it is current and in good standing.
3. The applicant has not failed the same or a greater class of Minnesota exam, and no Minnesota order denies, suspends, or revokes an electrical license.
4. The applicant pays the $50 application and examination fee, then the license fee after approval.

Renewal and fees

Section 326B.092 builds these fees: a journeyworker-class base fee of $40 for two years, an $8 board fee, and a $5 CE fee on renewal, for $53. It also sets the late fee at one-half of the license renewal fee; DLI lists a $20 late fee for a journeyworker renewal. A renewal received within two years after expiration must include renewal fees for the lapsed period plus the late fee. DLI states that a Minnesota license not renewed within two years after expiration cannot be regained through reciprocity; the holder must retake and pass the exam.

Continuing education (Minn. R. 3800.3600 to 3800.3603)

• Who: DLI will not renew an electrician license for a holder who has held it at least 24 months without the required CE (3800.3602, subp. 1). DLI's guide adds that master electricians need no CE in their first prorated term.
• How much: Class A and B master, Class A and B journeyworker, maintenance electrician, and installers need 16 hours per renewal. At least 12 hours must be on the NEC. The remainder may be on electrical statutes and rules (chapters 3800 and 3801 and 326B.31 to 326B.399) or technical topics related to electrical installations. Power limited technicians need 16 hours with at least 4 on the NEC. Registered unlicensed individuals need 2 hours on the NEC every year.
• Approved programs only: Programs must be approved by DLI before presentation. Approved programs from other states can count if the other state's electrical licensing authority approved them.
• No partial credit: You must complete the entire program.
• Use once per license: A credit may be used once for a given renewal, but the same credit may be applied to each type of license you hold. Extra hours do not carry over.
• Certificates: Providers must give certificates and report attendance to DLI within 14 days. Keep your certificates.

Worked example

A journeyworker licensed 26 months ago completed an 8-hour NEC update course, a 4-hour course on the Minnesota Electrical Act and chapter 3800, and a 4-hour motor-controls technical course. Total hours are 8 + 4 + 4 = 16, but only 8 are on the NEC. Because at least 12 of the 16 hours must be NEC hours, the electrician still needs 4 more hours of NEC instruction before renewing. The rules-and-statutes course and the technical course both count only toward the remaining 4 hours.