2.3 Master Electrician Waiver

A municipal master electrician (ME) license does not automatically replace the DOS Security or Fire Alarm Installer license. GBL §69-pp and 19 NYCRR 195.2(e) create a waiver that still requires a filing with the Secretary of State. Independent OpenExamPrep materials for the New York Security or Fire Alarm Installer exam treat the waiver as a DOS paperwork path, not a silent exemption.

Two Different Master Electrician Paths

There are two practical paths, and mixing their fees and fingerprint rules is a common exam trap.

Local-only waiver. A master electrician licensed by a municipality is waived from Article 6-D for work in that municipality upon registration with SOS. Per application DOS-1587-f-a (Rev. 12/24), local-only registration is $50 initially and $50 to renew, and fingerprints are not required for local-only registration. The geographic limit is strict: the waiver follows the municipal ME license. Work outside the municipality where the person is a licensed master electrician requires the full DOS installer license.

Statewide master electrician path. Education, experience, and examination are waived, but the person still applies to DOS, pays $200, is fingerprinted, and lists the jurisdictions where the person holds a master electrician license. This is the path that lets an ME work beyond a single municipality without sitting the 81-hour course and the written exam. It is not the $50 local registration.

If an ME wants to install a fire alarm in a town where that person is not the licensed master electrician, local-only registration is not enough. Either obtain the full DOS installer license (typical Path A: 81-hour course plus this written exam) or complete the statewide ME application with fingerprints and the $200 fee.

What the Waiver Does and Does Not Remove

The 3,500-hour Path B experience route is not the master electrician waiver. Path B is only for New York hours from October 1, 1989 through September 30, 1992. An ME who started in 2010 cannot substitute 3,500 hours for the exam unless that person uses a genuine ME waiver path above.

Municipal Licenses Created After July 15, 1993

Municipal master electrician licenses created after July 15, 1993 do not support a waiver unless the Secretary of State finds that the standards are not lower than Article 6-D. A new local ME card is not a blank check. If the municipality's ME licensing scheme is newer than that date, the candidate should not assume SOS will honor it for an Article 6-D waiver without that SOS finding.

Exam items may offer a technician who obtained an ME license from a village that first created the license in 2005 and who never registered with SOS. That person is not waived. Even if SOS later finds the standards sufficient, the person must still complete the SOS filing. There is no "I have a local card, so I skip DOS entirely" rule.

Loss of the Master Electrician License

If a master electrician license is lost, the person must notify the Secretary of State. The waiver may be suspended. The DOS filing is parasitic on the underlying municipal ME credential. When that credential disappears, SOS can suspend the waiver. Do not assume the DOS registration stays valid for the remainder of a two-year term after the ME license is gone.

"Lost" in this teaching includes the practical exam fact patterns: the municipality revokes or does not renew the ME license, or the person no longer holds it. Notify SOS; expect the waiver to be at risk. To keep performing alarm work, the person needs a restored ME license plus a living SOS waiver, or a full DOS installer license.

Registration Is Not Optional

195.2(e) implements the statutory waiver. The ME does not become unregulated. Local-only MEs still register. Statewide MEs still apply, pay $200, and fingerprint. Both remain subject to Article 6-D rules that still apply to licensees and registrants, including employee identification and advertising rules covered in later chapters. The waiver removes the need to complete the 81-hour course and this written exam for qualifying ME applicants; it does not erase DOS as the statewide licensing agency.

Exam-Day Decision Order

1. Is the person a municipal master electrician?
2. Was that municipal ME license scheme created after July 15, 1993? If yes, a waiver exists only if SOS finds the standards are not lower than Article 6-D.
3. Does the person only need to work inside the ME municipality? If yes, SOS local registration ($50 / $50, no fingerprints per the application) can be the path.
4. Will the person work outside that municipality? Then local registration is not enough; use the statewide ME application ($200, fingerprints, list of jurisdictions) or the full installer license with the 81-hour course and this exam.
5. If the ME license is lost, notify SOS; the waiver may be suspended.

A Buffalo ME registered locally who then takes a fire-alarm contract in Rochester needs the full DOS installer license or the statewide ME path. A Rochester job is not "close enough." The statute's geography is the municipality of the ME license, not the county and not the state.

Keep the fee numbers attached to the correct path. Paying $50 does not buy statewide work. Paying $200 on the statewide ME path does not waive fingerprints. Local-only is the path that skips fingerprints per the application; statewide is the path that skips the 81-hour course and this exam but still fingerprints and lists jurisdictions.