Louisiana HB953
Falls Church, Va. — On June 12, 2026, Governor Jeff Landry signed HB953 into regulation — and with it, Louisiana enacted what PHCC believes to be essentially the most damaging rollback of plumbing licensure requirements seen wherever within the nation in latest reminiscence. For context: in 2019, the Texas Legislature almost allowed its state plumbing licensing board to sundown totally earlier than Governor Greg Abbott intervened to protect it. HB953 doesn’t go that far, however in some methods, what it does is extra consequential.
The HB935 regulation doesn’t get rid of plumbing licensure, nevertheless it dismantles the unbiased governance construction that has made Louisiana’s plumbing licensing framework efficient. The State Plumbing Board of Louisiana — till now the one constructing commerce within the state with its personal unbiased regulatory authority — is being folded into the Louisiana State Licensing Board of Contractors as a subcommittee, with the Board of Contractors assuming final authority over license issuance. Selections that had been as soon as made by material consultants and skilled plumbing professionals will now be made by a physique with out that specialised experience.
Hours Requirement
Probably the most consequential provision in HB953, nevertheless, entails hours necessities. Starting Jan. 1, 2027, apprentices will want solely 2,500 hours to take a seat for the journeyman’s examination, and journeymen will want only one,000 hours of labor expertise to be eligible for a contractor’s license. These reductions create a compounding threat: less-prepared employees getting into the market quicker, at each stage of the licensing pipeline.
Louisiana just isn’t an remoted case. PHCC has been monitoring a troubling sample throughout the nation as states and localities pursue the weakening of constructing commerce licensing necessities, constructing code freezes, and broad reciprocity agreements — all beneath the banner of housing affordability. California has seen residential code freezes. North Carolina is weighing a proposal for limitless licensing reciprocity with no analysis of whether or not different states preserve comparable requirements. What was as soon as a largely partisan coverage posture is now drawing bipartisan help, as a result of the affordability argument is politically interesting — no matter what it truly prices in constructing security, workforce high quality, and long-term resilience.
The issue with that logic is easy: reducing corners doesn’t decrease prices, it defers them. Work completed by undertrained palms creates failures that should be repaired — and people repairs price excess of the financial savings ever justified. Extra basically, the plumbing and HVAC trades aren’t an abstraction. They’re the methods that ship clear water, preserve indoor air high quality, and defend the well being and security of each constructing occupant. The general public threat of weakening the requirements that govern this work is actual and critical.
PHCC urges state and native chapters and business companions to take this second critically. Interact your elected officers proactively. Make the case for a well-trained workforce and a rigorous licensing framework — not as a matter {of professional} self-interest, however as a matter of public well being and security. And know that PHCC stands able to help you in that work. PHCC will probably be rolling out a brand new webpage of assets and tales that can be utilized to assist make these arguments in state capitals throughout the nation. Keep tuned for that and extra, and you probably have any questions within the meantime, please attain out at [email protected].
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