BATON ROUGE, LA — On Monday, June 1, the Louisiana Home of Representatives handed Home Invoice 953 (2026), a plumbing licensing invoice sponsored by Consultant Bryan Fontenot.

The laws makes a number of modifications to how plumbers are licensed and controlled in Louisiana, together with dissolving the State Plumbing Board of Louisiana—an establishment that has overseen plumbing requirements for greater than 100 years—and transferring all plumbing regulation underneath the authority of the State Contractors Board of Louisiana.

“It is a energy seize,” Trey Giglio, Vice President of Common Mechanical in Shreveport, and President of the Louisiana Chapter of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Affiliation stated. “[General] contractors need to management plumbers. They need to drive down the prices of subcontractors with the intention to drive their income up.”

A Public Well being ‘Catastrophe’

Whereas the invoice’s sponsors have offered the laws as a strategy to handle the scarcity of plumbers within the state by streamlining the licensing course of, the PHCCLA is sounding the alarm: apprentices will obtain much less coaching (from 8,000 hours of on-the-job coaching to 2,500), what constitutes a coaching hour could possibly be redefined, and what constitutes an apprenticeship could possibly be redefined—all to the detriment of the career.

Giglio notes that the Contractors Board will now additionally management the examination course of and what the examination seems to be like. The Contractors Board has by no means in its historical past issued a person license in Louisiana, they’ve solely licensed firms.

“It is a catastrophe for the general public well being of the residents of the state,” Giglio stated, “and in a state like Louisiana, the place we have now an insurance coverage premium drawback, that is definitely going to exacerbate that drawback when we have now unqualified folks coping with pure gasoline and water.”

Nationwide Issues

No matter cash builders is likely to be saving will most likely imply elevated upkeep prices for business and residential constructing homeowners. After builders have completed a venture and offered it, their monetary and authorized obligations sometimes finish. The brand new homeowners would then be caught with sub-standard plumbing programs and have to take care of the failures of these programs months or years after the actual fact.  

“Now we have a real concern about watering down licensure and about the best way that that is being achieved,” Dan Quinonez, the incoming CEO of PHCC-Nationwide stated. “It is a very short-sighted effort to avoid wasting cash on their half, however in the long term, it is damaging to shoppers. No doubt, we’ll see the ramifications of this effort, and it’ll are available in many kinds, not the least of which might be shoppers struggling to repay costly repairs.”

The PHCC Nationwide group intends to foyer and advocate in state capitols, educating legislators on the significance of licensure.

“Fortunately, there’s been some proactive efforts in states like Georgia to stop strikes like this,” Quinonez stated, “however different states may begin considering, oh, this is a chance… Hopefully we will work to stem the tide.”

Quinonez famous that, together with potential pushback from insurance coverage firms, knowledge middle builders—with their exacting specs and zero-downtime calls for—may additionally have considerations concerning the dependability of a state’s plumbing licensure.

Subsequent Steps

The invoice now strikes to the desk of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. The Governor has ten days (till June 10) to both signal or veto the laws. After that the invoice routinely turns into regulation.

The PHCCLA has filed a petition to veto with the Governor’s workplace. That petition concludes with:

We stay dedicated to working together with your administration, the Legislature, the State Licensing Board for Contractors, and all stakeholders on laws that responsibly expands Louisiana’s plumbing workforce whereas preserving the requirements obligatory to guard public well being, public security, and the integrity of the commerce.

The PHCCLA urges all events to contact the Governor’s workplace straight, or through the workplace of the Governor’s legislative suggestions website: gov.louisiana.gov/web page/provide-feedback-on-legislation.

What the Invoice Does (and Does Not) Do

In Its ultimate model, the invoice does the next:

Dismantles the State Plumbing Board of Louisiana; all plumbing regulation is moved underneath the authority of the State Contractors Board of Louisiana.

Strikes all properties and monies owned by the plumbing board to the contractors board.

Provides two seats for energetic licensed plumbers to be nominated by the Louisiana Pipe Trades and PHCCLA.

Creates the Plumbing Sub-committee, with eleven members: Three plumbers from PHCCLA, three plumbers from Pipe Trades, one from Basic Contractors Affiliation, one from ABC Louisiana, one from Dwelling Builders Affiliation, and two at giant members (one within the enterprise of plumbing, and one not affiliated with any plumbing). The subcommittee might be chaired and vice-chaired by two members appointed by the contractor board chair.

The Plumbing Sub-Committee could prescribe, undertake and implement guidelines and laws.

Requires a report from the Plumbing Sub-Committee to the legislature in 2027 relative to the recruitment and progress of minority participation within the business.

Creates Grasp Plumbing Contractor in a position to contract to carry out plumbing work for any construction, and qualifies as LMP.

Creates Residential Plumbing Contractor in a position to contract to carry out work on constructions as much as three flooring in top, and qualifies as LJP or LMP.

Apprentice Plumbers qualify for Journeyman Plumber license after 2,500 hours.

Journeyman Plumbers qualify for Grasp Plumber license after 1,000 hours.

Will increase the ratio of journeyman to apprentice from 1:1 to 1:3.

Permits for guidelines and laws to be promulgated relative to candidates from different states, in compliance with the Welcome Dwelling Act.

Nonetheless, the invoice doesn’t: 

Present in any respect for medical gasoline or backflow prevention. 

Give ultimate authority of any issues to the Plumbing Sub-Committee—all selections should be ratified by the complete contractors board.

Present Plumbing Sub-Committee direct oversight over examinations or apprenticeships.

Require a journeyman plumber any additional qualification to be eligible for a Residential Plumbing Contractor classification.

Present for any charges —for renewals, fines, functions, and so forth. (The invoice creator and events have indicated that this might be dealt with within the subsequent legislative session.)

Present for any formal coaching as an apprenticeship program. The invoice solely references an “apprenticeship” and doesn’t specify what meaning, nor does it incentivize standardized coaching.

CONTRACTOR will proceed to comply with this story because it develops.