OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) – An Oklahoma senator is fighting to increase the number of plumbers as the state faces a growing workforce shortage in the plumbing industry.
Sen. David Bullard- R-Durant, wrote Senate Bill 112 to help remedy the plumbing industry’s decreasing workforce. The bill makes it easier for qualified plumbers to get professionally licensed by the state so that they can officially operate as a residential journeyman plumber.
“The bill is attempting to help your plumbers around the state by giving them a two-year residential option to go sit for the [professional license] test. That’s not to just get an automatic license; it’s two years you can go sit to take a test on residential plumbing only. If you pass that test, then you’re ready to go as a residential-only journeyman plumber,” Bullard said while speaking with Oklahoma Business Voice. “If not, then they would move to a typical three-year process, which would be residential and commercial. And we left the contractors in charge of that. If the contractor feels like you’re ready to go sit for the test, then you go take the test in two years, if not, it’s three.”
SB 112 also states that plumbers who move to Oklahoma and have an out-of-state license would be qualified to be a journeyman plumber in Oklahoma.
Bullard’s bill also gives special consideration to plumbers who served in the military.
“My bill also expands reciprocity for those who gained valuable plumbing experience as part of the armed forces or honed their craft in another state,” Bullard said. “These proven strategies have already worked to get more electricians into the field. I look forward to continuing to work on innovative solutions to meet our state’s growing workforce needs.”
An analysis by John Dunham & Associates, a research company in Longboat Key, Fla., shows that the United States is expected to be 550,000 plumbers short by 2027. The study states that the gap cost the nation’s economy $22 billion in 2022.
Trade professions, including plumbing, are lucrative professions that pay well.
CareerExplorer states that Oklahoma plumbers earn an average annual salary of $47,490.
“If you want to make a lot of money right now, go get in a trade. I think we’ve proven the fact that you don’t have to go to college to have a better life,” Bullard said. “Right now, we are in desperate need of people in the trades and the plumbing industry. If you want to make a lot of money and have a good career, go be a plumber.
And we are short on that workforce.”
Oklahoma cannot attract top companies looking to expand if it does not have sufficient housing, and houses cannot be built without plumbers, Bullard said.
“In order to get companies to come here, you have to have houses. In order to build those houses, you have to have plumbers. So, if you don’t have the plumbers, you don’t have the houses. If you don’t have the houses, you don’t have the companies come here. If we want to continue to develop, there’s several steps that we have to take,” Bullard said. “And it’s not giving money to companies. It’s having things ready. Infrastructure, good schools and a housing industry that’s ready to house those people who want to come here and work here. In order to do that, you got to have a strong traits and so that’s what we’re working towards.”
SB 112 passed the Oklahoma Senate with a 29-18 vote. It has moved to the Oklahoma House of Representatives for further consideration.
