Hawaii Journey Worker Electrician License: Requirements and How to Apply
What Hawaii requires for a Journey Worker Electrician license: 10,000 hours plus 240 hours of coursework, the board application, PSI's $95 exam fee, the license fee, renewal, and why there is no reciprocity.
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Hawaii Journey Worker Electrician License: Requirements and How to Apply
Hawaii licenses electricians statewide through the Board of Electricians and Plumbers, part of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA). The Journey Worker Electrician license is the one most Hawaii electricians hold: 2,784 were active in mid-2025. PSI gives the exam. Everything below comes from Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 448E, the board's rules (HAR Title 16, Chapter 80), the board's June 2026 application and PSI's candidate bulletin.
Experience and education
You need all of these:
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Age | 18 or older |
| Experience | Five years of full-time work, at least 10,000 hours, in residential or commercial electrical wiring under a licensed journey worker or supervising electrician |
| Coursework | 240 hours of electrical academic coursework, completed at or accepted by a University of Hawaii community college |
Your experience goes on notarized Experience Verification forms signed by the licensed electricians you worked under. Honolulu Community College reviews coursework, and the board publishes a list of approved programs.
Hawaii also licenses journey worker industrial (8,000 hours plus 200 hours of coursework) and journey worker specialty electricians (6,000 hours plus 120 hours), each with its own exam.
How to apply
- File the application with the board, with the $40 application fee, at least seven days before a board meeting.
- Wait for the approval letter. You can register with PSI a day after it arrives.
- Schedule and pay PSI: $95 per attempt, online at PSI's Hawaii site or by phone at (833) 333-4754.
- Pass within two years. Your approval is good for two years from the letter, with no limit on attempts in that time.
- Pay the license fee. It depends on where you are in the three-year licensing period: $306 in the first year, $204 in the second and $102 in the third.
The exam in brief
| Item | Hawaii Journey Worker Electrician |
|---|---|
| Vendor | PSI, at test centers in Honolulu, Kahului, Kailua-Kona and Kapaa |
| Scored questions | 70 (PSI may add up to 10 unscored) |
| Time | 3 hours |
| Passing score | 70% |
| Format | Open book, computer-based |
| Code | 2020 NEC, provided by PSI |
There is no law or business section. See what is on the exam for the full outline.
No reciprocity
Hawaii does not reciprocate with any other state. If you are licensed elsewhere, you still need to qualify under Hawaii's rules and pass the Hawaii exam.
Renewal
Licenses renew every three years, by June 30; the next renewal date is June 30, 2029. To renew, you complete a course on NEC updates given or approved by the University of Hawaii community colleges, or pass the board's NEC-updates exam.
Moving up to Supervising Electrician
After four years as a licensed journey worker, you can sit the Supervising Electrician exam. See the Hawaii Supervising Electrician requirements.
Practice for the exam
Only about one in five Journey Worker exams were passed from January to July 2026. Our Hawaii Journey Worker Electrician practice test is weighted like PSI's outline, and every question cites the 2020 NEC section you would look up on test day.
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