Washington Finalizes Its EV Charging Rule October 20. Exams Change Too.

Washington's Department of Labor and Industries is scheduled to adopt a rewritten set of electrical rules on October 20, putting into regulation a certification requirement for electricians who install electric vehicle charging equipment on publicly funded projects and changing how candidates sit for the certificate of competency exam. The changes take effect November 20.

The filing, Order 25-20, entered the Washington State Register as WSR 26-15-061 on July 14 and drew a public hearing in Tumwater on August 26. It implements Substitute Senate Bill 5528, chapter 233 of the 2025 session laws, which cleared the Senate 29-17 and the House 62-34 and took effect January 1, 2026. The rule creates a new section, WAC 296-46B-941, and amends three others covering the administrator certificate, the training certificate, and competency examinations.

Under the new section, electrical work on the installation and maintenance of electric vehicle supply equipment on public works must be performed by someone certified through the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program or a similar nationally recognized program. Public works, as defined in RCW 39.04.010, covers construction, alteration, repair, or improvement other than ordinary maintenance paid for by the state or any municipality, including cities, counties, towns, and port districts. The EVITP online course runs 20 hours and costs $275.

The requirement carries limits written into the statute. It applies only while the training program remains open to all general journey-level electricians, and it reaches only the electrical components of the work. Apprentices are exempt when the journey-level electrician supervising them holds the certification, and projects already under contract as of January 1, 2026 are exempt outright. Working uncertified is a violation subject to civil penalties, as is employing an uncertified installer, and a designated master electrician or administrator who fails to confirm certification faces a penalty of their own.

The same rulemaking loosens the examination process. The window to pass the electrician certificate of competency exam doubles from one year to two, measured from the date the department approves the application. Administrator candidates no longer need department approval at all and instead schedule directly with the designated testing agency, with a two-year window that opens at the first attempt. The wait to retest after a failing score is set at 14 days, and the wait after three failures inside a period drops from three months to 60 days. Testing accommodations now run through the testing agency under federal disability and limited-English-proficiency standards rather than through the chief electrical inspector with a physician's documentation.

A separate Labor and Industries rulemaking is moving on a parallel track to replace the 2023 National Electrical Code with the 2026 edition on December 31, with final rules expected November 17. For electricians on Washington's publicly funded charging work, the certification requirement lands first.