(a) To obtain a license under this chapter, an applicant shall have attained such applicant’s eighteenth birthday and shall furnish such evidence of competency as the appropriate board or the Commissioner of Consumer Protection shall require. A recommendation for review issued pursuant to § 31-22u shall be sufficient to demonstrate such competency. The applicant shall satisfy such board or the commissioner that such applicant possesses a diploma or other evidence of graduation from the eighth grade of grammar school, or possesses an equivalent education to be determined on examination and has the requisite skill to perform the work in the trade for which such applicant is applying for a license and can comply with all other requirements of this chapter and the regulations adopted under this chapter. A recommendation for review issued pursuant to § 31-22u shall be sufficient to demonstrate that an applicant possesses such requisite skill and can comply with all other requirements of this chapter and the regulations adopted under this chapter. For any application submitted pursuant to this section that requires a hearing or other action by the applicable examining board or the commissioner, such hearing or other action by the applicable examining board or the commissioner shall occur not later than thirty days after the date of submission for such application. Upon application for any such license, the applicant shall pay to the department a nonrefundable application fee of ninety dollars for a license under subdivisions (2) and (3) of subsection (a) and subdivision (4) of subsection (e) of § 20-334a, or a nonrefundable application fee of one hundred fifty dollars for a license under subdivision (1) of subsection (a), subdivisions (1) and (2) of subsection (b), subdivision (1) of subsection (c) and subdivisions (1), (2) and (3) of subsection (e) of § 20-334a. Any such application fee shall be waived for persons who present a recommendation for review issued pursuant to § 31-22u.

(b) The department shall conduct such written, oral and practical examinations as the appropriate board, with the consent of the commissioner, deems necessary to test the knowledge of the applicant in the work for which a license is being sought. The department shall allow any applicant, who has not participated in an apprenticeship program but presents a recommendation for review issued pursuant to § 31-22u, to sit for any such examination. Any person completing the required apprentice training program for a journeyman’s license under § 20-334a shall, within thirty days following such completion, apply for a licensure examination given by the department. If an applicant does not pass such licensure examination, the commissioner shall provide each failed applicant with information on how to retake the examination and a report describing the applicant’s strengths and weaknesses in such examination. Any apprentice permit issued under § 20-334a to an applicant who fails three licensure examinations in any one-year period shall remain in effect if such applicant applies for and takes the first licensure examination given by the department following the one-year period from the date of such applicant’s third and last unsuccessful licensure examination. Otherwise, such permit shall be revoked as of the date of the first examination given by the department following expiration of such one-year period.

(c) The Commissioner of Consumer Protection, subject to § 46a-80, may deny a license or may issue a license pursuant to a consent order containing conditions that shall be met by the applicant if the applicant reports that he or she has been found guilty or convicted as a result of an act which constitutes a felony under (1) the laws of this state at the time of application for such license, (2) federal law at the time of application for such license, or (3) the laws of another jurisdiction, and which, if committed within this state, would constitute a felony under the laws of this state.

(d) When an applicant has qualified for a license, the department shall, upon receipt of the license fee or upon waiver of such fee pursuant to § 20-335, issue to such applicant a license entitling such applicant to engage in the work or occupation for which a license was sought and shall register each successful applicant’s name and address in the roster of licensed persons authorized to engage in the work or occupation within the appropriate board’s authority. All fees and other moneys collected by the department shall be promptly transmitted to the State Treasurer as provided in § 4-32.