Tree Work Licenses and Working Near Power Lines

“Do I need a license to cut trees?” In some states the answer comes from a law written for tree work alone, separate from any general contractor license. And wherever you work, a tree near a power line brings in OSHA’s rules on who may work how close to it. This article goes through five states that license tree work, then the OSHA rules on power lines, including one that is easy to miss: trimming for a homeowner is not “line clearance,” whatever the job looks like.

Maryland: the Licensed Tree Expert

Maryland’s Tree Expert Law dates from 1945, and the state’s Forest Service puts it plainly: “All tree care professionals practicing in Maryland must obtain a Tree Expert license.” A tree expert is anyone who, for pay and under any title (arborist, tree surgeon or otherwise), treats, cares for or removes trees, including diagnosis, pruning, cabling and removal. The law does not cover commercial logging, the installation of underground facilities, or work on a tree 20 feet tall or less.

• Who qualifies: an applicant 18 or older with two years of approved college in forestry, arboriculture, horticulture or the like plus one year with a licensed tree expert, or three years in continuous practice with one, who then passes the state exam.
• Insurance: every licensee must carry and show proof of liability and property damage insurance and comply with workers’ compensation requirements. The license is renewed every two years.
• Your number in public: the Forest Service’s February 2026 brochure says Maryland law requires licensed tree experts to display their license number on trucks, proposals, contracts and advertisements.
• Crews: the licensee is responsible for all work done under the license, and an employee working under a licensed tree expert’s supervision may not need a license of his own.
• Roadside trees: a tree growing in the public road right-of-way needs a Tree Care Permit from the Forest Service before it is trimmed or removed, and the work is done by a licensed tree expert or a Roadside Tree Care Expert, or under one’s supervision.

A first conviction for working without a license is a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $500, and the responsibility falls on the person doing the tree work, not the homeowner who hired him.

New Jersey: two licenses and a registered business

New Jersey’s Tree Expert and Tree Care Operator Licensing Act (N.J.S.A. 45:15C-11 and following) creates two individual licenses. A Licensed Tree Care Operator covers “tree pruning, repairing, brush cutting or removal, tree removal, and stump grinding or removal”; a Licensed Tree Expert covers all of that plus diagnosis, fertilization, cabling, consulting, risk assessment and more (45:15C-12). The operator license calls for, among the routes, three years of continuous work in arboriculture and a board exam (45:15C-17).

The business side matters as much as the license. Every business providing these services must register with the Board of Tree Experts every two years, with proof of general liability insurance and workers’ compensation, and with at least one licensed tree expert or tree care operator at the main office and at each branch (45:15C-22). Licenses are issued to people, never in the name of a company (45:15C-18). Each licensee needs 32 continuing education credits per two-year renewal (45:15C-19), and each tree care business must train its employees in safe work to ANSI standards and send the board documentation of its training program every year (45:15C-23).

Connecticut: a license for “arboriculture”

In Connecticut, “no person shall advertise, solicit or contract to do arboriculture” without a license from the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection (Conn. Gen. Stat. §23-61b). Read the definition closely: arboriculture is work for hire “to improve the condition of fruit, shade or ornamental trees” by feeding, fertilizing, pruning, trimming, bracing, treating cavities or protecting them from insects and disease (§23-61a). The exam covers tree care methods and pesticides, the application fee is $200, the license fee is $285, and a license runs for up to five years. The business needs its own paper too: no one may operate an arborist business without a certificate of registration from the same commissioner, naming the licensed arborist it employs and expiring each August 31 (§23-61h). A licensed arborist counts as a certified applicator under the state’s pesticide law; the pesticide side of the trades is in Pesticide Applicator Licenses.

California: from D-49 to C-49

California licenses tree work through the Contractors State License Board. Since January 1, 2024, new tree contractors apply for the C-49 Tree and Palm Contractor classification, which covers planting, maintaining and removing trees and palms, pruning, stump grinding and guying. The board stopped accepting applications for the older C-61/D-49 Tree Service classification; holders of a D-49 issued before 2024 may keep working under it, and every C-49 applicant sits the trade exam regardless of other classifications held. Incidental pruning by a nursery person or a gardener is left out of the license requirement. The general rules on when a California license is needed at all, including the small-job limit, are in Contractor Licensing in California.

Louisiana: an arborist license, renewed every year

Louisiana’s Department of Agriculture and Forestry says arborist licenses “are required if you work on trees for a fee,” covering removal, pruning, trimming, cabling, fertilization and cavity work, with a separate Utility Arborist License for work along utility rights-of-way. The exam fee is $150, the passing score 70 percent, and the license fee $125 a year. Every license expires January 31, and keeping it takes proof of liability and workers’ compensation insurance where applicable, continuing education, and a written contract with each property owner stating the work and the price.

Outside these five, check your state’s contractor board and your city before you assume nothing applies; Do I Need a Contractor License? shows how to find the rule.

Power lines: homeowner work is not line clearance

OSHA’s standard for electric utility work, 29 CFR 1910.269, has its own rules for “line-clearance tree trimming,” with trained line-clearance tree trimmers, minimum approach distances by voltage, a second trimmer within voice range in some conditions, and insulated tools for branches near the conductors. But it applies only to trimming done to clear space around utility lines “on behalf of an organization that operates, or that controls the operating procedures for, those lines.” The note to its definition says trimming done for a homeowner or a business that does not run the lines “is outside the scope of this section.”

For a residential tree crew, that sends you to the general electrical work rules, 29 CFR 1910.333(c)(3):

• First choice: take the hazard away. Lines near the work are to be de-energized and grounded, or other protective measures provided, before work starts, with the arrangements made through whoever operates the lines. In practice, that is a call to the utility.
• Ten feet in the tree. An unqualified person working in an elevated position, together with the longest conductive object he may contact, cannot come closer than 10 feet to an unguarded, energized overhead line at 50 kV or below to ground, plus 4 inches for every 10 kV above that.
• Ten feet on the ground too. A person on the ground may not bring any conductive object within the same distances. The rule’s note is blunt about tools: objects without an insulating rating for the voltage involved are considered conductive.
• Ten feet for the machines. Vehicles and equipment that can raise parts of their structure near energized lines, such as a bucket truck or a crane, must keep 10 feet of clearance, again more above 50 kV. The exceptions are narrow, such as an aerial lift insulated for the voltage and worked by a qualified person. Workers on the ground may not touch the vehicle unless they use protective equipment rated for the voltage or the equipment is placed so no uninsulated part can come closer to the line than allowed.

One more surprise for crews that rent a crane: OSHA’s construction crane standard says plainly that it “does not cover” tree trimming and tree removal work (29 CFR 1926.1400(c)(13)). Its power line section, with its 20-foot planning distance for lines up to 350 kV (29 CFR 1926.1408), is not written for your job; plan from the general industry rules above and their 10 feet. If the crane company plans the lift to 20 feet anyway, let it. Nothing in either rule stops you from keeping more distance than the minimum.

What this means on the estimate

1. Ask about wires before anything else. Lines through or near the crown, including the one that runs to the house, change the job.
2. Treat every line as energized until the utility says otherwise.
3. Call the utility first for anything within reach of the 10-foot rule. What it offers varies, and whatever it decides comes before your price.
4. Price it after the visit, never from a photo; Pricing Tree Removal covers the rest of the number.
5. Put your license number where your state wants it, and keep the insurance certificates your state’s registration asks for current.

More on running a tree business is on the tree service page.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and vary by state; check with the agency named above or a professional for your situation.