Bob,
I hear this misconception all the time. There is not a single AHJ who has supreme power over every thing you do. There are many AHJs who each have some authority over what we do for a living.
In CT, each local town will have the local AHJ (building official), and the State has the State Building Inspector, who the local AHJ may have to answer to.
The NEC references the AHJ as the person, organization or office that has authority over the electrical installation, such power often being granted by legislative act. (Article 100, check out the FPN)
Every job has multiple AHJs. (Even in Mass.) We all answer to the fire marshal, the electrical inspector, the building official, the licensing inspector, the insurance company and the tax collector. All of these are authorities having jurisdiction over some aspect of our work, often overlapping.
