BBS Announcement: Order Extending Eligibility Periods to Take or Retake Examinations for Clinical Social Worker Applicants

From the CA Board of Behavioral Sciences:

Pursuant to the Governor’s Executive Order N-39-20, during the current State of
Emergency, the Director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs (Director)
may waive any statutory or regulatory requirements with respect to a professional
license issued pursuant to Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code (BPC). This
includes professional licenses issued by the Board of Behavioral Sciences (Board).

The Director has granted the Board’s request to extend examination eligibility for
marriage and family therapist (LMFT), educational psychologist (LEP), clinical social
worker (LCSW) and professional clinical counselor (LPCC) applicants that failed to take
or retake a required examination, and whose one-year eligibility to take or re-take the
examination expired between March 31, 2020 and November 30, 2020.

Instead of having one year to take or retake the examination, these individuals will
instead have 20 months to take or retake the examination. For individuals who have not
taken the required exam yet, the 20-month timeframe starts on the date the applicant
was notified of initial eligibility to take the examination. For individuals who need to
retake a required exam, the 20-month timeframe starts on the date the applicant most
recently participated in the exam.

A link to the text of the waiver can be found here.

The full text of the announcement can be found here in PDF form: https://bbs.ca.gov/pdf/exam_retake_faq.pdf