California is one of just 12 states that does not have state licensure for applied behavior analysts. Despite efforts in recent years to regulate the profession in the state, California’s applied behavior analysts are not recognized through a formal state licensure process.
The Fight to Regulate the Applied Behavior Analysis Profession in California
2016 brought about hope that through the regulation and licensure of behavior analysts in California, only qualified professionals would provide care to the state’s most vulnerable populations, including children with autism, behavioral disorders, and brain injuries. However, opposing groups feared this legislation was inadequate and would negatively affect the services that children with special needs receive.
Contributing to the demand for behavior analysts in California is Senate Bill 946 (effective July 1, 2012), which requires healthcare service plan contracts and health insurance policies to provide coverage for behavioral health treatment for individuals with autism and other developmental disorders.
This insurance mandate requires health insurers to maintain an adequate network of providers, including qualified autism service providers. The bill encompasses the provision of several evidence-based therapies, including applied behavioral analysis (ABA).
As a result of the adoption of SB 946, the demand for ABA services in California has increased dramatically, greatly precipitating the need to adopt standards and procedures for protecting consumers.
The Introduction of Bill 1715
With this in mind, Assembly Majority Floor Leader Chris Holden (D- Pasadena) introduced Assembly Bill 1715 in January 2016, which was designed to protect children with autism and other individuals receiving behavior analysis services by ensuring that only qualified professionals can provide them with care. The California Association for Behavior Analysis (CalABA) has been a vocal proponent of AB 1715.
According to Holden, because of the increase in behavior analysis services to children in California, the states must protect “autistic children, as well as other who can benefit from behavior analytic services, from those who falsely claim they are qualified to practice behavior analysis.”
Withdrawal of the Bill
Not everyone in California was in favor of AB 1715, including FACT (Family, Adult, and Child Therapies), California’s Association of Regional Center Agencies, and the Behavioral Intervention Association, all of whom provide behavior analysis services to children and their families in California.
According to these groups, AB 1715 would make all behavioral services more difficult to receive in California because the behavioral services are defined broadly as those which “produce socially significant improvements;” therefore, they felt that any practitioner of behavioral health needs to meet these state requirements, thereby severely limiting the already low number of providers offering these services. In short, they believe that the bill’s language will limit the ability of other professionals that provide behavioral services to provide care.
In June 2016, the California Association for Behavioral Analysts (CalABA) and the bill’s author, Assembly Majority Floor Leader Chris Holden, made the difficult decision not to move forward with AB 1715 due to opposition, even though it won approval from the Business and Professions Committee (14-0), the Assembly Appropriations Committee (15-1), and the full Assembly (74-1).
As a result, the California legislature withdrew the bill from further consideration.
Today’s Practice of ABA in California
Currently, no laws exist in California that require professionals to document and demonstrate training and competence in applied behavior analysis, and no entity that has the legal authority to regulate the practice. But that hasn’t stopped applied behavior analysts from earning national certification in support of their profession.
As ABA therapy becomes more widely recognized, not just in California but across the nation, the number of credentialed ABA professionals has increased dramatically. According to the California Association for Behavior Analysis, a state membership organization for the profession, the number of BACB-certified professionals in California has risen by 32 percent between 2017 and 2019. Between 2011 and 2019, the state has seen a 1.6x rise in demand, year over year, for BCBAs®.
The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), a nonprofit organization that offers national certification for ABA professionals at three levels, provides California’s applied behavior analysts and assistant behavior analysts with one of three nationally recognized credentials:
- Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA®)
- Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst®(BCaBA®)
- Registered Behavior Technician®(RBT®)
According to the California Association for Behavior Analysis (CalABA), BCBA® certification is becoming an increasingly recognized credential and is recognized by the State of California, Department of Developmental Disabilities. Also, the credential is being required for practitioners of behavioral interventions in many regional centers and schools throughout the state.
Independent practitioners of ABA services in California regularly hold the BCBA® certification, which requires earning a minimum of a master’s degree in behavior analysis or a similar field, completing a course of supervised training, and passing the BACB examination. Read more about becoming a BCBA® here.
Education Requirements
You can meet the requirements for BCBA® certification by:
- Earning a master’s degree from an Association for Professional Behavior Analysts (APBA)-accredited program or an Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI)-accredited or recognized behavior analysis master’s or doctoral degree.
OR
- Earning a master’s degree or above in behavior analysis or a similar field like psychology or education and completing 315 hours of graduate coursework in behavior analysis that includes:
- BACB Ethics Code and Code-Enforcement System; Professionalism: 45 hours
- Philosophical Underpinnings; Concepts and Principles: 90 hours
- Measurement, Data Display and Interpretation; Experimental Design: 45 hours
- Behavior Assessment: 45 hours
- Behavior-Change Procedures; Selecting and Implementing Interventions: 60 hours
- Personnel Supervision and Management: 60 hours
If you are applying for BCBA® certification based on graduate coursework, can meet this requirement through:
- Course-by-Course Review: A course-by-course review involves your department chair, dean, or BCBA-certified VCS Coordinator reviewing your course materials and completing a Non-Verified Course Content Attestation.
- Verified Course Sequence (VCS): A VCS is a set of courses that have already been verified by the ABAI as meeting coursework requirements for BCBA® The ABAI Verified Course Sequence Directory maintains a list of these programs.*
*Note: The ABAI announced that it is ending the VCS system on December 31, 2025. Beginning in 2026, verification must occur through the student’s university (course-by-course review) to demonstrate that the coursework standards have been met.
Supervised Practicum Requirements
As part of your graduate education in behavior analysis, you must complete a period of supervised experiential training. To earn BCBA® certification, this must include at least one of the following:
- 2,000 hours of Supervised Independent Fieldwork: Requires a less intensive course of supervision (5% of fieldwork hours)
- 1,500 hours of Concentrated Supervised Fieldwork: Requires a more intensive course of supervision (10% of fieldwork hours)
You can begin earning the required supervised hours of fieldwork as soon as you begin taking your qualifying graduate-level behavior-analytic coursework and have secured a qualifying supervisor. Your program director can help you locate and secure a qualified supervisor and site.
During this time, you must complete between 20 hours (minimum) and130 hours (maximum) of fieldwork during each monthly supervisory period. Fieldwork includes activities such as:
- Observation and data collection
- Training staff and caregivers
- Conducting assessments
- Meeting with clients
- Data graphing and analysis
- Research literature relevant to a client’s programming
- Writing and revising programs
Board Certified Behavior Analyst Examination
You must then take and pass the Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA®) examination through the Behavior Analyst Certification Board.
Pearson VUE administers the BCBA® at 26 exam sites throughout California.
The BCBA exam includes 175 scored questions and 104 tasks that are divided into the following domains:
- Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations: 5%
- Concepts and Principles: 14%
- Measurement, Data Display, and Interpretation: 12%
- Experimental Design: 7%
- Ethical and Professional Issues: 13%
- Behavior Assessment: 13%
- Behavior-Change Procedures: 14%
- Selecting and Implementing Interventions: 11%
- Personnel Supervision and Management: 11%
You will be notified of your test results at the testing site as soon as you complete the exam.
The BCBA® credential must be renewed every two years upon the completion of 32 units of approved continuing education.
ABA Providers in California
According to a BACB 2024 report, California ranked first in the nation for its number of job postings for BCBAs® in 2023 at 12,084. Just some of the top ABA providers in the state include:
- The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) is one of the world’s largest ABA treatment providers. Founded by renowned autism expert and clinical psychologist Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh, Ph.D., BCBA-D, CARD offers center-based services that focus on one-on-one ABA sessions for children, adolescents, and adults. They have California locations in Clovis, Fresno, Visalia, Madera, and Tulare.
- Dream Big offers center-based early intervention and autism services, with ABA services offered in an open-play environment. They have multiple locations throughout Southern California, including Monrovia, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, Rancho Mirage, Apple Valley, Visalia, and more.
- Butterfly Effects is one of the largest ABA providers in the nation. Home to more than 100 BCBAs® and more than a thousand behavior technicians, Butterfly Effects applies an interdisciplinary approach to treatment for children with significant learning needs. They have a center in Fresno, although they serve clients throughout California, including Alameda, Anaheim, Brentwood, Fremont, Garden Grove, Los Angeles, Modesto, Oakland, and Sacramento.
- Evolution has been a comprehensive provider of ABA services since 2016. They offer one-on-one therapy with ABA therapists, functional behavior assessments, and caregiver collaboration services in San Clemente.
- Behavior Frontiers is an ABA provider in the San Diego and Sacramento area that provides home-based and center-based services. They provide ABA services for children through their California Regional Centers, nonprofit private companies that contract with the California Department of Developmental Disabilities.