Reference · 16 CCR §§1886–1886.80 · read 11 September 2026
A citation is not an accusation, and the clock on it is thirty days.
Most Board enforcement that touches an ordinary practice never becomes a published decision. It is a citation: a written order from the executive officer, with a fine, an order to fix the thing, and a right to contest that expires in thirty days. The fines are capped, the caps move for six named circumstances, and an unpaid one does something people do not expect — it attaches to the next renewal, and the license does not renew until it is paid.
What a citation is →What a citation is
An order from the executive officer, in writing, with the facts in it.
The authority sits with one person: §1886 lets the Board’s executive officer decide when and against whom a citation issues, and to attach orders of abatement and fines. It reaches licensees and associates alike — marriage and family therapists, educational psychologists, clinical social workers, professional clinical counselors, and associates in all three registrations — and §1886.10 extends the same authority to people practicing without a license at all, where every citation carries an order of abatement and the sanction is “separate from and in addition to any other civil or criminal remedies.”
§1886.20: a citation issues whenever a fine is levied or an order of abatement made, and it must “describe with particularity the nature and facts of each violation, including a reference to the statute(s) or regulation(s) alleged to have been violated.” A citation that does not say what you are supposed to have done has not met its own rule.
The same section requires service under Government Code §11505(c), and requires the citation to tell the cited person of the right to contest it. The date of service is the date the thirty-day clock starts.
The citation sets a time to correct the violation. §1886.60(a) allows a written request for an extension, made within that time, where conditions beyond the person’s control prevented correction after reasonable diligence.
Two things a citation is not
It is not the accusation-and-hearing track that produces the decisions in the discipline case library — and under §1886.50 a citation will not issue where the conduct is severe enough that revocation or restriction is needed for consumer protection, or where the person failed to comply with a previous citation. A citation arriving is, in that narrow sense, the Board treating the matter as correctable.
What it can cost
Two ceilings, one unit change, and a separate regime for confidentiality.
| Category | Ceiling | Measured | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary citable offense | $2,500 | per investigation | The general ceiling in §1886.40(c), with no duplicate fines for the same violation. |
| Aggravated by any of six circumstances | $5,000 | per investigation | Two or more prior similar citations; multiple violations showing willful disregard; a minor, elder, dependent adult or person with a disability; unlicensed practice; an unauthorized breach of confidentiality not pleaded under the CMIA; or failure to submit fingerprints as required. |
| Fraudulent billing to an insurer, Medi-Cal or Medicare | $5,000 | per violation or count | §1886.40(e) changes the unit of measurement, not just the number. Counts multiply. |
| Confidentiality of Medical Information Act | Civ. §56.36 | as that section provides | The Board’s own ceilings do not apply; the CMIA’s do, and §56.36(d)’s factors replace the seven in §1886.30(a). |
From 16 CCR §1886.40. A “citable offense” is any violation of the statutes and regulations the Board enforces — Business and Professions Code chapters 13, 13.5, 14 and 16, Title 16 Division 18 of the regulations, and the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act.
The first factor in §1886.30(a), and the one the rest are read against.
Named as such: “the good or bad faith exhibited by the cited person”.
Note the shape: similar, not identical. Two prior citations for similar violations is also one of the six circumstances that lifts the ceiling to $5,000.
Evidence that it was or was not; the regulation asks for both directions.
“The extent to which the cited person has cooperated with the board’s investigation.” It is a factor in the fine, which is worth knowing before the first letter is answered.
Whether the person “has mitigated or attempted to mitigate any damage or injury caused by the violation”. Attempted counts.
The catch-all in §1886.30(a)(7). For a Confidentiality of Medical Information Act violation this whole list is replaced by the factors in Civil Code §56.36(d).
The thirty days
Two routes, one clock, and a consequence that outlives both.
§1886.70(a): within thirty days after service, in writing, to the executive officer, under B&P §125.9(b)(4). The clock runs from service, not from the postmark you noticed.
§1886.70(b) allows it “in addition to or instead of” the hearing request, on the same thirty-day clock. The executive officer or a designee holds it within 60 days, and the cited person may be accompanied and represented by an attorney or other authorized representative.
§1886.70(d): if an informal conference is held, the request for an administrative hearing “shall be deemed to be withdrawn”, and the officer may affirm, modify or dismiss the citation, the fine and the order of abatement. An affirmed or modified citation is mailed within 10 days of the conference.
§1886.70(e): contesting an affirmed or modified citation means another written request for an administrative hearing within thirty days of service — and “an informal citation conference shall not be held on affirmed or modified citations.”
§1886.60(b) and (c): where a citation is uncontested, or contested unsuccessfully, failing to abate or to pay within the time allowed is a violation in itself and may lead to disciplinary action or other judicial action. This is the point at which a correctable matter stops being one.
The unpaid fine follows the license
§1886.60(d): “If a fine is not paid after a citation has become final, the fine shall be added to the cited person’s license or registration renewal fee. A license or registration shall not be renewed without payment of the renewal fee and fine.” An unpaid citation is not a bill that ages quietly; it is a renewal that will not go through. The renewal planner is where the rest of that timing lives.
Then what
The pages around this one.
When it goes further
The discipline case library
Real decisions, read one at a time, with what each one turned on.
A common citable subject
The advertisement checker
Profile text against 16 CCR §1811 and the Board’s own examples.
Another one
The Notice to Clients
The four facts every registrant and licensee has owed clients since 1 July 2025.
Where every figure came from
Sources.
The regulations themselves
The statutes they rest on
- Business and Professions Code §125.9, citations, fines and orders of abatement
- Business and Professions Code §148, citations for unlicensed activity
- Business and Professions Code §149, unlicensed activity and telephone service
- Civil Code §56.36, the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act’s own penalties
- Government Code §11505, service of the citation
Quotations are from the Board’s own Statutes and Regulations compilation as read on 11 September 2026, and each underlying statute is linked to leginfo, where the current text can be checked. The regulations are cited to the compilation because the California Code of Regulations is not published on leginfo. Nothing here predicts what a particular citation will say or cost, and whether to contest one is a decision to take with a lawyer rather than from a web page.
