Reference · California’s own text, and where to check the rest · read 12 September 2026
California can tell you what California requires. The state your client is sitting in decides the rest.
The message arrives on a Tuesday: the client is in another state for a few weeks, and asks whether sessions can continue. California has written a detailed answer to the mirror image of that question — what an out-of-state therapist may do for a client who has come here — and reading it is the fastest way to understand the shape of the problem. What California has not done, and cannot do, is answer for Oregon.
The mirror image, in California’s words →The mirror image, in California’s words
Thirty consecutive days, seven conditions, and a notice filed first.
B&P §4980.11 lets a therapist licensed in another United States jurisdiction serve a client who is in California “for a period not to exceed 30 consecutive days in any calendar year”, and then attaches conditions that are worth reading as a description of what this kind of rule usually cares about: an existing relationship, a real license, a told client, and a regulator that knows.
| The condition | Where it is |
|---|---|
| The out-of-state license is at the highest level for independent clinical practice there | §4980.11(a)(1) |
| It is current, active and unrestricted | §4980.11(a)(2) |
| The client is located in California while the care is provided | §4980.11(a)(3) |
| The client is a current client whose relationship was established before they came to California | §4980.11(a)(4) |
| The client is told the services are time-limited and that the person is not licensed in California | §4980.11(a)(5) |
| The client is given the Board’s website address | §4980.11(a)(6) |
| The client is told the jurisdiction, the type of license and the license number | §4980.11(a)(7) |
From §4980.11(a). §4996.16.1 and §4999.23 say the same thing for clinical social workers and professional clinical counselors, each with its own 30-consecutive-day limit and the same list.
Two more requirements sit outside that list. Subdivision (b) requires the person to give the Board their details and the start date before providing services. Subdivision (c) requires a statement signed under penalty of perjury acknowledging the Board’s jurisdiction and agreeing to be bound by California law. And subdivision (e) sets an end date on the whole section: it “shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2030, and as of that date is repealed.”
Why a California therapist should read a rule written for someone else
Because the destination state is asking the same questions in its own words: is there an existing relationship, is the license real and unrestricted, is the client told, is there a time limit, does the regulator get notice. A therapist who can answer those seven for their own case is ready to ask the destination board a precise question instead of a vague one.
What the compacts do and do not cover
Three compacts exist for these professions. California is in none of them.
| Compact | Whose license | California | What its own site says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counseling Compact | Professional clinical counselors | Not a member | 38 member states are listed on the compact’s own map and California is not among them. The compact’s site says it “is live for licensees in Arizona, Minnesota, and Ohio”, with the first privileges described as specific and bilateral. |
| Social Work Licensure Compact | Clinical social workers | Not a member | 31 member jurisdictions are listed on the compact’s own page and California is not among them. |
| PSYPACT | Psychologists | Its own map | A different profession and a different compact, with its own participating-state list, which this page links rather than restates. |
| No compact | Marriage and family therapists | None exists | There is no interstate compact for marriage and family therapy. A California LMFT with a client in another state has the destination state’s own rules and nothing else. |
Read from each compact’s own site on 12 September 2026. Membership changes by legislation and implementation lags membership, so the compact’s own page is the only answer worth relying on — which is why it is linked rather than summarized further.
What to check, in order
Four questions, and the one that has to be answered first.
Not where they live, not where they were referred, and not where the practice is. Every rule in this area keys on the client’s physical location during the session, which is also why the location belongs in the session record.
Some states have a temporary practice allowance like California’s, some have a day limit counted differently, some have a registration, and some have nothing. The board’s own site is the source; a summary written by anyone else is a starting point at best, and this page does not attempt one.
Membership and implementation are different facts. A state can have enacted a compact whose privileges are not yet being issued — the Counseling Compact’s own site says as much — and California is a member of none of the three in any case.
California’s telehealth regulation already requires the client’s location to be documented each session. A client who travels turns that requirement into the evidence that the practice knew where they were, and asked the right question before the session rather than after it.
Then what
The pages around this one.
The rules at home
California telehealth rules
16 CCR §1815.5 and B&P §2290.5, and what each session record carries.
The other direction
Working remotely from another state
What moving does to the license, the taxes and the practice.
Where every figure came from
Sources.
California’s temporary practice allowance
- Business and Professions Code §4980.11, marriage and family therapists
- Business and Professions Code §4996.16.1, clinical social workers
- Business and Professions Code §4999.23, professional clinical counselors
- Board of Behavioral Sciences, temporary practice allowance frequently asked questions
- Board of Behavioral Sciences, Statutes and Regulations; read 12 September 2026
The compacts’ own pages
California’s sections are quoted from their own text, read on 12 September 2026 and linked. The compact figures are counts of the lists published on each compact’s own site the same day, and both change by legislation; the linked page governs. This page does not state what any other state requires of a California licensee, because that is the other state’s rule to state, and it is not legal advice.
