Where Can a MAP Degree Take Your License?

A licensure-portability guide for Seattle University MAP graduates of the 72-quarter-credit curriculum era, 2012–2024
Matt Sorg (MAP alum, WA LMHC) · Researched with Claude · Corrections to matt@matthewsorg.com · Version 2.35.0 · first built 2026-08-18, revised continuously — the changelog is the history
WHO THIS IS FOR: Seattle University MAP graduates (2012–2024 curriculum, 72 quarter credits) who hold or are working toward the Washington LMHC. If you graduated under the 90-quarter curriculum (2024-25 onward), most of the credit-floor problems here don't apply to you. Anyone licensed five or more years may have easier doors than the headline tiers; those lanes are flagged in the entries. Not legal advice. Board-staff answers quoted here are informal. Verify before filing. Each card's footer shows how current it is. Where the guide generalizes about which electives most transcripts lack or which exam most of the cohort sat, those observations draw on the most recent classes (2022–2024). Check the self-audit against your own transcript.
scope checked 2026-08-24

Your MAP degree is 72 quarter credits (48 semester hours), regionally accredited, and not CACREP-accredited. Those three facts decide where your license can go. This guide checks every U.S. state, DC, and British Columbia against that profile, with Washington as the home state.

intro checked 2026-08-24

The situation we all share

Washington joined the Counseling Compact on July 23, 2023 (SHB 1069; ch. 18.17 RCW). The compact's legacy rule (Commission Rules Chapter 5, eff. 2024-11-07) deems counselors who were independently licensed before their state joined compact-eligible. Washington, though, wrote its own screen into the joining bill, keyed to the educational basis of the license rather than any date. For the 2022–2024 classes, legacy never arises: nobody could hold a full LMHC by mid-2023. For earlier-era graduates who did, legacy eligibility is live but unresolved. Nothing published reconciles the Commission's rule with Washington's statute. Plan around the statute.

Washington's statute (RCW 18.225.090(1)(b)(i)(B)) makes related-discipline licensees compact-ineligible unless their graduate coursework reaches 60 semester / 90 quarter hours across nine content areas. At 72 quarter hours, every MAP grad is 18 short. Electives change your content gaps; nothing changes the total.

As of August 2026, the compact is operational in seven states (Arkansas being the seventh, joined July 30, 2026; re-checked 2026-08-22). Pennsylvania is slated to join later this year. Washington has missed its first published target: DOH told the state counselors association in April 2026 that the compact was "moving forward toward an anticipated June launch," but June passed with Washington absent from the Commission's live-state list. The primary record: DOH's advisory-committee minutes, every posted set read in full 2026-08-22. The compact was a standing briefing at every 2024 meeting ("still in process"), then briefed at none of 2025's meetings, the year privileges opened nationally. One 2025 minutes set is an unreadable scan. The compact returned to the agenda only in July 2026, after a committee member asked in February. DOH moved compact updates to open office hours in late 2025, so the committee minutes alone don't prove the work stopped. But no compact rulemaking appears in any rulemaking update, none has opened, and the compact page still says applications are 'expected to open in 2025' (re-verified 2026-08-22). Until Washington publishes a date, treat the go-live as unannounced. The state-by-state doors below are what to plan around.

framing checked 2026-08-24
Four problems, kept separate:

Audit yourself first

Four things vary person to person. Check them before reading the states.

Your electives

MAP electives varied by year: career development, substance use, hermeneutics, trauma, human growth, and others. The content areas boards actually ask about: career/lifestyle development, addictions/substance use, human growth & development, appraisal/tests & measurements, psychopharmacology, human sexuality, quantitative research methods, and crisis. Pull your transcript and mark which you have. If you took the career elective, you clear the most commonly required area. You're still 18 quarter hours short of the compact total either way.

Your exam

Washington accepted more than one exam. If you passed the NCE, most entries read as written. If you passed the NCMHCE instead (a minority of the cohort, but real), the picture changes: Indiana, New York, Massachusetts, and Tennessee require the NCMHCE specifically. Rhode Island does too, but its bars are structural. Maine left that list on 2026-08-27; its endorsement route asks for no exam at all. Illinois's clinical tier and Vermont's standard path want both exams. Utah's answer (2026-08-26): the NCE is not accepted in place of the NCMHCE, but 4,000 hours of lawful practice substitute. Each entry names its exam and carries a badge showing which direction it runs.

Your license date and stage

Every 'opens at' below is a formula: your full-LMHC issuance date plus one, two, three, or five years. Look up your date on the DOH provider-credential search and do the math. Still an LMHCA? See the associate box below. Nearly every door here presumes the full license, and whether associate-era practice counts toward a state's experience clock is tracked there with board answers, not guesses.

Your program's start date

Not when you graduated, but when your program began. Texas is the clearest split: programs begun before August 1, 2017 face its 48-semester floor (which MAP clears), while later starts face the 60-hour standard plus four named courses. Similar application-date ratchets appear in North Carolina (July 2022), Delaware (2025), Illinois (July 2026), and Michigan (2026); the accreditation section tracks them. Know your matriculation date.

Still an LMHCA? Every licensure door here presumes the full LMHC, and so do the telehealth registrations. What you can do now: British Columbia's RCC (keys to the degree, not the license; immigration is its own project), the NCC groundwork (file the application so NBCC names your gaps before you pay tuition), and records hygiene. Two jurisdictions have live open questions about whether associate-era practice counts toward their experience clocks: Florida's two-of-four years and Vermont's fast-track clock. Louisiana, Oregon, and Arizona answered no (full license only), as did Vermont's standard route. Virginia deleted its duration test in July 2026. Keep your supervision log clean and get your internship clock hours documented while program staff still remember you.

The country at a glance

A green state means the door is open to file with a full license in hand — every one still carries conditions in its card, and filing is not licensure: boards take weeks to months to process even clean applications. Click or tab to any state — or, for the small eastern states, its labeled callout — to jump to its entry; the entries below are the accessible text of this map.

AKALARAZCACOFLGAHIIAIDILINKSKYLAMEMIMNMOMSMTNCNDNENMNVNYOHOKORPASCSDTNTXUTVAWAWIWVWYCTDCDEMAMDNHNJRIVTBRITISH COLUMBIA (inset)
Open now (see conditions)License date + 1 yearLicense date + 2 yearsLicense date + 3 yearsLicense date + 4 yearsLicense date + 5 yearsCoursework onlyCoursework + moreNo route identified for this degreeWashington (home)= telehealth registration available

Practicing into states from Washington: telehealth registrations and the compact

Licensure and permission to practice into a state are different things, and this section holds everything in the second category. Six states will register an out-of-state licensee to serve their residents by telehealth, with no license in that state. The Counseling Compact belongs here too, because for this cohort that is what it really is: a privilege lets you practice into member states, in person or by telehealth, only while Washington remains your home state. It is never a path to moving somewhere. Everything below presumes the full, unencumbered WA LMHC.

APPROVAL OBSERVED: Validated, start to finish: a cohort member applied in late July 2026 and the registration was issued 2026-08-06, about two weeks later.
The path

A $35 registration with Idaho's licensing division that lets you see Idaho-located clients from your Washington office. No exam, no transcript review, no Idaho license. Telehealth only: no in-person work in Idaho, and the registration never converts into a license.

When it opens

Now, with a full unencumbered WA license.

Exam

None.

Education

None reviewed.

Where this law comes from

Idaho Code §54-5714 was added to the Idaho Virtual Care Access Act (Title 54, ch. 57) by 2023 Idaho Session Laws ch. 142, §1; the statute's official published text shows no separate effective-date clause beyond that 2023 enactment.

Before acting
  • Non-transferable, and it does not renew — DOPL's board page (read 2026-08-24) says the registration must expire before a new one can even be applied for ($35 each cycle), so calendar the reapplication at expiry, not before.
  • Your scope in Idaho is capped at what your WA license allows.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: the statute and the DOPL registration form were read directly, and the pathway has been used

  • Idaho Code §54-5714, interstate telehealth registration for mental and behavioral health (Idaho Virtual Care Access Act, Title 54 ch. 57) — confirms no Idaho license required, $35 registration, telehealth only, never converts to licensure — https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title54/t54ch57/sect54-5714/ (verified 2026-08-19)
  • Idaho DOPL, Board of Professional Counselors and Marriage & Family Therapists — Interstate Mental or Behavioral Telehealth Registration ($35, non-renewable) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/cou/ (verified 2026-08-19)
  • Registration issued to a cohort member 2026-08-06 — non-public correspondence and applicant experience; no public URL
Interstate telehealth registration (Idaho Code 54-5714) · Idaho Code 54-5714
sources read 2026-08-24 · board answered 2026-08-06 · entry updated 2026-08-24

The path

Registers an out-of-state licensee to serve Florida clients by telehealth with no Florida license. Requires an active unencumbered license, a Florida registered agent for service of process, and professional liability coverage. No in-person services in Florida and no Florida office.

When it opens

Now, with a full unencumbered WA license and no discipline in the past five years.

Exam

None.

Education

None reviewed.

Before acting
  • If the full Florida license lands by endorsement, the registration is unnecessary; do not buy both.
  • The registered-agent requirement means a small ongoing cost even at zero clients.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: the statute was read directly

Out-of-state telehealth provider registration (Fla. Stat. 456.47) · Fla. Stat. 456.47
sources read 2026-08-24 · entry updated 2026-08-20

The path

Registers an out-of-state behavioral health licensee to serve Arizona clients by telehealth. Requires proof of all licenses, professional liability insurance, and an Arizona statutory agent; the fee is board-set and unpublished in the rules. Annual renewal plus an annual report of Arizona patient counts. Telehealth only.

When it opens

Now, with a full unencumbered WA license and no disciplinary history anywhere (stricter than the licensure routes).

Exam

None.

Education

None reviewed.

Before acting
  • You may not need it at all: Arizona exempts anyone with fewer than ten Arizona telehealth encounters a calendar year, and separately allows up to ninety days of practice a year with client disclosure (A.R.S. 32-3271(A)(2)).
  • Confirm the fee with the board before filing; the widely quoted $600 belongs to the psychology board.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: statute read directly during research

Out-of-state telehealth registration (A.R.S. 36-3606) · A.R.S. 36-3606
sources read 2026-08-24 · entry updated 2026-08-20

HYPOTHESIS: Re-verified 2026-08-24, and the split is now sharper: the statute is alive — §30-1-26 as amended by 2025 SB 299 still defines the interstate registration, and counselors are expressly inside it (the practitioner definition enumerates §30-31, the counseling article) — but the counseling board's own site, freshly updated 2026-08-07, lists no telehealth-registration application among its forms and never mentions the registration anywhere, while giving the Counseling Compact a homepage section. The registration exists in code; for counselors it may exist only in code.
The path

A 2025 statute creating an interstate telehealth registration for out-of-state licensees to serve West Virginia clients. The statute is real; whether the counseling board has implemented the registration process is not confirmed.

When it opens

On paper, now; in practice, once the board stands the process up.

Exam

None per the statute.

Education

None per the statute.

Where this law comes from

W. Va. Code §30-1-26 was most recently amended by Senate Bill 299 of the 2025 Regular Session, per the bill-history record printed on the WV Legislature's official code page; that page does not display the bill's specific effective date.

Before acting
  • SUPERSEDED (2026-08-26): WVBEC’s Executive Director directed non-residents to endorsement: ‘you can apply as an endorsement applicant and you would be able to provide telehealth services from any state.’ With the telehealth rule also withdrawn, the working path to WV clients from out of state is a WV LPC, not this registration. See the West Virginia entry.
  • Confirm implementation with the board before relying on it; their website has lagged the 2025 statutes before.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: §30-1-26 read in full 2026-08-20 — behavioral medicine exempt from the 12-month in-person rule; no physical WV practice without full licensure

  • W. Va. Code §30-1-26 (interstate telehealth registration for out-of-state practitioners, including licensed professional counselors, serving WV patients by telehealth; most recently amended by 2025 Regular Session SB 299 per the code page's bill-history record; the statute itself does not address board implementation status) — https://code.wvlegislature.gov/30-1-26/ (verified 2026-08-19)
Interstate telehealth registration (W.Va. Code 30-1-26, 2025) · W.Va. Code 30-1-26
sources read 2026-08-24 · entry updated 2026-08-26

CORROBORATED: The compact-state bar is not just a literal reading: Delaware's own application page restates it plainly (verified 2026-08-19), and the board's 2026-08-24 written reply to the §6002(c)-vs-§6005(b) question declined to choose: “The Board… can only provide you with what the law says. We cannot give an opinion or interpretation of the law” — adding one operational fact, “Delaware has not gone live with the Counseling Compact and compact privileges are not currently available.” The interpretation channel is exhausted; only a filed registration tests whether the bar reaches a Washington licensee. Treat this registration as closed to Washington licensees unless a filing proves otherwise.
The path

Out-of-state telehealth registration, no Delaware license needed. Trap: §6002(c) bars licensees from any compact state Delaware participates in — Washington qualifies, even though no privileges flow yet. Counterweight: §6005(b), a mental-health-specific exception, allows treatment via Medical Request Form plus registration with no compact-state bar. Which provision the Division’s program implements — §6002(c) or §6005(b) — decides everything.

When it opens

Ask first: whether the compact-state bar is applied literally decides everything.

Exam

None.

Education

None reviewed.

Where this law comes from

The operative Delaware provision, 24 Del. C. §6002(c), was enacted as 83 Del. Laws c. 52, §4 and amended by 83 Del. Laws c. 484, §1; no separate later act specifically adding the compact-state bar was located.

Before acting
  • Confirmed on the application page: applicants must ‘not be actively licensed in a state that has enacted a compact in which Delaware participates.’ Washington has. On that language, a WA LMHC does not qualify — ask only to test a narrower reading.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: 24 Del. C. ch. 60 read in full 2026-08-20 — §6002(c)'s registration path is textually limited to providers from states that have NOT adopted an applicable compact, supporting the entry's literal-reading trap; §6005(b)'s mental-health exception carries no such bar. Which section the Division's registration implements is open.

  • 24 Del. C. §6002(c) — the operative interstate telehealth registration eligibility bar (NOT §6003, which the entry cites; see corrections) — https://delcode.delaware.gov/title24/c060/index.html (verified 2026-08-19)
  • Delaware Division of Professional Regulation, Board of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Professionals — Mental Health Interstate Telehealth Registration application page — https://dpr.delaware.gov/boards/profcounselors/mental-health-telehealth-registration/ (verified 2026-08-19)
  • Delaware Division of Professional Regulation, customer service — written reply, 2026-08-24, declining interpretation of the registration's compact bar (“we cannot give an opinion or interpretation of the law”) and stating Delaware has not gone live with the Counseling Compact
Mental health interstate telehealth registration (24 Del. C. 6003) · 24 Del. C. §6002(c) (eligibility bar), ch. 60 generally
sources read 2026-08-24 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-24 · entry updated 2026-08-24

HYPOTHESIS: Found 2026-08-20 in the board-provided licensing guide and verified against the regulator's FAQ the same day. Paper-verified only — the registration window opened in January 2026 and no one in this cohort has filed.
The path

Colorado registers out-of-state providers — mental health expressly included — to serve Colorado clients by telehealth without a Colorado license (SB24-141, registrations open January 1, 2026). Requirements: application and fee, valid out-of-state credential, five-year clean discipline record, Colorado’s mental-health jurisprudence exam, disclosure duties, a telehealth-only attestation, and a registered agent in Colorado.

When it opens

Open now, from Washington, with the full license in hand.

Exam

Colorado Mental Health Jurisprudence Exam if passage is required of substantially-similar Colorado licensees (the FAQ's own conditional phrasing — for mental health professions it is, so plan on it). No national exam re-tested.

Education

Not reviewed — the registration rides entirely on the out-of-state credential.

Where this law comes from

SB24-141 (2024) created the out-of-state telehealth registration; 2025 legislation expanded the covered professions, and registrations opened January 1, 2026 per the Division's FAQ.

Before acting
  • Telehealth only, strictly: in-person services in Colorado are prohibited on this registration, and it never converts to residency rights — moving to Colorado means the endorsement route.
  • Real operational duties attach: patient-location and provider-location disclosures, a written emergency protocol with local crisis-resource lists for where the client sits, and staying on the line during an emergency until help arrives.
  • Five-year clean-discipline lookback; any restriction, discipline, or malpractice settlement must be disclosed.
  • Untested by this cohort — registrations only opened this year; treat processing details (fees, the registered-agent mechanics) as unverified until someone files.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: the regulator's telehealth FAQ and the board's licensing guide were both read directly

  • Colorado DPO, Out-of-State Telehealth Providers FAQ (SB24-141; registrations available to mental health providers beginning 2026-01-01; requirements, prohibitions, emergency-protocol duties; read in full) — https://dpo.colorado.gov/TelehealthFAQ (verified 2026-08-20)
  • Colorado DPO, Professional Counselor Licensing Guide (rev. Feb 2025) — telehealth licensure section: jurisprudence exam, verification of another active license, telehealth-only attestation, Colorado registered agent (provided by the board's license specialist 2026-08-20)
  • SB24-141, Out-of-State Telehealth Providers — https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb24-141 (verified 2026-08-20)
Out-of-State Telehealth Registration · SB24-141 (2024); C.R.S. §12-30-124 framework
sources read 2026-08-24 · entry updated 2026-08-20

HYPOTHESIS: Nobody in the cohort can use this yet: the 18-quarter gap blocks eligibility, Washington has not gone live, and Washington missed the June 2026 launch DOH had told the state counselors association to anticipate (April 2026 newsletter), and no replacement date is published — so any timeline is a maintainer estimate; this guide's earlier ‘late 2027’ line was exactly that. [Query sent to Washington DOH 2026-08-20, awaiting reply: go-live timeline, rulemaking status, and whether post-degree coursework can supplement toward the 90-quarter education requirement.]
The path

The cohort's shared math: privileges require the home-state license to rest on 90 quarter / 60 semester hours covering nine areas — every MAP grad is 18 quarter hours short, and career development is the most commonly missing area. The exam is not a problem (NCE or NCMHCE both satisfy the commission). Cure = added graduate coursework to 90 quarter including your missing areas.

When it opens

Three gates: (1) complete the ~18-quarter coursework cure, (2) Washington flags you compact-eligible (mechanism unpublished; no rulemaking opened), and (3) Washington goes live (missed the June 2026 target DOH told the state counselors association to anticipate; no new date published). Payoff: privileges in 40 member states as they activate (Pennsylvania the newest, enacted July 2026), at modest per-state fees, without individual applications.

Exam

NCE or NCMHCE.

Education

The 'or includes 60 semester/90 quarter hours of graduate coursework' phrasing in Washington's statute is a genuine textual argument that post-degree supplementation counts. Unconfirmed for the compact clause specifically, but the department's posture leans that way: DOH's own licensure rules expressly let related-degree holders complete supplemental coursework to cure missing program equivalencies (WAC 246-809-220(3), as amended May 2025). The DOH counselor program office is the place to ask, and one graduate's written answer serves everyone.

Where this law comes from

Washington's Counseling Compact statute — ch. 18.17 RCW, together with the related-discipline eligibility clause at RCW 18.225.090 — was enacted by Substitute House Bill 1069, chapter 58, Laws of 2023, effective July 23, 2023.

Before acting
  • A privilege covers practicing into member states while Washington remains your primary residence — it is never a relocation path.
  • Licenses obtained via some states' universal-recognition routes are excluded from anchoring privileges.
  • What ‘live’ means keeps evolving inside member states too: effective June 2, 2026, Georgia requires its own licensees to confirm compact eligibility with the Georgia board before applying for privileges (counselingcompact.gov application page, read 2026-08-22) — expect state-side gates like this when Washington eventually joins.
  • The implementation record is thin by the department’s own minutes: briefed throughout 2024, absent from the 2025 committee record (briefing moved to DOH’s open office hours that fall), back on the agenda July 2026 only after the committee asked — and no compact rulemaking opened at any point. Details and gaps in this entry’s sources.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly

Privilege to practice (member states) · RCW 18.225.090(1)(b)(i)(B); ch. 18.17 RCW; counselingcompact.gov
sources read 2026-08-24 · board asked 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-24

The licensure map: 49 states, DC, and BC

Card badges: plum = an exam wall (the badge names whose) · green = your exam is not checked at all, or either exam works · no badge = the exam picture is unsettled (see the entry) or the state is closed
Reading the status labels: Every entry carries a status showing how far past paper its pathway has been tested: HYPOTHESIS (paper-verified only), CORROBORATED (a board answered an inquiry — quoted with date), APPROVAL OBSERVED (a completed application was approved — one applicant, one fact pattern, one date), FILED · PENDING (an application is in adjudication). Where board practice diverges from statute text, the conflict is noted in the entry.

The path

Counselling is unregulated in BC until Nov 29, 2027, when psychotherapy becomes a regulated profession under CHCPBC. The market credential meanwhile is BCACC's RCC, and the MAP degree maps cleanly onto its six required course areas. None of the usual gap areas are required.

When it opens

RCC now, at any license stage: it keys to the degree and supervision record, not the license (registration finalizes once residing in Canada). Holding it before Nov 2027 is the best grandparenting position for the new college.

Exam

None.

Education

MAP coursework generally satisfies RCC's areas; 100 supervision hours including 25 directly observed is the item to verify from your records.

Where this law comes from

B.C. Reg. 131/2025 (Health and Care Professionals Regulation) followed the July 2024 designation of psychotherapy for regulation under the Health Professions and Occupations Act; per both CHCPBC's official page and the BC Ministry of Health's July 2026 Q&A, its psychotherapist provisions are not yet in force and take effect November 29, 2027, when CHCPBC becomes the regulator.

Before acting
  • Grandparenting into the 2027 college is expected but unannounced.
  • Immigration is its own project and nothing here addresses it.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — Ministry of Health Regulation of Psychotherapy Q&A (July 2026), CHCPBC Regulating Psychotherapy page, BCACC RCC eligibility page; B.C. Reg. 131/2025 itself remains JS-gated and is corroborated by the two official documents that cite it

RCC (voluntary) until regulation lands · B.C. Reg. 131/2025; BCACC RCC criteria
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-20

APPROVAL OBSERVED: Filed 2026-08-22 and approved. The Division adjudicated the maintainer's endorsement application within five days of its thirty-day quote: the license showed Active in the Division's portal on 2026-08-27, expiring 2027-08-31 on the fixed odd-year cycle. The route held exactly as the specialist's three written answers described it. The official transcript passed conferral-only (a psychology-titled master's, no CCE education review, no equivalency worksheet), associate-level practice counted toward the two-year attestation, and the jurisprudence exam plus Washington license verification completed the file. The licensing guide's CCE-review contradiction never surfaced, and the fingerprint-processing question (sent 2026-08-22, auto-acknowledged, never humanly answered) was mooted by the approval itself: the license issued without one being requested. It's one applicant, one fact pattern, one date, but this pathway has now been tested end to end, and it held.
The path

Open by endorsement (4 CCR 737-1.12(C)(1)(b)): a current, unrestricted, substantially similar-scope license for one year. Education review is conferral-only -- the specialist confirmed three times that endorsement applicants submit 'an official transcript verifying that a master's degree was awarded.' No equivalency worksheet, no credit count, no course list. The 60-hour floor and 6-credit cure cap live on the by-examination route only. Associate-level practice counts toward the two-year practice attestation, and a psychology-titled degree passes on the transcript alone (specialist-confirmed 2026-08-20). This route has been tested end to end: the maintainer's application filed 2026-08-22 was approved 2026-08-27.

When it opens

Now, with a current equivalent license and two years of post-master's practice (associate time counts, specialist-confirmed). Documents: license verification, official transcript, attestations, and the jurisprudence exam.

Exam

Board jurisprudence exam, mandatory for every endorsement applicant (4 CCR 737-1.12(D), via Prometric). National exam expressly required only on the education prong.

Education

Conferral-only on the endorsement route, per the specialist's written answer: the transcript proves a master's was awarded, and nothing in it is graded.

Where this law comes from

The portability program dates to HB 20-1326 (2020); the operative board rule version is effective 2025-09-14, and HB 26-1431 (2026) amends the framework for applications filed on or after 2026-08-12.

Before acting
  • The licensing guide's 'all applicants' section says non-CACREP transcripts need a CCE education review. The specialist's direct answer says endorsement applicants submit only a conferral transcript. The specialist controls -- and the maintainer's 2026-08 application was adjudicated transcript-only, no CCE review requested. Keep the specialist's emails with any filing.
  • Associate-level practice counts toward the two-year attestation, and a psychology-titled master's satisfies education with the transcript alone (specialist-confirmed 2026-08-20). Keep all three emails with any application.
  • The jurisprudence exam is mandatory for every endorsement applicant. This validation reflects one applicant, one fact pattern, one date (2026-08-27). A staff answer doesn't bind the board on the next file, but this route has been tested.
  • Get the license in hand before relocating. Colorado now also has a telehealth registration (see the remote-practice section) for serving Colorado clients from Washington without any of this.
  • Portal note: when an application converts to a license, Online Services' status page renders blank. The issued license appears under MY ACCOUNT → My License/Application Information.
Sources (mixed)

mixed: the endorsement rule and portability statute read in the sweep; the decisive practice question answered in writing by the board's license specialist 2026-08-20 (email retained by the maintainer)

  • CRS 12-20-202(3); CRS 12-245-604
  • 4 CCR 737-1, Rules 1.12 & 1.14 — https://www.sos.state.co.us/CCR/GenerateRulePdf.do?ruleVersionId=9767&fileName=4+CCR+737-1 (verified 2026-08-19)
  • dpo.colorado.gov LPC pages (CCE equivalency notice)
  • C.R.S. § 12-20-202 — Licenses, certifications, and registrations; occupational credential portability program; exceptions; rules; definitions — https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_12-20-202 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • HB 26-1431, Colo. Sess. Laws 2026, ch. 407 — Competency for Occupational Licensure Portability (signed act text) — https://leg.colorado.gov/laws/session-laws/HB26-1431/407/download (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • HB26-1431 bill status page — Became Law; Governor signed 2026-06-04; effective 2026-08-12 — https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/HB26-1431 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • HB20-1326 bill status page — Create Occupational Credential Portability Program (Colo. Sess. Laws 2020, ch. 126, eff. 2020-06-25) — https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb20-1326 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • C.R.S. § 12-245-207, Licensure by endorsement, https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_12-245-207 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • C.R.S. § 12-245-604 — Licensure; examination; licensed professional counselors — https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_12-245-604 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • C.R.S. § 12-245-607 — Interstate compact; powers and duties of the board — https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_12-245-607 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • C.R.S. § 24-60-4303 — Construction of terms (Counseling Compact; 'License' means a license issued pursuant to section 12-245-604) — https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_24-60-4303 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • Colorado DPO Mental Health Boards, License Specialist (professional counselor) — written answer to a direct processing inquiry, 2026-08-20: endorsement method applies to an active equivalent out-of-state license; education requirement is an official transcript verifying a master's degree was awarded; LPC Applicant Checklist (rev. Feb 2025) attached. Staff answer; does not bind the board.
  • Colorado DPO, Professional Counselor Licensing Guide (rev. Feb 2025; provided by the board's license specialist 2026-08-20; read in full) — endorsement applicants attest to exam passage and to 2 years post-master's practice or 2 years active practice; the 'all applicants' CCE-review line conflicts with the specialist's answer and is flagged above.
  • Colorado DPO, Professional Counselor Applications page — 'you must hold a current, equivalent license in another state to apply for licensure by endorsement'; education equivalency reviews are now outsourced to CCE (relevant to the examination route) — https://dpo.colorado.gov/ProfessionalCounselor/ApplicationsDocs (verified 2026-08-20)
  • Colorado DPO, License Specialist — second written answer, 2026-08-20: 'your associate-level practice will count toward the applicable practice requirement, and your master's degree in psychology satisfies the education requirement.' Staff guidance only.
LPC · C.R.S. §12-20-202(3); 4 CCR 737-1.12(C)(1)(b)
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-22 · board answered 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-27

CORROBORATED: A licensing specialist at the Occupational Licenses Bureau answered in writing on 2026-08-21, removing the five-year premise this pathway had been tiered on: 'There is not a time frame you have to be licensed in order to apply by endorsement. You just need to hold an active license in another state.' Bigger still: 'Washington's LMHC license is equivalent to the LCPC license in Idaho. If you met the requirements to become licensed as LMHC, then we know you met the requirements for LCPC licensure. You only need to submit all license numbers you hold or have held in other states as well as a copy of your photo ID.' This re-tiered the state from a five-year wait to open, as of 2026-08-21, on that answer. The answer contradicts the applications' printed five-plus-years routing, favorably, so carry the email with any filing.
The path

Endorsement: open to any active out-of-state licensee, no time frame. Washington’s LMHC is deemed equivalent to Idaho’s LCPC (bureau, 2026-08-21): ‘If you met the requirements to become licensed as LMHC, then we know you met the requirements for LCPC licensure.’ Document set: license numbers held in any state, plus photo ID. The alternative exam route carries rule-book requirements (CACREP-or-similar, NCE for LPC / NCMHCE for clinical, supervised-hours math, coursework addendum for non-CACREP) — any coursework project lives there.

When it opens

Open now, on the licensing bureau's written word: an active license, the license numbers held in any state, and a photo ID. The five-plus-years language printed on the applications is routing text the bureau doesn't apply as a gate.

Exam

No exam on endorsement — the document set is exhaustive (‘You only need to submit...’) and lists no exam element. The alternative exam route requires the NCE for LPC and the NCMHCE for clinical LCPC.

Education

Endorsement: no education review — the bureau treats your out-of-state license as proof you met Idaho's requirements. The alternative exam route requires a CACREP-or-equivalent program and a coursework addendum for non-CACREP degrees, but Idaho publishes three incompatible content-area lists (see caveats), so the exam route's education standard is unclear even on its own terms.

Where this law comes from

IDAPA 24.15.01 states it is promulgated pursuant to Idaho Code §§54-3402, 54-3404, 54-3405, 54-3405A, 54-3405B, 54-3405C, 54-3406, and 54-3410A, and every subsection in the current text carries a (7-1-24) effective-date stamp.

Before acting
  • The 2026-08-21 answer settles by practice what the repealed rule left open, but contradicts the five-plus-years routing on both applications — and the rewritten rule chapter still has no endorsement standard. A single specialist’s answer is corroboration, not law. Carry the email; intake staff reading their own forms will need it.
  • Idaho publishes three incompatible content-area lists and three inconsistent fee schedules simultaneously; treat every Idaho number as unconfirmed until the board says it in writing.
  • Idaho is not a compact member. The license or the validated telehealth registration are the only doors, ever.
  • The universal-recognition statute (§67-9409) does not bypass any of this; it preserves ordinary qualifications.
Sources (Fable-graded with a provenance note)

Fable-graded with a provenance note: both license applications (with the mandatory five-plus-years endorsement routing printed on their faces) and the endorsement packet were read in full in the 2026-08-20 application-packet audit; the IDAPA chapter and Idaho Code remain sweep-verified. The unresolved substantive-standard question is the entry's own honest caveat.

  • Idaho Code 54-3401–54-3416; 54-5713, 54-5714 — https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/Title54/T54CH34/ (verified 2026-08-19)
  • IDAPA 24.15.01.100 (NCE for LPC, NCMHCE for LCPC; core areas; ratios) — https://adminrules.idaho.gov/rules/current/24/241501.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
  • Idaho Code 67-9406, 67-9407, 67-9409, 67-9414–67-9416 — legislature.idaho.gov
  • DOPL COU pages (fees, biennial transition 10/14/2025, no temporary licenses) — dopl.idaho.gov/cou
  • Idaho Code tit. 67, ch. 94 (Occupational Licensing Reform Act), full chapter text incl. §§ 67-9403, 67-9406, 67-9409, 67-9414 — https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/statutesrules/idstat/Title67/T67CH94.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • Idaho DOPL — Board of Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists, board page and FAQ (page last updated 2026-07-10) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/cou/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • APPLICATION FOR PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR LICENSE (incl. Instructions and Checklist, Counselor Coursework Addendum, and LPC Evaluation and Verification of Supervised Experience) (rev. COUA LPC/EXAM 7/2021 (printed footer on all 7 pages)) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cou-LPC-Application.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
  • APPLICATION FOR CLINICAL PROFESSIONAL LICENSE (LCPC) (incl. Instructions and Checklist and LCPC Evaluation and Verification of Supervised Experience) (rev. COUA/LCPC/EXAM 2/2021 (printed footer on all 5 pages)) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cou-LCPC-Application.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
  • APPLICATION FOR LICENSE BY ENDORSEMENT (LPC / LCPC / AMFT / LMFT, one form, checkbox) (rev. COUA LPC/LCPC LMFTA LAMFT/LMFT REVISED 7/2021 (printed footer on all 3 pages)) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/cou-endorsement-application/ → https://dopl.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cou-Endorsement-Application.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
  • Board of Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists — board landing page, including the Frequently Asked Questions block and the License Fees table (rev. page footer: 'last updated: July 10, 2026 at 02:15 pm'; meta article:modified_time 2026-07-10) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/cou/ (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
  • CACREP Foundational Counseling Curriculum checklist (the current 'coursework addendum' the FAQ links to) (rev. no printed revision date; uploaded March 2026 (URL path /2026/03/)) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/COU-CACREP-Checklist-with-instructions.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
  • Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, Occupational Licensing — written answer to a direct inquiry, 2026-08-21: “There is not a time frame you have to be licensed in order to apply by endorsement. You just need to hold an active license in another state.” and “Washington’s LMHC license is equivalent to the LCPC license in Idaho… You only need to submit all license numbers you hold or have held in other states as well as a copy of your photo ID.” The answer contradicts the applications’ printed five-plus-years routing, favorably — carry it with any filing. Staff answer; does not bind the board.
LCPC by endorsement (WA LMHC deemed equivalent; telehealth registration covered separately) · Idaho Code §§54-5714, 54-3406; IDAPA 24.15.01
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-21

HYPOTHESIS: This pathway moved from closed on 2026-08-19, when a universal-recognition sweep found the board actively operating the mandatory reciprocity statute. A board query went out 2026-08-20 and is still awaiting reply: whether the NCE can satisfy the reciprocity statute's substantially-equivalent-exam clause.
The path

Reciprocity statute (IC 25-23.6-8.5-9.5) orders the board to issue an LMHC within 30 days to anyone holding a valid out-of-state license who passed a substantially equivalent exam — no transcript, no coursework review, no practicum question, no residency, no minimum years. The education wall (839 IAC 1-5-1's non-curable practicum) applies only to licensure-by-examination. The agency's dedicated LMHC Reciprocity checklist asks only for license verification and an exam score.

When it opens

Now, if your exam is the NCMHCE. The board reads 'substantially equivalent examination' to mean the NCMHCE specifically and rejects the NCE by name, so NCE-only licensees stay out until they sit the NCMHCE, or until the compact arrives.

Exam

NCMHCE required on this route; the NCE is expressly not accepted.

Education

Not reviewed on the reciprocity route. The practicum bar that closed Indiana applies only to applicants qualifying by examination.

Where this law comes from

IC 25-23.6-8.5-9.5 has ordered issuance to out-of-state licensees since 2017; its current text dates to P.L.149-2022. The general health-care reciprocity chapter (IC 25-1-21, 2022) expressly carves mental health counselors out — the profession-specific statute is the operative one.

Before acting
  • The board is stricter than the statute: the law's exam test is functional ('substantially equivalent'), while the checklist names a specific instrument (NCMHCE yes, NCE no). An NCE-holder could contest that reading, but plan around it.
  • No reciprocity rule exists in the administrative code. The route runs on statute plus the agency's checklist, so confirm current requirements before filing.
  • Indiana is live on the compact, so remote practice from Washington arrives by privilege once Washington goes live — relocation is what this route is for.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full — the reciprocity statute set and both PLA checklists line-by-line 2026-08-19; the LMHC FAQ (NCE rejected by name) and 839 IAC 1-5-1 2026-08-20

LMHC · IC 25-23.6-8.5-9.5
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

HYPOTHESIS: [Board query sent 2026-08-21 (auto-ack: general questions answered in about 2 to 3 business days), confirming the 481—880.5 endorsement document set: application, fee, and license verification, with no transcript, exam verification, or supervision documentation, and asking whether a background check runs under separate authority.]
The path

Endorsement (481—880.5(1)): application, fee, and license verification — the entire review. The consolidated Chapter 880 rulemaking (ARC 9401C, effective August 13, 2025, implementing HF 2515 and SF 2385) confirms the endorsement paragraph’s bare three-item text verbatim. The rulemaking’s own summary ties HF 2515 to the supervision rule rather than this one, so ask the board if you want certainty before filing.

When it opens

Now, with a full license.

Exam

Not reviewed.

Education

Not reviewed.

Where this law comes from

Iowa's endorsement rule 481—880.5 reached its current application-plus-fee-plus-verification form through ARC 9401C, the Board of Behavioral Health Professionals' adopted rulemaking published in the Iowa Administrative Bulletin on July 9, 2025 and effective August 13, 2025, which created a consolidated new Chapter 880 implementing 2024 Iowa Acts House File 2515 and Senate File 2385 (90th General Assembly, 2024 session).

Before acting
  • A background check may still occur under separate authority.
  • If endorsement is refused, there's a licensure-by-verification fallback, but a verification license can never anchor compact privileges later.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — 481 IAC ch. 880 complete, including the 880.5→880.2(1)(a) incorporation chain (application + fee only; fingerprints, transcripts, exams, and supervision attestation are not incorporated into endorsement)

LMHC · Iowa Admin. Code 481—880.5; ARC 9401C preamble
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-21

CORROBORATED: A Board Investigator answered on 2026-08-27, favorably and on the decisive point: 'the Washington State license has been approved as substantially equivalent to Maine's LCPC license for endorsement applications,' the file is 'the application, fee, a disclosure statement, and then a verification (not copy) of any license you have ever held,' and 'it does not matter which exam you have taken.' Ch. 6-A §A-1 was then read in full the same day and corroborates the answer clause for clause: the applicant's requirements are exactly those four items plus good standing, and education appears only as a test applied to Washington's pathway. This re-tiered the state from coursework-plus to open now, Matt's call, resting on rule text plus a matching staff answer rather than staff alone. The application-packet pass from 2026-08-20 is rescoped above to the standard route.
The path

Open on endorsement (10 M.R.S. §8003-H; Board Rule ch. 6-A §A-1). Washington has been approved as substantially equivalent -- the Board confirmed this in writing on 2026-08-27. The file is four items, none academic: application, fee, proposed disclosure statement, and verification (not copy) of every license ever held. No transcript, no worksheet, no exam.

When it opens

Now, with an active Washington LMHC. No duration requirement exists in §8003-H or ch. 6-A. The education section below governs only the standard route.

Exam

None on endorsement. The Board confirmed (2026-08-27): 'it does not matter which exam you have taken, only that you hold an active WA clinical license.' One textual tension: §A-1(2)(B)(ii) names the NCMHCE as the equivalent-pathway exam element, while Washington accepts either. The Board resolved it by approving Washington anyway.

Education

On endorsement: nothing filed. The 60-semester-hour figure and NCMHCE at §A-1(2)(B) measure Washington's licensing scheme -- already evaluated and approved -- never the applicant's transcript. Standard route only (readers not yet licensed elsewhere): the worksheet (REVISED 03/2025) requires ten core areas at 3+ graduate credits each -- human growth and development, helping relationships (counseling theories and skills), groups, measurement, research and evaluation, diagnosis and treatment, professional orientation, social and cultural foundations, practicum, and internship. An additional-areas section requires 9+ credits across at least two areas from a menu including lifestyle and career development (capped at 3), marriage and family, human sexuality, and supervision. Syllabi required per course; the school signs an Internship and Degree Verification Form certifying the internship was clinical. The rule permits supplementation to 60, but the applicant-facing degree language reads degree-bound -- that conflict is unresolved and subject to a second question set now with the board.

Where this law comes from

The §13857 section history shows the licensure-by-endorsement paragraph (subsection 2, ¶E, keyed to 10 MRSA §8003-H) was added by PL 2021, c. 642, §41.

Before acting
  • Good standing is the real screen. §A-1(3) and §8003-H(1) require it in every jurisdiction where you hold or have ever held a license: no pending complaint, allegation, or investigation; no suspended or restricted license; never having surrendered or had one revoked. This, not education, is where endorsement fails.
  • 'Verification (not copy)' of every license ever held means an official board-to-board verification for each one, associate-tier credentials included. Order them early; they're the slow item in a four-item file.
  • The proposed disclosure statement (§A-1(1)(D), drafted to ch. 8-B §2) is an actual document you write, not a form you sign. It's the only real work in the application.
  • No duration requirement exists anywhere in §8003-H or ch. 6-A. The 'license + 5' transcript-review bypass belongs to the standard route and has no bearing on endorsement.
  • Neither the rule nor the board's answer names a jurisprudence examination, though §8003-H permits one where law or rule requires it.
  • Standard route only: the internship hours are a surcharge (900-hour internship → 3,000-hour experience tier; 600-hour → 4,000-hour tier); career development caps at 3 credits in the additional-areas menu; the school signs the internship verification; syllabi required per course; family/intimate-partner-violence coursework can wait until first renewal.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full — 02-514 CMR ch. 6-A §A-1 complete 2026-08-27 (the endorsement rule; §A-1(1) applicant requirements, §A-1(2) the jurisdiction-level equivalence definition incl. the LCPC spec at (B), §A-1(3) good standing) and 10 M.R.S. §8003-H complete 2026-08-27; the board's worksheet and forms 2026-08-20 (packet pass); 02-514 CMR ch. 3 §2 complete 2026-08-20. Corroborated by the board's written answer 2026-08-27.

LCPC · 10 M.R.S. §8003-H; 02-514 CMR ch. 6-A §A-1 (endorsement) · 32 MRSA §13857; 02-514 CMR ch. 3 (standard route)
sources read 2026-08-27 · board asked 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-27

CORROBORATED: Board licensing staff answered a 2026-08-11 inquiry, informally and non-bindingly: apply through the 'licensure by reciprocity' route at marriage.nv.gov. One divergence from the statute's text turned up: the board does not offer the provisional or temporary license that NRS 641A.242(5) authorizes. The 'corresponding license' question was answered only implicitly. Application runs through the Certemy platform.
The path

Expedited endorsement under NRS 641A.242: the board must issue to a holder of a corresponding unrestricted license, with no education review, no exam, and no experience review. A 2025 amendment (AB 450) made it mandatory and deleted the board's open-ended documentation catch-all.

When it opens

Now, as far as the statute's text goes. No years-licensed wait appears in it.

Exam

None on this path.

Education

None reviewed.

Where this law comes from

NRS 641A.242 took its current mandatory form through Assembly Bill 450 of the 2025 Nevada Legislature, enacted as Chapter 315, Statutes of Nevada 2025, effective October 1, 2025, which changed the Board's issuance duty from 'may' to 'shall' and struck both the applicant's burden to prove no prior investigation and the Board's open-ended 'any other information required by the Board' documentation clause.

Before acting
  • The corresponding-license determination happens in adjudication, not by email. The staff reply is an invitation to apply, not a ruling.
  • NO provisional or temporary license in practice, contra NRS 641A.242(5)'s text (staff statement 2026-08-11). Plan on full processing time with no bridge credential.
  • Confirm current fees and Certemy mechanics on the board's reciprocity page.
  • Mirror hazard: third-party code sites still print the pre-amendment 'may issue' text of NRS 641A.242 even though the mandatory version took effect October 1, 2025. Cite the enrolled bill or the official legislature page, not a mirror.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly

CPC · NRS 641A.231, 641A.242; AB 450 (2025)
board asked 2026-08-07 · board answered 2026-08-11 · entry updated 2026-08-20

CORROBORATED: OPLC's licensing service representative confirmed on 2026-08-24 that Washington qualifies: 'If you have an independent license (LMHC or LICSW or LMFT) in a qualified jurisdiction then you can apply via reciprocity.' The document set was stated as exhaustive: universal initial application (6 pages), license verification (a printout from the license-verification website is accepted), the $325 fee, an NH and federal criminal background check (options B or C only), and the NH mental health jurisprudence examination. 'THESE ARE THE ONLY DOCUMENTS REQUIRED.' This upgrades the 2026-08-07 live-site verification to a board answer, and surfaces one element the site reading missed: the jurisprudence exam.
The path

Reciprocity under Plc 313.37: Washington is on OPLC's published qualifying-jurisdictions table for Clinical Mental Health Counselor. Reciprocity applicants submit NO transcripts and no exam scores. The 60-hour test was applied to Washington's standards, not to you.

When it opens

Now, with a full license. No minimum time holding it appears anywhere in the rule or on the table.

Exam

No NCE/NCMHCE review on the reciprocity track. The board's 2026-08-24 answer does add one element the earlier site reading missed: the NH mental health jurisprudence examination.

Education

Not examined.

Where this law comes from

New Hampshire's RSA 310:17 license-reciprocity provision was enacted by 2023 N.H. Laws ch. 111:1 (HB 594, 2023 session), effective August 27, 2023, per the source note printed on the statute's own General Court page — the statutory basis for the OPLC qualifying-jurisdictions table on which Washington appears.

Before acting
  • Verify Washington is still on the table the week you file: it's an agency-maintained list, not a statute.
  • Universal application + $325 fee + license verification (a website printout is accepted) + NH/federal background check (options B or C only) + the NH mental health jurisprudence exam: that's the whole packet, under the board's 2026-08-24 answer.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly

  • RSA 310:17, License Reciprocity, and RSA 330-A:19 (Clinical Mental Health Counselors) — https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXX/310/310-17.htm and https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXX/330-A/330-A-19.htm (verified 2026-08-19)
  • NH OPLC, 'New Changes for Reciprocity in New Hampshire' — Qualifying Jurisdictions table, Board of Mental Health Practice: Washington listed for Clinical Mental Health Counselor — https://www.oplc.nh.gov/new-changes-reciprocity-new-hampshire (verified 2026-08-19)
  • N.H. Code Admin. R. Plc 313 (Board of Mental Health Practice), incl. Plc 313.37 reciprocity — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19: the Plc 300 rules page on gencourt.state.nh.us fetched but does not contain Plc 313.37, and no other official copy fetched)
  • https://gc.nh.gov/rules/state_agencies/plc1000.html
  • NH Office of Professional Licensure and Certification, Licensing Service Representative — written answer to a direct inquiry, 2026-08-24: “If you have an independent license (LMHC or LICSW or LMFT) in a qualified jurisdiction then you can apply via reciprocity”; the document set is given as the universal initial application (6 pages), license verification (a website printout is accepted), the $325 fee, NH and federal criminal background check (options B or C only), and the NH mental health jurisprudence examination — “THESE ARE THE ONLY DOCUMENTS REQUIRED. NO OTHER DOCUMENTS REQUIRED.” Staff guidance, not a binding determination.
LCMHC · RSA 310:17; Plc 313.37; OPLC reciprocity page
board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-24 · entry updated 2026-08-24

CORROBORATED: The board answered by email (counseling@cswb.ohio.gov, 2026-08-21), covering both open questions at once: 'You do not need to hold an out of state license for one year to qualify for a license via reciprocity. The NCE will suffice for LPCC licensure requirements.' The reciprocity rule, read in full the same week, contains no time floor, so the answer and the rule text agree. Staff guidance, not a binding ruling.
The path

Occupational-licensing reciprocity (ORC ch. 4796): licensed 1+ year in good standing with substantially similar scope. Ohio also dropped the NCMHCE requirement for the LPCC effective Jan 1, 2026, which invalidates every older guide.

When it opens

Open now, under the board's 2026-08-21 answer: 'You do not need to hold an out of state license for one year to qualify for a license via reciprocity.' The one-year-plus-active-practice clock belongs to the ch. 4796 universal statute. The board processes counselor reciprocity under its own rule (OAC 4757-13-06), which sets no time floor.

Exam

Settled twice over: the 1/1/2026 policy change on the board's live instructions page, and now the board's own answer: 'The NCE will suffice for LPCC licensure requirements.'

Education

Light under reciprocity.

Where this law comes from

Ohio Revised Code chapter 4796 (universal occupational-license recognition) was enacted in its entirety by Senate Bill 131 of the 134th General Assembly, effective December 29, 2023 — every section's legislative history on codes.ohio.gov traces to that bill, and House Bill 442 of the 133rd General Assembly never touched the chapter — while the LPCC's separate NCMHCE requirement was eliminated effective January 1, 2026 per the CSWMFT Board's October 17, 2025 announcement.

Before acting
  • Confirm the 2026 exam change still stands when filing.
  • Ohio is live on the compact, which matters to MAP graduates only after the 90-quarter cure.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — ORC 4796.03, OAC 4757-13-06, and the live LPCC Application Instructions page (which verifies the 1/1/2026 NCMHCE drop; the 10/17/2025 news-release URL is dead).

LPCC · ORC ch. 4796; OAC 4757-13; board news 1/2026
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-21

CORROBORATED: The board answered nine minutes after the inquiry, on 2026-08-20: endorsement is the route for current out-of-state license holders seeking full independent licensure, and 'an application for licensure by endorsement does not require a traditional academic review.' The document set, submission warnings, and transcript mechanics were all specified. Informal staff answer, non-binding; validation still needs a filed application. The jurisprudence exam requirement (OAC 86:10-25-3(4) and the application page's Step 4) came from a direct read of the rules the same day, not from the board's answer itself.
The path

Endorsement: the board's application guidance says endorsement applicants need no national-exam verification, and the rule sets no minimum time licensed.

When it opens

Now, with a full license. Document set: FBI and OSBI fingerprint background checks (two separate checks), official transcript direct from the university, board-to-board license verification (their form or Washington’s equivalent), and the fee via the online portal. The Oklahoma jurisprudence exam follows: complete application → eligibility letter → register.

Exam

No national exam for endorsement. Oklahoma’s rules name only the NCE (the NCMHCE has never been required). The state’s own jurisprudence exam, the Oklahoma Legal and Ethical Responsibilities Examination, is mandatory for every endorsement applicant under OAC 86:10-25-3(4): complete application → eligibility letter → register.

Education

Not reviewed. An endorsement application ‘does not require a traditional academic review’ (board answer, 2026-08-20). The official transcript serves only as primary-source degree verification, sent directly from the university — nothing in it is graded.

Where this law comes from

The three-year mandatory endorsement provision at 59 O.S. §1906(E) was added by Laws 2019, c. 363, §62, effective November 1, 2019, and the companion Universal Licensing Recognition Act at 59 O.S. §4150.1 was added by Laws 2021, c. 342, §2, effective November 1, 2021, per each section's own amendment-history note (available only on the Justia mirror; no official Oklahoma copy would fetch).

Before acting
  • Two warnings straight from the board: do not submit a partial application (the Board will not review or accept it, so gather all five items first), and fees are non-refundable once paid.
  • The jurisprudence exam is settled by a direct read of the rules: OAC 86:10-25-3(4) and the board page's Step 4 both require it for endorsement. No national exam appears anywhere in the endorsement requirements.
  • Transcript delivery is specific: electronically from the university bursar to the board's inbox (password-protected), or sealed by mail. You can't upload it yourself.
  • A statute-vs-rule split: 59 O.S. §1906(E) requires three years since initial full (post-provisional) licensure, but the endorsement rule (86:10-25-3, ‘shall issue’) sets no time floor, and the board’s guidance names none. The under-three-years question hasn’t been asked directly, so ask before filing if it applies to you.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — OAC 86:10-25-1 to -25-3, 59 O.S. §1906 (2025, Justia mirror), and the board's application page; jurisprudence-exam correction folded the same day

LPC · OAC 86:10-25-3; 59 O.S. §1906
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

HYPOTHESIS: A board query went out 2026-08-20, covering the endorsement document set, the education-review scope, and how Washington supervision is documented. Still awaiting reply.
The path

Endorsement, under Reg. 36-14: the regulation's text contains no education, exam, hours, or years-licensed test. Licensure rests on the strength of the out-of-state license alone, and the board's webpage endorsement section matches the regulation.

When it opens

Now, on the text.

Exam

Not required by the endorsement regulation.

Education

Not reviewed per the text.

Where this law comes from

South Carolina's endorsement regulation, S.C. Code Regs. 36-14, took its current lenient form through a State Register rulemaking filed as S.C. State Register Volume 46, Issue 5, Document No. 5075, effective May 27, 2022 — an administrative amendment rather than a numbered session-law act; the compact provisions in the same title (§§40-75-910 to 40-75-1050) were separately enacted by 2024 Act No. 189 (S.610), effective May 21, 2024.

Before acting
  • The regulation really is this lenient, and the board's webpage endorsement section matches it. Do not confuse the 60-hour and exam requirements shown elsewhere on the same LLR page: those belong to the Associate (initial-licensure) pathway, not endorsement.
  • The board's levers are an undefined 'other documentation' clause and an equivalent-credential-level test; call to confirm scope before filing.
  • The statute's verb is 'may' (§40-75-260(B)(1)), even where the companion section reads unqualified, so the board retains discretion. Whether the bare rule gets applied as written is what the pending board query asks.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — Reg. 36-14 complete: license in good standing, no pending investigations, application + read-the-rules certification + fee, 'other documentation,' equivalent credential level; no education, exam, hours, or years test in the text

LPC · S.C. Code Regs. 36-14
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

CORROBORATED: The board's program manager confirmed on 2026-08-21 that supervised associate-credential time counts toward the endorsement rule's three continuous years, and that the LPC and LPC-MH are 'two separate licenses' requiring separate applications. On that reading, the door is open now: MAP graduates whose associate status began in 2023 already satisfy the three-year clock. It's staff-level guidance, though, and nothing is confirmed until an application actually clears the board.
The path

The no-transcript endorsement rule (ARSD 20:68:01:11) belongs to the plain LPC: real, at three years, with an NCE score verification. The LPC-MH, the tier that diagnoses and matches a WA LMHC's scope, runs through a different rule (ARSD 20:73:01:03), and the state's pages require the NCMHCE for it. So South Dakota at +3 buys the non-clinical credential; full scope equivalence is an NCMHCE question.

When it opens

Open now for most MAP graduates, under the program manager's 2026-08-21 answer: 'We can count your time under supervision towards the 3 years necessary for licensure by endorsement.' That's three continuous years of licensure, including associate-credential time, which a mid-2023 LMHCA start would have satisfied by mid-2026. The endorsement still buys the plain LPC only.

Exam

LPC: NCE score verification (no retake). LPC-MH: NCMHCE.

Education

Not requested on the endorsement route.

Where this law comes from

Confirmed deliberate implementation of 2020's SL 2020, ch. 165 — SDCL 36-32-67 carries source note 'SL 2020, ch 165, §21' and SDCL 36-32-68 carries 'SL 2020, ch 165, §22' — with ARSD 20:68:01:11 promulgated as the implementing rule (Law Implemented: SDCL 36-32-67); no separate session law shaped the rule itself.

Before acting
  • Decide which credential you actually need before filing. The easy door leads to the lesser license.
  • Never apply on the in-state route: South Dakota won't backdate supervision.
  • South Dakota's 2021 endorsement-mandate chapter (SDCL 36-1D) turns out to be a dead letter at this board: the endorsement form cites only the ordinary statute, and imposes the three-year and exam requirements the mandate chapter never mentions. Checked 2026-08-19.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — ARSD 20:68:01:11 complete: three continuous years, NCE score verification, active practice per SDCL 36-32-67, an eight-item document set with no transcript. The LPC-MH split (20:73:01:03) verified in the 8/19 sweep.

LPC by endorsement; LPC-MH (the diagnosing tier) is exam-gated · ARSD 20:68:01:11
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-21

HYPOTHESIS: 18VAC115-20-45 was amended effective 7/2/2026, removing the duration requirement entirely; the change is recent enough that older sources are likely to still show the deleted requirement. The board's live endorsement instructions corroborate this: no duration requirement shown. Nobody has tested the new rule yet. An application filed under it would be a high-value validation for every MAP graduate eyeing Virginia. A board query went out 2026-08-20, still awaiting reply, asking whether endorsement is processed under the amended rule now that the old duration test is deleted, and about the scope of the education review.
The path

Endorsement rule rewritten effective July 2, 2026 (Virginia Register vol. 42, iss. 20), deleting the former 24-of-60-months practice test. The current rule is a flat six-item list: application, fee, verification of every license held (with no unresolved board action), verification of a passing exam score from your licensing state, a current NPDB self-query, and an official transcript showing a completed graduate degree. One gate: you must hold or have held an out-of-state professional counselor license allowing independent assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.

When it opens

On the current text: as soon as you hold the full, independent WA LMHC. No duration-of-licensure or years-of-practice requirement appears anywhere in the amended rule. Treat this with care, though: the amendment is weeks old and untested. Confirm with the board before filing.

Exam

Whatever exam your licensing state required; the NCE satisfies it for Washington licensees.

Education

An official transcript documenting a completed graduate degree. The amended rule states no hour count and no content list; how the board actually reviews transcripts under the new text is unobserved.

Where this law comes from

18VAC115-20-45 took its current shape through a Virginia Board of Counseling regulatory amendment published at Virginia Register Volume 42, Issue 20, effective July 2, 2026, which replaced the previously subsection-structured endorsement rule (last amended at Volume 32, Issue 24, effective August 24, 2016) with a flat six-item list carrying no duration-of-licensure threshold.

Before acting
  • The amendment is six weeks old: expect board staff themselves to still be calibrating, and get any eligibility answer in writing.
  • Request your certified WA licensure file from DOH early; it remains the slowest document.
  • Associate-time questions are moot here now; the gate is holding the independent license, not years of practice.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: the amended rule was read in full on 2026-08-19

LPC · 18VAC115-20-45 (as amended eff. 7/2/2026, Va. Reg. 42:20)
sources read 2026-08-19 · board asked 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

CORROBORATED: The Executive Director of the West Virginia Board of Examiners in Counseling answered on 2026-08-26, replying inline to all three questions six days after the inquiry, with the LPC Endorsement Application attached. (1) PROCEDURE: universal licensure requires proof of WV residence; the filing is the “LPC Endorsement” application, six pages, plus a copy of a valid WV licence or state ID, plus official verification of licensure requested from every jurisdiction where the applicant is or has been licensed, sent to wvbecsubmissions@wv.gov. (2) THE HEADLINE: “If you do not reside in the state, but want to become licensed, you can apply as an endorsement applicant and you would be able to provide telehealth services from any state.” That's full licensure without moving, a stronger route than the interstate telehealth registration. (3) EDUCATION: “If you are fully licensed in another state and have no disciplinary actions leveled against your license, you are eligible to apply.” (4) RESIDENCY + EXAM: a WV driver's licence showing a valid WV address; “A jurispredunce exam is not required” (sic). Reading the endorsement packet and application in full on 2026-08-26 turned out to matter more than the answer itself: they carry 27-1-6.1.b's sixty-semester/ninety-quarter floor across fourteen content areas, and show the five-of-seven provision waiving transcripts, the Transcript Review Sheet, supervision records, and both recommendations. So the credit floor binds Option 2 applicants and vanishes for Option 1, making the five-year clock the operative gate for a 72-quarter degree rather than an optional shortcut. Staff answer and Board packet diverge on how hard the education look actually is; both are quoted in the caveats above rather than reconciled. Universal recognition, regardless, still opens the door immediately on WV residence.
The path

Three doors. UNIVERSAL RECOGNITION (W.Va. Code §30-1-27, 2025) is the fastest: the state must issue the license on WV residence, no education review, no competency exam — proved with a WV driver's license showing a valid WV address. ENDORSEMENT carries no residency requirement. The Executive Director confirmed on 2026-08-26: “If you do not reside in the state, but want to become licensed, you can apply as an endorsement applicant and you would be able to provide telehealth services from any state.” That's a full WV LPC held from Seattle, stronger than the interstate telehealth registration (which the remote-practice section shows may exist only in code, not in practice). Endorsement splits: OPTION 1 applies to anyone who has “actively practiced mental health counseling as a licensed professional counselor by maintaining an ongoing caseload for at least five of the last seven years” — it waives official transcripts, the Transcript Review Sheet, supervision records, and both professional recommendations. OPTION 2 waives nothing and runs into 27-1-6.1.b's floor of sixty semester / ninety quarter hours across fourteen content areas, proved course by course with catalog descriptions. A 72-quarter-hour degree cannot clear a ninety-quarter floor. For MAP graduates, Option 1 is the route — it's the door that never opens the transcript.

When it opens

Now if you move to WV: universal recognition issues on residence with no education review and no exam. Without moving: endorsement's five-of-seven clock — five of the last seven years actively practicing as a licensed professional counselor with an ongoing caseload, immediately preceding application. Anyone in practice since 2021 or earlier already meets it; for the most recently licensed, it's the binding constraint. Whether associate-tier practice (LMHCA) counts toward the five years is unanswered. Endorsement without the Option 1 waiver (Option 2) hits 27-1-6.1.b's sixty-semester / ninety-quarter floor, which this degree does not reach.

Exam

No jurisprudence exam — the Executive Director confirmed this on 2026-08-26, closing §30-1-27(d)'s open permission for one. Endorsement requires a national exam, already satisfied by a WA LMHC: the Board accepts the NCE, NCMHCE, CRC, and MFT National Exam (website and endorsement application item 11: “the National Counselor Exam (NCE), or the national clinical mental health counseling examination (NCMHCE) or other certification examination in counseling approved by the board”). The packet's instruction sheet is narrower, listing only the NCE — an internal conflict resolved in the applicant's favor by the two more recent statements. Universal recognition requires no competency exam.

Education

Route-dependent. UNIVERSAL RECOGNITION: no education review. §30-1-27(b)(4)–(5) asks whether education, exam, and experience standards existed in the sending state and whether that state verified you met them. The sending state's file is the file. ENDORSEMENT (Option 2): 27-1-6.1.b requires sixty semester / ninety quarter hours in a master's or doctoral degree in counseling, with three semester hours minimum in each of fourteen content areas: theories, techniques, human growth, social and cultural foundations, individual appraisal, professional responsibilities, etiology/assessment/diagnosis, addictions, group, life-style and career, marriage and family, research, practicum, internship. Proved on a Transcript Review Sheet with catalog course descriptions — one course to one area, no double-counting, no undergraduate work, no CE. A topic appearing across several classes does not satisfy an area. The MAP degree's 72 quarter hours do not reach the ninety-quarter total. ENDORSEMENT (Option 1): the five-of-seven waiver removes this entire apparatus. Transcripts, review sheet, and course descriptions: all “WAIVED FOR OPTION 1 APPLICANTS.”

Where this law comes from

W. Va. Code §30-1-27, the Universal Professional and Occupational Licensing Act of 2025, was enacted by Senate Bill 458 of the 2025 Regular Session, and §30-1-26 (interstate telehealth registration) was most recently amended by Senate Bill 299 of the same 2025 Regular Session, both per the bill-history records printed on the WV Legislature's official code pages; those pages do not display the bills' specific effective dates.

Before acting
  • Staff and packet diverge on education scrutiny. The Executive Director said: “If you are fully licensed in another state and have no disciplinary actions leveled against your license, you are eligible to apply.” The packet is stricter: Option 2 applicants complete the Transcript Review Sheet against 27-1-6.1.b's 60/90 floor, and endorsement “is always considered on a case by case basis.” Staff describe eligibility to apply; the packet describes what the credentialing committee reviews. The gap is the finding.
  • Universal recognition is filed on the LPC ENDORSEMENT application (per the Executive Director), so a residency applicant hands the Board a form whose checklist demands a transcript review. Whether §30-1-27's no-education-review promise survives contact with that form is unanswered — resolve this before relying on the route.
  • Whether LMHCA-tier practice counts toward the five-of-seven years is unaddressed in the rule, the packet, or the Executive Director's answer. Oregon, Louisiana, and Arizona each answered no; Colorado and South Dakota answered yes. West Virginia has not been asked.
  • A universal-recognition license is WV-only and can't anchor compact privileges.
  • §30-1-27(a)(2) also unlocks without residency for a military spouse accompanying an active-duty member to a West Virginia station — a narrow alternative the residency framing above doesn't mention.
  • Paperwork is heavier than the statute suggests. Notarized six-page application with photograph affixed before notarization; $300 non-refundable fee; certified copy of your file from every licensing state plus that state's licensing rule as it stood when your license issued; Attachment A completed by each board; and on Option 1, Attachment B verification of active clinical practice signed by someone who can attest to your caseload. The form also requires a statement of counseling philosophy.
  • Timeline is committee-paced: the Credentialing Committee reviews files roughly every two months, then a board meeting approves, also roughly bimonthly. Contact within 7–10 business days of a complete packet. A file inactive 18 months must restart. Practice may begin only after the certificate is in hand.
  • Form and channel conflict. The Board announced all-electronic applications from 2023-10-16, but the endorsement packet still instructs mail by certified post, and the forms page carries four separate LPC Endorsement Application PDFs (2021, 2022, 2023-02, 2023-10). Confirm the live channel before assembling anything. The packet also refers to an “applicant's MFT file” — an evident copy-paste error.
  • 27 CSR 1 has not been read end to end. §§5.3 and 6.1.b are in hand verbatim from the Board's packet, but §§5.2.a.2 and 5.2.a.4 — the items the waiver removes — are known only by the packet's description (official transcripts; two professional recommendations). The Secretary of State serves the rule as a Word binary that does not extract.
  • Board-site reliability: wvbec.org's counselor page carries an injected commercial link inside otherwise official text. Still the Board's page, but treat single-sourced statements there with more caution than the PDFs.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — §§30-1-27, 30-1-26, 30-31-8 complete; 27 CSR 1 remains unextractable (Word binary at the Secretary of State), so the board-rule layer is still unread. Second pass 2026-08-26 (cowork): §30-31-8 re-read in full from the official code page — subsection (b) makes an out-of-state licensee eligible where the board determines the qualifications “at least substantially equivalent,” and no five-year term appears anywhere in the statute; the Board's LPC Endorsement Application and instruction packet (2023-10) read in full, yielding 27-1-6.1.b and 27-1-5.3 verbatim plus the Option 1 / Option 2 structure; the Board's reciprocity packet and its “Becoming a Licensed Counselor” page re-read the same day.

  • W. Va. Code §30-1-27 (Universal Professional and Occupational Licensing Act of 2025; license issued without examination to a person establishing WV residence, on an out-of-state license in good standing; enacted 2025 Regular Session SB 458 per the code page's bill-history record) — https://code.wvlegislature.gov/30-1-27/ (verified 2026-08-19)
  • W. Va. Code §30-1-26 (interstate telehealth registration; most recently amended 2025 Regular Session SB 299 per the code page's bill-history record) — https://code.wvlegislature.gov/30-1-26/ (verified 2026-08-19)
  • W. Va. Code §30-31-8 (requirements for license to practice counseling, incl. subsec. (b) recognition of a substantially equivalent out-of-state license) — https://code.wvlegislature.gov/30-31-8/ (verified 2026-08-19)
  • 27 CSR 1, WV Board of Examiners in Counseling legislative rule, §§5.2-5.3, 6.1 — document confirmed live at the Secretary of State's site but served as a Word/PDF binary that did not extract, so the cited subsections were not independently re-read (no fetchable machine-readable official copy located 2026-08-19) — https://apps.sos.wv.gov/adlaw/csr/readfile.aspx?DocId=56956&Format=WORD
  • WVBEC, 'Becoming a Licensed Counselor' (confirms the endorsement path for applicants fully licensed at the highest level in another jurisdiction) — https://wvbec.org/becoming-a-licensed-counselor/ (verified 2026-08-19)
  • https://wvbec.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Series-2-Fee-Rules_Revised-2022.pdf
  • WVBEC, LPC Endorsement Application + instruction/checklist packet (rev. 2023-10; Option 1 five-of-seven waiver, Option 2 full review, notarised six-page form, $300 non-refundable fee, Attachments A and B, Transcript Review Sheet with 27-1-6.1.b's fourteen content areas quoted verbatim) — read in full 2026-08-26 — https://wvbec.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/LPC-Endorsement-Application.pdf
  • WVBEC, LPC Reciprocity/Endorsement packet (case-by-case framing; 27-1-5.3 quoted verbatim as a WAIVER of 5.2.a.2 and 5.2.a.4; the Ohio LPCC≡WV LPC / Ohio LPC≡WV provisional mapping) — read in full 2026-08-26 — https://wvbec.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/LPC-Reciprocity-Packet_IN-2832.pdf
  • WVBEC, 'Becoming a Licensed Counselor' (accepted exams: NCE, NCMHCE, CRC, MFT National Exam; endorsement for those fully licensed at the highest level elsewhere; verification to wvbecsubmissions@wv.gov) — re-read 2026-08-26 — https://wvbec.org/becoming-a-licensed-counselor/
  • WVBEC, Applications and Forms (all-electronic applications announced from 2023-10-16 via the Database tab; four LPC Endorsement Application PDFs of different vintages still posted) — read 2026-08-26 — https://wvbec.org/counseling-applications-and-forms/
  • West Virginia Board of Examiners in Counseling — Executive Director, reply of 2026-08-26 to the 2026-08-20 three-question inquiry, answering inline on procedure, the no-residency endorsement route with telehealth from any state, the eligibility test, WV driver's-licence residency proof and the absence of a jurisprudence exam; LPC Endorsement Application attached. Correspondence on file in the maintainer's mail records.
LPC · W.Va. Code §§30-1-26, 30-1-27, 30-31-8
sources read 2026-08-26 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board replied without answering 2026-08-26 · board answered 2026-08-26 · entry updated 2026-08-26

CORROBORATED: The board's credentialing specialist answered in writing on 2026-08-20, with the board's standard no-legal-advice disclaimer. The one-year clock runs on the same-practice-level license only ('We do not combine licenses'). Universal recognition differs from endorsement only in requiring Arizona residency, and the endorsement pathway 'does not look at the program or hours': regional accreditation of the university is the whole education test. The open question about whether associate-level time counts toward the year is closed, answered no. It's staff guidance, not a board ruling, so treat it as strong corroboration rather than the final word.
The path

Two doors open at one year. Endorsement (§32-3274) needs no residency, but the degree must be a master's 'in the applicable field,' and a psychology-titled MA needs pre-clearing before you can count on that. Universal recognition (§32-4302) is a door the state must grant: no degree review at all, but Arizona residency is required. Arizona also has a telehealth registration, covered in the remote-practice section.

When it opens

Full license date plus one year. The board's credentialing specialist confirmed that licenses aren't combined to meet the one-year requirement: the license must be at the same practice level, so associate time doesn't count. Universal recognition (§32-4302) works identically, with one addition: Arizona residency.

Exam

NCE qualifies everywhere in the scheme; no jurisprudence exam, just an online statutes tutorial.

Education

Corroborated in the board's words: 'The endorsement pathway does not look at the program or hours, however the university must be regionally accredited.' Official transcripts are submitted, but only the degree and the institution's accreditation matter.

Where this law comes from

Arizona's universal-recognition statute, A.R.S. §32-4302, was enacted by House Bill 2569 of the 2019 regular session, signed April 10, 2019 and effective August 27, 2019, per the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners' own universal-recognition page; the enacting bill and year for the separate §32-3274 endorsement pathway were not determined this pass.

Before acting
  • The specialist's answers carry the board's standard disclaimer that staff may not interpret statute. Treat them as corroboration, keep the email, and expect the same-practice-level reading at intake.
  • Ask the board whether a psychology MA passes 'applicable field' before filing endorsement, or moot the question with residency-based universal recognition.
  • Compact-live state, but that's irrelevant for MAP graduates until the 90-quarter cure and Washington's go-live.
  • A §32-4302 universal-recognition license is valid only in Arizona and is expressly not compact-eligible (subsection (F)); the endorsement route carries no such limit. The statute also has a military-spouse door that skips the residency requirement.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — A.R.S. §§32-3274 and 32-4302 (Justia mirrors; azleg.gov JS-gated), and the credentialing specialist's three inline answers re-read verbatim in Gmail the same day. §32-3275 and the A.A.C. rules remain unfetched.

LPC · A.R.S. §§32-3274, 32-4302, 36-3606
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

CORROBORATED: The board's reciprocity licensing specialist answered on 2026-08-26, and the silence this pathway was built around is over. The operative posture, quoted in full: 'you will want to apply for the LCPC by reciprocity. We will consider all documentation. If, for any reason, you do not meet the standard route, we will then look into using option K.S.A 48-3406.' Three things follow. First, the board routes an out-of-state LMHC to the LCPC-by-reciprocity application (link provided in the reply), the clinical tier, matching the Washington license. Second, and this is what the caveat structure had been waiting for, the board has now acknowledged K.S.A. 48-3406 in writing as a live option it will 'look into' when the standard route fails. That's the first written evidence the universal-recognition statute operates at all, though as a sequenced fallback rather than a front door, and still with no dedicated form or implementing rule. Third, the degree-title question, how K.A.R. 102-3-3a's 'counseling or a related field' and 'degree in counseling' clauses reconcile for a psychology-titled transcript, drew only 'We will consider all documentation': asked, not answered, and it rides into any filing. Staff answers don't bind the board. This pathway re-tiered on 2026-08-19 from coursework-cure to a conditional one-year hypothesis on the statute's text; that tier now has a written answer behind it.
The path

LCPC by reciprocity (board direction, 2026-08-26). Fallback: K.S.A. 48-3406 (2021, anyone establishing Kansas residency) — BSRB shall issue on a similar-scope license plus one year, notwithstanding any other law. No transcript, no education review, 45-day clock; probationary then converts. No regulation or form for 48-3406 exists — file reciprocity and invoke the statute if standard review balks. Ordinary route accepts ‘a related field’ but requires identifiable counselor training (K.A.R. 102-3-3a) — unanswered for a psychology degree.

When it opens

One year in practice plus Kansas residency (intent to establish it suffices at filing), once the BSRB confirms in writing that it processes 48-3406 applications. Without that confirmation, fall back to the cure math below.

Exam

The NCMHCE has a substitution: 15 graduate diagnosis credits, 3 years clinical practice, or a diagnostician's attestation, with two of the three sufficing. Under 48-3406, no exam is required beyond a possible jurisprudence test keyed to Kansas-law differences.

Education

Not reviewed under 48-3406 as written. On the ordinary route, the 60-hour standard applies, with a confirmed supplementation reading: coursework counts 'as a part of or in addition to' the degree.

Where this law comes from

K.S.A. 48-3406 began as a military expedited-licensure section and was extended to all residency-establishing applicants effective 2021, with further amendments through 2025. The BSRB's regulation index contains no implementing rule for it.

Before acting
  • Board acknowledged K.S.A. 48-3406 in writing (2026-08-26): ‘if, for any reason, you do not meet the standard route, we will then look into using option K.S.A 48-3406.’ No form or implementing rule exists — file reciprocity and invoke the statute only if standard review balks.
  • Residency, or documented intent to establish it, is required. This is a relocation path.
  • Get the degree-title reconciliation question answered in writing regardless, in case the universal route stalls and the cure route becomes the plan. It was asked on 2026-08-20; the 2026-08-26 reply's only gesture was 'We will consider all documentation,' which leaves it unanswered in substance.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full — K.S.A. 48-3406 and 48-3406a on 2026-08-19; K.A.R. 102-3-3a complete on 2026-08-20 (the 'as a part of or in addition to' supplementation text confirmed verbatim at (b)(2)).

LCPC · K.S.A. 48-3406; K.A.R. 102-3-3a
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-26 · entry updated 2026-08-26

CORROBORATED: The Credentialing Department at the LA LPC Board of Examiners answered by email on 2026-08-20: the five-year threshold 'has been removed and is now updated to 1-year,' the posted application's old language is being updated and should be submitted as normal, and, verbatim, 'If you have been licensed for at least 1-year in your home state, you will not be subjected to meet our educational requirements.' Materials required: fingerprint/background check, license verification, and an official transcript, collected rather than judged. The follow-up on associate time was answered the same day, also verbatim: 'It is only applicable to a full license,' meaning LMHCA time doesn't count toward the year. Neither answer binds the board, but both are written, current, and first-party. Both questions are now closed as answered.
The path

Endorsement at one year: Act 253 of 2024 dropped the old five-year threshold, though the board's downloadable forms still recite five years.

When it opens

Full license date plus 1 year, on the full license only. The board confirmed (2026-08-20) that associate time doesn't count. The posted form's five-year language is stale; submit it as normal.

Exam

NCE accepted.

Education

Light under endorsement.

Where this law comes from

Louisiana's one-year endorsement threshold traces to Act 253 of the 2024 Regular Session (SB 60, Sen. Pressly — the 'Welcome Home Act,' enacted as La. R.S. 37:51-59), which set a statewide one-year universal recognition floor and which the LPC Board's September 20, 2024 Notice of Intent for LAC 46:LX-1101 and 3701 expressly states it amended its rule 'to align with'; Act 457 of the same 2024 Regular Session is a separate act that amended the distinct education-and-hours statute La. R.S. 37:1107.

Before acting
  • The forms-versus-rule conflict is resolved: the board confirmed (2026-08-20) that the one-year rule governs and the posted form should be used as-is while its language is updated.
  • Direct-hours check: Louisiana wants 1,900 direct client hours, more than Washington's 1,200 minimum, so your logged total matters.
  • 40 CE hours within the two years before applying (LAC 46:LX-1101(A)) — a requirement the board’s emailed materials list omitted. Washington’s minimum is 36 biennial, so you may be four hours short. Count your CE before filing; that gap can stall an otherwise clean application.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — LAC 46:LX-1101 (current through the June 2025 Register: one-year rule, NCE/NCMHCE/oral exam, 40-CEH documentation) and both board answers re-read verbatim in Gmail. R.S. 37:1107 and the Act 253 text by Opus agent as cited.

LPC · LAC 46:LX-1101; Act 253 (2024)
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

CORROBORATED: Staff at the Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors answered on 2026-08-27, confirming the gate this pathway was built around and leaving the sharper question untouched. Quoted: 'You will have to establish residency in MS to be eligible for Universal Licensure in MS,' followed by §73-50-2's own elements pasted back: a year holding a current, good-standing license in a similar-scope occupation, and the sending state's verification that its own education, experience, examination and supervision requirements were met. That second half matches the no-education-review reading above, now restated by the board rather than read off the statute alone. It's corroboration of the residency condition and the sending-state clause, not an interpretation of either. Two questions were asked and not answered. Rule 4.3's P-LPC education minimums for out-of-state applicants, and whether they reach an applicant on the universal route, drew nothing. On whether Washington's associate credential counts toward the year, the reply says only that an applicant 'will need to have held a license comparable to that license for 1 year,' which reads toward the full LMHC rather than the LMHCA without saying so; the year is read on the full license here until a board says otherwise. The decisive statute was re-read in full on 2026-08-19: education under §73-50-2(3)(b) is verified by the sending state against the sending state's own requirements, so Mississippi conducts no education review on this path.
The path

Universal recognition at one year; requires establishing Mississippi residency.

When it opens

Full license date plus 1 year, upon residency.

Exam

No national re-examination, but the Mississippi Pass/Fail Jurisprudence Examination is required of every applicant: open-book (state rules plus the ACA code), 35 questions, 80% to pass, taken through CCE after the application is submitted and paid.

Education

Not reviewed under universal recognition.

Where this law comes from

Miss. Code Ann. §73-50-2, the Universal Recognition of Occupational Licenses Act, was added by Laws 2021, House Bill 1263, effective July 1, 2021, per the statute's own credits line in the official code text hosted by the licensing board and echoed on the board's LPC by Universal page.

Before acting
  • The statute contains its own poison pill: a license issued this way is valid only in Mississippi and expressly does not make you compact-eligible.
  • The board collects a copy of your original licensure file (supervision verification forms, transcript, national exam scores) from the sending state, or from you directly if the state won't forward it. It's collected for the record, not re-judged.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full — §73-50-2 on 2026-08-19; the board's LPC-by-Universal page (document set, residency proof, jurisprudence exam) on 2026-08-20. Part 2201 rules by Opus agent as cited.

LPC · Miss. Code §73-50-2
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board replied without answering 2026-08-27 · board answered 2026-08-27 · entry updated 2026-08-28

The path

Universal recognition at one year, and Missouri is unusually kind to this exact cohort: the career-development course is excused by statute for out-of-state licensees (RSMo 337.510.2(1)), and a 48-semester/72-quarter degree is grandfathered for anyone who enrolled before Aug 28, 2023, which is every MAP grad in these classes.

When it opens

Full license date plus 1 year.

Exam

NCE accepted; no national re-examination under reciprocity. But every Missouri licensee takes the state's written, open-book examination on Missouri law (RSMo 337.510.4), so plan on it.

Education

Grandfathered at 72 quarter for MAP graduates; keep enrollment-date documentation handy.

Where this law comes from

RSMo 337.510's current version — including the §337.510.2(1) career-development exemption for prior and out-of-state licensees — took effect August 28, 2023 as enacted by 2023 House Bills 115 and 99, merged with Senate Bill 70 and Senate Bill 157; the 48-semester/72-quarter-hour grandfather for applicants enrolled before that date sits in the implementing rule 20 CSR 2095-2.010(1)(B), and the separate general universal-recognition statute RSMo 324.009 traces to 2018 Senate Bill 840.

Before acting
  • The grandfather keys to either date: a degree obtained before Aug 28, 2023 qualifies on its own (20 CSR 2095-2.010(1)(B): 'obtained a master's degree or was enrolled'), so a June 2023 conferral on the transcript is sufficient documentation. Enrollment-date proof is a backup, not a requirement.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — RSMo 337.510 complete (career exemption at .2(1), one-year reciprocity at .3, open-book law exam at .4) and the full 20 CSR 2095-2 chapter (grandfather at 2.010(1)(B), NCE at 2.030).

LPC · RSMo 337.510; 20 CSR 2095
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

HYPOTHESIS: Rests on LB 16 (2024), which postdates the analysis that once closed Nebraska and, read in full, overrides the supervision-reconstruction bar. Untested, and the compact-exception question is still open. A board query went out 2026-08-20, awaiting reply, covering whether the department accepts §84-950 applications, the compact-exception clause, and the LIMHP practice-level mapping.
The path

Universal recognition (§84-950, enacted 2024): the board must issue a license at the same practice level to anyone who held a similar-scope credential for one year where the sending state required education, training, or exams. No Nebraska education review, no supervision reconstruction, no residency. The supervision-ratio wall that once closed Nebraska's independent tier sits in the ordinary reciprocity rules this statute overrides. The department still publishes only its old five-year reciprocity application, so the first filer will cite the statute directly.

When it opens

Full license date + 1 year on the statute's own terms, but expect to cite §84-950 to a department that has not built the application for it.

Exam

No new national exam. Only a jurisprudence exam, if Nebraska requires one of its own applicants.

Education

Not reviewed under §84-950. The statute asks whether Washington imposed standards and whether you met them, which Washington verifies.

Where this law comes from

§84-950 was added by LB 16 §11, Laws 2024 (effective 2024-07-19), extending Nebraska's Occupational Board Reform Act framework into a mandatory universal-recognition rule. The department's published forms have not caught up with it.

Before acting
  • The statute's opening clause excepts occupations 'as otherwise provided in … an occupational licensing compact,' and Nebraska is a Counseling Compact member. Whether that clause switches the route off for counselors is unresolved, and it's the first question to ask the department.
  • The usual poison pill applies: a §84-950 license is valid only in Nebraska and expressly not compact-eligible.
  • The 'same practice level' determination decides whether you get the independent LIMHP or the non-diagnosing LMHP: argue from the WA LMHC's independent diagnostic scope.
  • Statute verified in full; department practice unverified. Treat as untested until someone files.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full — §84-950 with its companion sections and the 5-year reciprocity application on 2026-08-19; 172 NAC 94-006 on 2026-08-20 (the ordinary-reciprocity wall the statute overrides, confirmed: under-5-years applicants must document the full ordinary requirements).

LIMHP / LMHP · Neb. Rev. Stat. §84-950
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

CORROBORATED: The division answered two follow-up questions on 2026-08-28, in the same thread as the questions sent 2026-08-26. On associate hours, the answer is no: the 4,000 hours "must have been completed as a LMHC. You cannot have completed these hours while under supervision." That closes the associate-hours branch rather than leaving it open. On §58-1-302(2)(a), the answer is yes, and it's the more consequential of the two: "To utilize the pathway under 58-1-302 (2)(a), you must submit a copy of your states law and rule that lists your scope of practice as well [as] have been licensed for a minimum of 1 year," followed by a computed date and the phrase "either endorsement pathway." That confirms what the 2026-08-26 answer had simply passed over: the universal-recognition text is a live, separately administered door, and its gate is one year of full licensure, not the hours screen. The earlier two-year estimate assumed the CMHC hours screen was the only route in; with the (2)(a) pathway confirmed as an independent one-year door, one year is the operative number. One residue sits in the caveats rather than the tier: R156-1-302(4) preserves discretion to require a professional exam of an endorsement applicant, and whether the division exercises it on the (2)(a) route was asked in the same thread on 2026-08-28 and is still awaiting reply.
The path

Two endorsement doors, both confirmed by the division on 2026-08-28. The CMHC-specific screen requires the NCMHCE or 4,000 hours of lawful practice with 1,000+ hours of mental health therapy. §58-1-302(2)(a) is its own door: submit a copy of your state's scope-of-practice law and rule, hold one year of full licensure, and be in good standing. Staff called them “either endorsement pathway” and gated both on one year of full licensure. Education is clean either way: no transcript submission unless the division requests it.

When it opens

Full license date plus 1 year, on the division's framing of §58-1-302(2)(a), confirmed 2026-08-28. The associate-hours branch is CLOSED: the 4,000 hours “must have been completed as a LMHC” and “you cannot have completed these hours while under supervision.” The one-year door requires a document the other routes don't: a copy of your state's scope-of-practice law and rule. One residue: whether the division exercises R156-1-302(4) to require the NCMHCE of a (2)(a) applicant was asked and remains unanswered.

Exam

“Utah does not accept the NCE in place of the NCMHCE” (division mental-health licensing team, 2026-08-26) — but that governs the CMHC exam element, not every door. Two ways past it: the 4,000-hour prong is disjunctive with the NCMHCE on the CMHC screen, and the §58-1-302(2)(a) pathway names neither exam nor hours — only similar scope, one year of licensure, and good standing. The statute carries no exam condition. The catch is at rule level: R156-1-302(4) lets the division require a professional exam of an endorsement applicant, “except if expressly provided otherwise in statute or rule.” That's permissive, not mandatory, and §58-1-302(8)(b) requires uniform application — but it's the hook by which an NCMHCE could still be demanded on the one-year route. Asked 2026-08-28; still unanswered.

Education

No transcript required. The division's own word (2026-08-26): “If you qualify for licensure by endorsement, then you are not required to submit your education to the division unless requested.” The (2)(a) route's one required document is not a transcript — it's a copy of the licensing state's law and rule setting out the scope of practice (2026-08-28). For a non-CACREP 48-semester-hour degree, that's about as favorable an education posture as any staff answer has given.

Where this law comes from

Utah Code §58-1-302(2)'s one-year out-of-state license recognition provision took its current form through Chapter 104 of the 2024 Utah General Session, effective May 1, 2024.

Before acting
  • Associate hours do not count: the 4,000 hours “must have been completed as a LMHC” and “you cannot have completed these hours while under supervision” (2026-08-28). At full-time pace the hours prong runs roughly two years past full licensure — the one-year (2)(a) door, not the hours prong, is the one worth pursuing.
  • R156-1-302(4) preserves division discretion to require a professional exam of endorsement applicants. Staff describing the (2)(a) route on 2026-08-28 did not mention the NCMHCE, but were not asked whether the discretion is exercised on that route. A staff answer does not bind the board. The question was sent in the same thread; until answered, treat an NCMHCE demand on the one-year door as possible.
  • Staff answers corroborate; they do not bind. §58-1-302(8)(a)'s priority clause over conflicting endorsement provisions elsewhere in Title 58 remains untested against the CMHC chapter's own screen. It is the argument, not a holding.
  • No temporary license, no telehealth registration.
Sources (Decisive texts read in full)

Decisive texts read in full: §58-1-302 complete 2026-08-20 (incl. the (8)(a) priority clause and (8)(b)'s uniformity requirement) and R156-60c-302b (both NBCC exams). R156-1-302 was unfetchable through 2026-08-26 and is now read in full — Cornell LII carries the 4/23/2024 text, and subsection (4) is the exam-discretion clause the entry had been describing at second hand since 2026-08-19.

  • Utah Code §58-1-302 (license by endorsement; one-year out-of-state recognition at subsec. (2); eff. 5/1/2024, amended ch. 104, 2024 General Session) — https://law.justia.com/codes/utah/title-58/chapter-1/part-3/section-302/ (verified 2026-08-19; le.utah.gov and adminrules.utah.gov were tested directly and returned no extractable text)
  • Utah Code §58-60-405 (qualifications for licensure, incl. (1)(g)(ii) non-passing-score alternative pathway; eff. 5/7/2025, amended ch. 443, 2025 General Session) — https://law.justia.com/codes/utah/title-58/chapter-60/part-4/section-405/ (verified 2026-08-19)
  • Utah Admin. Code R156-60c-302b (examination requirements: requires BOTH the NCMHCE and the NCE under §58-60-405(1)(f); amended eff. 1/25/2024) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/utah/Utah-Admin-Code-R156-60c-302b (verified 2026-08-19; adminrules.utah.gov returned no extractable text)
  • Utah Admin. Code R156-1-302 (Licensure by Endorsement; amended eff. 4/23/2024), subsec. (4): "The Division may require an applicant for licensure by endorsement to pass one or more of the exams required to obtain licensure in the profession, such as a business and law exam, jurisprudence exam, or professional exam, except if expressly provided otherwise in statute or rule." — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/utah/Utah-Admin-Code-R156-1-302 (READ IN FULL 2026-08-28; supersedes the 2026-08-19 note that no fetchable copy existed — adminrules.utah.gov is a JS SPA, but Cornell LII mirrors the rule text)
  • Utah DOPL CMHC FAQ and endorsement guide — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19)
  • https://commerce.utah.gov/dopl/clinical-mental-health-counseling/renew-a-license/
  • Utah Division of Professional Licensing, mental health licensing team — written answers to a three-question inquiry, 2026-08-26: endorsement screen “the NCMHCE Examination or 4,000 hours of lawful practice with a minimum of 1,000 hours of mental health therapy”; “Utah does not accept the NCE in place of the NCMHCE”; education “not required to submit … unless requested.” Sent 2026-08-20 to the division's general inbox; answered by the bureau's team address.
  • Utah Division of Professional Licensing, mental health licensing team — second written answer, 2026-08-28, to follow-ups sent in-thread 2026-08-26: the 4,000 hours "must have been completed as a LMHC. You cannot have completed these hours while under supervision"; and "To utilize the pathway under 58-1-302 (2)(a), you must submit a copy of your states law and rule that lists your scope of practice as well [as] have been licensed for a minimum of 1 year," with both routes called "either endorsement pathway."
CMHC · Utah Code §58-1-302(2)(a), (8); R156-1-302(4); R156-60c
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-28 · board answered 2026-08-28 · entry updated 2026-08-28

CORROBORATED: A licensing evaluator at the Board of Behavioral Sciences confirmed all three Path A hinges on 2026-08-24: 'The Board does not review the unit of your degree for Path A and NCMHCE exam is waived. Regarding question 3 you are correct.' Question 3 was the clock: the two years run on the full license only, current, active, and unrestricted for the two years immediately preceding the application, and associate (LMHCA) time doesn't count. The terse reply skipped one sub-question, whether the NCE needs separate verification on Path A; carry that as a minor open point with any filing.
The path

Licensure by credential (BPC §4999.60) is open to anyone licensed two or more years. The degree requirement is just 'a master's from an accredited institution,' with no unit count and no content review, and the clinical exam is expressly waived. It's the simplest big-state door available to MAP graduates.

When it opens

Full license date plus two years, and the license must be unrestricted for the entire two years immediately preceding. Keep the Washington record spotless.

Exam

California Law & Ethics exam only. The clinical exam (NCMHCE) is expressly waived on Path A, confirmed by the board in writing on 2026-08-24. Whether the NCE needs separate verification went unanswered, but it's a minor point.

Education

None reviewed beyond the accredited master's. About 40 hours of California-specific short courses (law/ethics, CA cultures, child abuse, suicide) complete the file.

Where this law comes from

BPC §4999.60's licensed-two-years out-of-state structure — the two-year unrestricted-license threshold, the master's-or-doctoral-degree-only education requirement, and the waived clinical examination — was created by SB 679, chapter 380, Statutes of 2019, effective January 1, 2020, per the Board of Behavioral Sciences' own implementation guide; leginfo's 'Amended by Stats.' history note could not be read directly because the section page is JavaScript-rendered and returns no text to any fetch.

Before acting
  • Applying before the two-year mark is pointless: the under-two-years path reviews units and is structurally closed to a 72-quarter psychology degree.
  • Any license restriction resets the clock.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly

  • BPC §4999.60 (licensure by credential: 2-year current, active, unrestricted out-of-state license; degree requirement is a master's or doctoral degree from an accredited or approved institution with no unit count or content review; clinical examination expressly waived, California law and ethics exam still required) — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC&sectionNum=4999.60 (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19: leginfo is JavaScript-rendered and returned no extractable text on repeated attempts, confirmed independently this pass; identical verbatim text verified at https://california.public.law/codes/business_and_professions_code_section_4999.60 on 2026-08-19)
  • BBS, 'Applicants Licensed in Another United States Jurisdiction for at Least Two Years: Portability of License to California' — the Board's current guide on this pathway; confirms SB 679 (ch. 380, Stats. 2019) created it effective January 1, 2020, clinical exam waived, California law/ethics coursework and exam still required — https://www.bbs.ca.gov/pdf/license_portability.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; a file specifically labeled 'rev. 10/2024' could not be separately located)
  • SB 775 (2025) re: BPC §4999.23 30-day provision — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB775 (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19: leginfo bill-text pages are JavaScript-rendered and returned no extractable content)
  • https://bbs.ca.gov/licensees/manage.html
  • California Board of Behavioral Sciences, Licensing Evaluator — written answer to a direct processing inquiry, 2026-08-24: “The Board does not review the unit of your degree for Path A and NCMHCE exam is waived. Regarding question 3 you are correct.” Question 3 asked whether the two years run on the full, current, active, unrestricted license only, with associate (LMHCA) time excluded. The NCE-verification sub-question went unanswered. Non-binding staff answer.
LPCC · BPC §4999.60
board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-24 · entry updated 2026-08-24

FILED · PENDING: A MAP graduate's MOBILE endorsement application was filed 2026-08-03 and is pending. The associate-practice question will be answered by the adjudication itself; AAMFT's May 2026 report of the board staff's favorable reading stands as corroboration in the meantime.
The path

MOBILE Act endorsement (§456.0145) reviews no education at all: no transcript, no CACREP, no course list. It needs an active unencumbered license, a national exam (the board expressly exempts NCE-holders from the NCMHCE), a clean record, and 2 of the last 4 years in active practice.

When it opens

Conservatively, two years of practice after full licensure. Possibly sooner: the statute counts ‘active practice’ rather than license age, and AAMFT reported in May 2026 that board staff read the amended act to include intern- and associate-level experience. A cohort member’s application filed August 2026 is testing that reading. If approved, Florida opens for anyone with two years of combined practice.

Exam

NCE or NCMHCE; either one works.

Education

None reviewed. The exam path closed permanently to non-CACREP degrees on 7/1/2025, so endorsement is the only Florida door. It's wide open.

Where this law comes from

Florida's MOBILE Act endorsement pathway at Fla. Stat. §456.0145 was created by ch. 2024-274, Laws of Florida (2024), and amended into its current two-years-of-active-practice-within-the-preceding-four-years form by ch. 2025-6 and ch. 2025-114, Laws of Florida (2025), with the 2025 changes effective July 1, 2025.

Before acting
  • Use form DH-MQA-5101; the older 3-of-5-years form still floating on their site is superseded.
  • The board's published email address rejected messages in our testing (July 2026); call (850) 245-4292 instead.
  • Florida also runs an out-of-state telehealth registration; see the remote-practice section.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly

LMHC · Fla. Stat. §§456.0145, 491.006; Rule 64B4-3.0031
board asked 2026-08-03 · entry updated 2026-08-20

HYPOTHESIS: [Board query sent 2026-08-20. A general-inbox reply on 2026-08-21 declined it as a coursework-review request: 'Coursework review questions aren't answered here... Once you submit an application all of your questions will be answered by the coordinator.' But neither question asked for a record review; both were rule-interpretation questions (does associate time count toward the three years; does 'or the equivalent quarter hours' allow two quarter-credit courses to combine in one content area). Re-sent 2026-08-21 with the distinction stated. Both questions are still open.]
The path

The explicit sub-60-credit lane: a master's under 60 credits, 3 years licensed, and 3,000 hours of clinical experience, with coursework proof required in only three areas: ethics, diagnosis/psychopathology, and psychotherapy. All standard MAP territory.

When it opens

Full license date + 3 years.

Exam

NCE accepted (aggregators claiming NCMHCE-only are wrong), plus a no-fail online Maryland law assessment.

Education

Three-topic review only. Each topic wants 3 semester or 5 quarter credits, so a 3-quarter-credit course may need pairing; check your transcript's credit weights.

Where this law comes from

The regulations formerly codified at COMAR 10.58.12 as 'Supervision Requirements' were repealed and new Regulations .01–.10, 'Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors — Requirements for Licensure' — including .06's out-of-state sub-60-credit lane — were adopted effective June 28, 2021 (48:13 Md. R. 508), under authority of Health Occupations Article §§17-101, 17-205, 17-301, 17-304, 17-307 and 17-509; the session law that last shaped §17-304 itself was not located.

Before acting
  • The general inbox routes credit-hour questions to the post-application coordinator. The two questions actually asked were rule interpretation, not transcript review: does associate practice count toward the three years, and does ‘or the equivalent quarter hours’ let two quarter-credit courses combine within a content area. Both remain open, re-asked 2026-08-21 with the distinction stated.
  • Don't bother curing to 60 for Maryland; the sub-60 lane is no slower.
  • Incomplete files close after 90 days.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — COMAR 10.58.12.06 complete: the sub-60 lane at E(1)(b) (under-60 master's + 3 years licensed + 3,000 hours), the three-topic floor at D (diagnosis/psychopathology, psychotherapy, ethics — 3 graduate semester credits each), the Maryland law examination at A(3)(b), and the B exam-waiver clause.

LCPC · Md. Health Occ. §17-304; COMAR 10.58.12.06
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-21

CORROBORATED: Board of Allied Mental Health staff answered on 2026-08-21: the three years run on the full independent license only. 'You MUST be fully Independently licensed in another jurisdiction for 3 years and practicing full time for 3 years,' so associate/LMHCA time doesn't count. The credit gap is completable: 'You must complete the coursework to meet the 60 credits.' The group-supervision-cap question drew a request to clarify, and a follow-up went out the same day. For an October 2025 full license, the window opens October 2028.
The path

NCMHCE required — the amended regulation (eff. 7/31/2026) defines 'Board Examination' as the NCMHCE (262 CMR 2.02), and reciprocal-recognition applicants must show a passing score (2.03(3)(c)) plus three years of good-standing licensure. One favorable quirk: Massachusetts counts 80 quarter hours as equal to 60 semester, so a 72-quarter degree is only 8 credits short — the mildest total-hours gap in this guide.

When it opens

For NCMHCE-passers: reachable, with full license plus three years in good standing, roughly 8 quarter credits, and an hours top-up. For NCE-only members, the exam is the wall, and it's a sit-the-test wall rather than a structural one.

Exam

NCMHCE only, by definition: the regulation defines 'Board Examination' as the NCMHCE, so no substitute exists. New in the 2026 amendment, initial-licensure applicants face a five-year score-validity limit (2.03(1)(d), (2)(d)), but the reciprocity paragraph (2.03(3)) imposes no score expiry at all. That's more favorable for already-licensed applicants than the amended rules' reputation suggests.

Education

The 80-quarter standard, the mildest gap on the map, with a ten-area education review that's elective-dependent.

Where this law comes from

262 CMR 2.00 was rewritten by the Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions and published in Massachusetts Register #1579 effective 7/31/2026 — confirmed by the regulation's own page footer, '7/31/26 262 CMR - 5 (Mass. Register #1579, 07/31/2026),' and by the Board's 7/31/2026 notice that it 'issued revised regulations to clarify and broaden licensing requirements for the licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) license, allow teletherapy for licensing experience hours permanently, and create a new licensed supervised mental health counselor (LSMHC) license.'

Before acting
  • The regulation was amended effective 7/31/2026 (Mass. Register #1579). The widely-quoted 'no other exam will be accepted' sentence no longer exists, and the old exam section (2.04) is gone; anything citing it is out of date.
  • Not a compact member; no privilege route ever.
  • The experience rules' group-hours cap can bite a WA log.
  • The 2026 rewrite also created a new associate-tier license (LSMHC), irrelevant to full-license holders but useful context for anyone reading Massachusetts materials.
  • The staff answer glossed the three years as 'practicing full time.' A part-time practice history may draw scrutiny, so keep practice-volume evidence.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: the amended regulation was read directly on 2026-08-19

LMHC · 262 CMR 2.02, 2.03(3) (as amended eff. 7/31/2026)
sources read 2026-08-19 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-21

CORROBORATED: The Board answered through its own documents on 2026-08-26. The customer-service team's reply had visible text reading only 'Thanks,' but it carried the answer as an inline image, which the maintainer opened: the Board's 'Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor Substantial Equivalency' table, state by state, with Washington marked Yes (Montana absent from its own list; Kansas and Washington present, provenance confirmed). That answers the first question: a list exists, and Washington is deemed substantially equivalent. The second and third questions, about a post-degree coursework cure and subject areas, are mooted rather than answered on the Board's own papers. The Licensure Checklist (7/17/2025, read in full 2026-08-26) routes equivalent-state licensees through Option 2 (license verification, no education item) or Option 3 (lesser-education states: 48/72 master's plus 5 post-degree years plus 3,000 hours, no added credits), and proposed NEW RULE 1 (MAR 2025-346.1) makes equivalent-state applications 'routine ... as to the education, examination, and experience requirements,' stating it codifies existing practice. The staff transmission doesn't bind the board; the checklist and rulemaking are the Board's own publications. The maintainer's tier call on 2026-08-26 moved this state from cureplus to license plus 3 years: coursework-plus is contradicted on every available reading and couldn't stand, and open-now would bank Option 2, which no one at the Board has confirmed, so that stays in the entry text above as the upside branch. Option 3 is the floor a reader can bank on, and its five-year post-degree clock maps to roughly license plus 3 at this cohort's licensing lag. The Option 2-versus-Option 3 follow-up is drafted in its own thread, and a favorable answer would release this state to open-now.
The path

Washington is on the Board's substantial-equivalency list as a Yes, confirmed by the customer-service team on 2026-08-26. The Board's Licensure Checklist (updated 7/17/2025) gives the LCPC four routes; two matter here. OPTION 2: equivalent out-of-state license — current, active, in good standing — with no education, exam, or experience item. OPTION 3 (for states “otherwise substantially equivalent but with lesser education standards”): a master's of at least 48 semester / 72 quarter credits, plus 5 years' post-degree work experience, plus 3,000 supervised hours. Neither door asks for a credit this degree doesn't have: 48/72 is the MAP degree exactly, and the 3,000 hours are the Washington hours already documented. This guide takes Option 3 as the floor because the list's Yes is binary — it doesn't say which option a Washington licensee walks through. If Washington's equivalency is Option 2, the door is open now on license verification alone. Proposed NEW RULE 1 (MAR 2025-346.1, published 2025-12-19, hearing 2026-01-13) adopts the list by reference and makes equivalent-state applications “routine applications as to the education, examination, and experience requirements,” codifying existing practice. Applied to Washington, that language would waive Option 3's experience items too.

When it opens

Full license plus 3 years as the conservative floor. Montana's clock is degree-keyed, not license-keyed: Option 3 asks for 5 years' post-degree work experience, which at this cohort's typical two-to-three-year licensing lag lands near license plus 3. Anyone who graduated 2021 or earlier is already past it. No coursework on this route, and no exam: the 48-semester/72-quarter master's is the MAP degree exactly, and the 3,000 supervised hours are the Washington hours already documented. The upside branch: if the Board's Yes means Option 2 equivalency, the door is open now on license verification alone — no education, exam, or experience item. A follow-up asks which lane applies.

Exam

No exam on either endorsement option. The 3,000-hour supervised-practice bar on Option 3 is one Washington's licensing hours already clear.

Education

For equivalent-state applicants, the twelve-area Academic Summary Sheet is bypassed. Option 2 carries no education item. Option 3 requires a master's of at least 48 semester / 72 quarter credits — the MAP degree exactly — plus 5 years' post-degree experience and 3,000 supervised hours, with no content-area audit. The Sheet applies only to the standard (Option 1) route, which requires sixty semester / ninety quarter credits across twelve areas: counseling theory, counseling techniques, supervised experience, human growth and development, social and cultural foundations, the helping relationship, groups, life-style and career development, appraisal, research and evaluation, professional orientation, and advanced counseling practicum. No per-area minimums — just a single total-credits line marked semester or quarter. CACREP graduates skip the table entirely. The form's per-row college/university column and overflow line quietly accommodate courses from more than one institution, though its stated purpose is to show “your graduate program contains CACREP core courses.” Transcripts cannot replace the Sheet (“will not be accepted in lieu of”).

Where this law comes from

ARM 24.219.601's history line ends 'AMD, 2024 MAR p. 279, Eff. 2/10/2024,' with authority and implementation tied to 37-1-131, MCA and HB 137 (2023).

Before acting
  • The list's Yes is binary — it doesn't say whether Washington is Option 2 (file now on license verification) or Option 3 (48/72 plus 5 post-degree years plus 3,000 hours). This tier takes Option 3 as the floor. A follow-up asks which governs; a favorable answer moves this state to open-now. Wait for it before spending the $200.
  • Nothing in the application or the Licensure Checklist conditions the license on Montana residency (both read in full 2026-08-26). The license appears holdable from Washington.
  • The paper application (rev. 1/25/21) is stale: it carries no equivalency prong, only the Academic Summary Sheet, candidate-track Evaluation of Supervised Experience, and a fingerprint example still citing the repealed MCA 37-23-202. Apply online at ebiz.mt.gov/POL as the Board recommends — a paper filing would route an equivalent-state licensee into Option 1's machinery by default.
  • NEW RULE 1's adoption notice has not been located. The proposal (MAR 2025-346.1) was published 2025-12-19 with a 2026-01-13 hearing; no adoption filing surfaced as of 2026-08-26. Its text says it codifies existing practice, and the transmitted list plus checklist corroborate that, but the rule's formal status is unverified.
  • The list arrived as an undated pasted image from the customer-service team. Treat it as the Board's publication per NEW RULE 1(1) (“published on the board's website”), but anchor any filing to the website copy, not the email image.
  • Get fingerprinted late: six months from the board's receipt of results to a complete application, then you re-print. $30 to Montana Criminal Records plus whatever the capture costs.
  • Montana accepts whatever license-verification form Washington produces — no Montana-specific form.
  • $200 to apply; renewal is annual on December 31, $149 active, with 20 CE hours a year: a real carrying cost for a license held speculatively.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — MCA 37-1-304 (the (2) mandatory deficiency review) and ARM 24.219.601 complete (degree-bound 60/90, the 12/18 transfer cap, 6-year currency, and the repealed-statute cross-reference), plus the board's forms in the packet pass. Re-read 2026-08-26: MAR 2025-346.1 in full (NEW RULE 1 verbatim — list adopted by reference, annual review, “routine applications as to the education, examination, and experience requirements”; implementing 37-1-304) and the Board's Licensure Checklist of 7/17/2025 in full (LCPC Options 1–4 verbatim; Option 3's 48/72 + 5-year + 3,000-hour lane). The transmitted equivalency table read from the Board's email image: Washington Yes. Independently re-read 2026-08-26 (second reader, cowork): the Licensure Checklist PDF fetched and read in full — LCPC Options 1–4 verbatim, confirming Option 2's bare license line and Option 3's 48/72 + 5-year + 3,000-hour lane — and the LCPC application PDF read in full for the residency and form-lag caveats.

LCPC · ARM 24.219.601; MCA Title 37 ch. 39
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board replied without answering 2026-08-26 · board answered 2026-08-26 · entry updated 2026-08-26

CORROBORATED: Board staff answered an inquiry on 2026-08-06, four minutes after it was sent. Informal, non-binding staff guidance, verbatim: 'Yes, full independent licensure counts towards the three years.' The three years in (6)(g) run from full licensure; associate and LMHCA time does not count. The education substitution itself is binding rule text, read in the filed order.
The path

Reciprocity, now on binding rule text: amended OAR 833-030-0011(6)(g) (effective 2/9/2026) lets 3+ years of active licensure substitute for the entire education package, including the 60-semester/90-quarter total and every content area. Psychology is expressly a qualifying degree field, and experience is separately presumed met at 3 years.

When it opens

Full license date + 3 years. Board staff answered an inquiry (2026-08-06; informal, non-binding): the clock runs from full licensure, and associate time does not count. At that mark, OAR 833-030-0011(6)(g) substitutes the licensure itself for the entire education package, including the 60-semester/90-quarter total and every content area.

Exam

NCE accepted (within 10 years); Oregon's law exam is open-book.

Education

Nothing to cure at the 3-year mark. Entering earlier requires the full 90-quarter package plus 1,900 documented direct hours.

Where this law comes from

Permanent Administrative Order BLPCT 1-2026, filed and effective 2/9/2026 (agency approved 2/6/2026; proposal notices filed 10/28/2025 and 11/21/2025 after ten public Education Committee sessions from Sept 2024 to Sept 2025), amended OAR 833-030-0011 and carried the reciprocity substitution forward — the notice redline shows old (f) renumbered to (g) with its cross-reference deliberately expanded from 'Sections (a) through (d)' to 'Sections (a) through (e)', confirming deliberate implementation, not a drafting accident.

Before acting
  • Expect staff to collect the course-by-course form anyway; the substitution is what makes it moot.
  • Don't confuse this education substitution with the separate experience-hours substitution.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly

LPC · OAR 833-030-0011(6)(g), Perm. Order BLPCT 1-2026
board asked 2026-08-06 · board answered 2026-08-06 · entry updated 2026-08-24

CORROBORATED: The OPR licensing administrator answered all three questions inline on 2026-08-21, settling the deciding question favorably. Fast Track “is for someone who is licensed to practice independently, without supervision for at least 3 years,” and the review is just that narrow: “If you meet the 3 year fast track basis of licensure we only look that you have held this license in another state for at least 3 years and that that license allowed for you to provide psychotherapy services as an independent MHC without supervision.” No education review, no coursework, no exam element. Associate time: “No.” The three years run from full licensure, October 2025 to October 2028.
The path

Fast Track endorsement (3 V.S.A. §136a): licensure on three years of good-standing independent practice, regardless of whether the licensing state's requirements are similar. It's a standards-blind portability statute, and OPR confirmed (2026-08-21) that the review really comes down to two facts: that the out-of-state license was held three years, and that it authorized independent, unsupervised psychotherapy. A psychology-titled degree never enters the analysis.

When it opens

Full license date plus 3 years of independent practice: October 2028 for an October 2025 full license. On OPR's word, the door then opens with no education review, no coursework audit, and no exam.

Exam

Fast Track: no exam element in OPR's stated review. The standard path demands both the NCE and the NCMHCE, another reason Fast Track is the only sensible door.

Education

Not reviewed under Fast Track, confirmed by OPR on 2026-08-21 (“we only look that you have held this license in another state for at least 3 years and that that license allowed for you to provide psychotherapy services as an independent MHC without supervision”). The standard path's education review is the fallback only if Fast Track doesn't apply.

Where this law comes from

Confirmed deliberate implementation: 3 V.S.A. §136a was added by Act 152 of 2020 (2019, No. 152 (Adj. Sess.), §4), effective April 1, 2021, and amended by 2021, No. 69, §18, effective June 8, 2021 — per the statute's own source note, not a drafting accident.

Before acting
  • The three years must be independent, unsupervised practice; associate time does not count (OPR, 2026-08-21: “No.”). For a full license issued October 2025, that puts the door at October 2028.
  • The waives-review-or-just-paperwork question is resolved in the applicant's favor (OPR, 2026-08-21): the review really is just the two facts. OPR's published instructions still read more conservatively than its actual practice, so carry the email.
  • A 90-day provisional license can bridge verification delays, but only once all other requirements are met.
  • Vermont's fast track (3 V.S.A. §136a) is itself the real thing: it licenses 'regardless of whether that jurisdiction has licensing requirements substantially similar to those of this State,' with no residency and no new exam. Its only gate is the three years. Checked 2026-08-19.
  • One more door sits in the statute itself: §136a(c) lets the OPR Director waive even the practice requirement where the waiver follows state policy and protects the public. That's a discretionary softener worth knowing if the three-year clock is the only thing in the way.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — 3 V.S.A. §136a complete: 'not more than three years... regardless of whether that jurisdiction has licensing requirements substantially similar,' the (b) escape valve, and the (c) Director waiver. OPR instructions read in the packet audit; the scope query remains pending.

LCMHC · 3 V.S.A. §136a; 26 V.S.A. §§3265–3275
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-21

HYPOTHESIS: An application-packet pass on 2026-08-20 found that the endorsement clause is not operated anywhere in DPH's applicant materials, but the four-years-licensed route is: DPH's own page promises no transcripts, no training verification, and no examination. That moved this pathway from the coursework tier to the dated tier, on the strength of the department's published text. A board query went out 2026-08-20 and is still awaiting reply: whether the Department operates its substantially-similar endorsement clause, and whether Washington has been evaluated.
The path

Two routes. Four years licensed (CGS §19a-14d): ‘you will not be required to provide transcripts, verification of any training or be required to complete an examination’ (DPH). Under four years: 60 semester hours certified by the school on a checkbox form across eleven areas, no per-area minimums, no syllabi, plus a 100-hour practicum separate from the 600-hour internship — both requiring faculty licensed or certified as professional counselors. §20-195dd(c) endorsement exists in statute but DPH publishes no form and doesn’t operate it.

When it opens

Full license date plus four years on the no-questions route. Sooner only via the coursework door, whose checkbox form is friendlier than most but whose faculty-licensure and separate-practicum demands add real friction for this degree.

Exam

NCE accepted; this is the only New England state where the NCE alone suffices on the standard path.

Education

Not reviewed at four years licensed. On the coursework door: 60 semester / 90 quarter hours certified by checkbox across eleven areas as the form prints them, including human growth and development, career counseling, social and cultural foundations, appraisals or tests and measurements, counseling theories and techniques, research and evaluation, group counseling, professional orientation, and the rest of the form's list. No per-area credit minimums, and no syllabi requested anywhere.

Where this law comes from

The chapter's history notes give §20-195dd as enacted by P.A. 97-311, S. 4 and last amended by P.A. 21-121, S. 18, effective July 6, 2021.

Before acting
  • There is no LPC endorsement form, verified against DPH's full page index on 2026-08-20. Don't plan around the statutory endorsement clause; plan around the four-year route, which is written down.
  • The four-year route runs under CGS §19a-14d (health professions, not the counseling chapter) and carries fine print: DPH may still require an examination, may deny in the public’s best interest, and requires a background check. The no-transcripts promise is DPH’s page; the statute keeps those levers in reserve.
  • One year of inactivity and your file is destroyed, requiring a new application and fee to restart. Nothing may pass through your hands either: every document goes to DPH directly from its source.
  • The coursework door's hidden frictions: a 100-hour practicum requirement separate from the internship, and both must have been taught by faculty licensed or certified as professional counselors. That's documentation MAP grads shouldn't assume exists.
  • DPH's own pages currently print three contradictory fee figures. Confirm the fee inside the application itself, not from any webpage, including this one.
  • §19a-14d(b), read in full, reserves discretion for the department to require 'all, or a portion of, any examination' of a four-year-route applicant. DPH's page promises no exams in practice, but the statute keeps the option open; the NCE you've already passed would presumably satisfy it.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — CGS §19a-14d complete: shall-issue at four years' practice, chapter 383c in the covered list, the (b) exam-discretion clause, and the (d) best-interest denial reserve. The DPH page and forms read in the packet audit.

LPC · CGS §19a-14d; §20-195dd
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

CORROBORATED: The board's published reciprocity list (internally dated 2024-03-15) names the WA LMHC as approved, and board staff confirmed it in writing on 2026-08-21: 'Yes that list is current.' The same answer settled the clock (time under the associate credential doesn't count toward the five years), the review scope (reciprocity still verifies the degree and graduate-credit count from an official transcript), and the remediation mechanics: a minimum of 48 graduate semester credits to license, then 'the first 4 years to get up to a total of 60.' A 48-semester-hour degree licenses with a 12-credit obligation attached.
The path

Washington is already on the board's pre-approved reciprocity list both ways: WA LMHC licensed five or more years qualifies for the clinical LPCC; under five years qualifies now for the LPC (non-clinical tier). The five-year statute (§148B.56 subd. 2) imposes no education test and no residency. Sub-60-credit degrees owe 12 credits of post-licensure remediation within four years. Fee package: ~$432.

When it opens

LPC available now; LPCC at full license date plus 5 years. About 12 credits are due within 4 years after licensure either way.

Exam

Handled by the list; no NCMHCE retake is demanded of listed credentials.

Education

The 12-credit post-licensure remediation is unavoidable for MAP graduates.

Where this law comes from

The five-or-more-years reciprocity track at Minn. Stat. §148B.56 subd. 2 was created by Laws of Minnesota 2019, ch. 28, §1 (S.F. No. 955, expanding duty to warn and reciprocity for certain mental health professionals and social workers), signed May 17, 2019 — before that the section was a single undivided substantial-equivalency paragraph.

Before acting
  • The pre-approval list is internally dated March 2024; board staff confirmed it current in writing on 2026-08-21. Re-verify only if filing much later.
  • The statute's verb is 'may,' not 'shall,' and the board still collects full graduate transcripts with the application. Expect paperwork even where no education test applies.
  • The 12-credit post-licensure obligation (Minn. R. 2150.2520) is a carrying cost MAP graduates can't avoid.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — Minn. Stat. 148B.56 complete: 'may' at both subdivisions, five years of active practice at subd. 2 with the board choosing LPC vs LPCC. The board's categorical reciprocity list (the operative instrument naming the WA LMHC) was read in the sweep; its currency is the pending query.

LPCC · Minn. Stat. §148B.56; BBHT reciprocity list
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-21

The path

New York requires the NCMHCE on every path ('no other examination is acceptable'), opens endorsement only after five years of licensed practice, and can still route a Washington applicant into its full 60-hour, twelve-area education review. Diagnosing on your own requires a separate 'diagnostic privilege' as well, with its own 60-semester-hour education requirement.

When it opens

Five years of qualifying experience within the ten years immediately preceding the application (a rolling window, not a simple license-birthday), at best, plus the NCMHCE regardless. Slow, but open: this is an exam-and-patience state, not a closed one.

Exam

NCMHCE only in practice, but the statute says only 'an examination satisfactory to the board.' The no-other-exam exclusivity is NYSED's departmental position, stated on its license-requirements page. Departmental positions can move, but plan on the NCMHCE.

Education

60 semester hours across twelve areas on the full review; NYSED's individual evaluation can prescribe make-up coursework at its discretion.

Where this law comes from

The diagnostic privilege at Educ. Law §8401-a (and the §8401(3)-(4) definitions of 'diagnosis' and 'assessment-based treatment plans' it turns on) was added by Chapter 230 of the Laws of 2022, which NYSED's Office of Counsel confirms took effect in stages — some provisions June 24, 2022, with the Department barred from issuing any privilege until June 24, 2024 — implemented by 8 NYCRR §79-9.6; no enacting amendment for the §79-9.7 endorsement rule itself was located.

Before acting
  • Only pursue if New York is the actual destination.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — NYSED's license-requirements page complete: endorsement at 5 years within the preceding 10, 'No other examination is acceptable' (NCMHCE), the twelve substantial-equivalence areas, the Forms 1/2/3/4E/4F endorsement set, and the comparable-jurisdiction fallback to full review. Subpart 79-9 verified in the 8/19 sweep (Fable's re-fetch saved but not machine-extractable).

LMHC · 8 NYCRR §79-9.7; Educ. Law §8401-a
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-20

CORROBORATED: A division licensing examiner answered in writing on 2026-08-20: the board 'is operating as normal' in its wind-down year, with an extension sought for next session. More substantively, the new rules 'allow for counting supervised experience from another state as long as the experience is documented on the new completion of supervision form... Supervision completed in another state will be accepted as long as it was post graduate and earned under a similar program.' That's informal and non-binding, but first-party and specific, and the filed rule text posts August 21, 2026 and should be read before relying on any detail. The application-packet pass on 2026-08-20 found that the by-credentials packet, read in full, reviews no education and no supervision at all; the coursework framing above describes only the harder of Alaska's two doors.
The path

Licensure by Credentials: no transcript, no coursework form, no supervision verification. Five items: application, fee, board-to-board verifications from every jurisdiction where you’ve held a counseling-family license, criminal-justice reports (Alaska and home state), and Washington’s counseling statutes and rules. Gate: a current equivalent license from a jurisdiction with substantially the same or higher requirements. Exam-route fallback requires the ~12-credit cure and carries a retake trap: initial license must issue within three years of passing.

When it opens

By credentials: whenever the board deems Washington's requirements substantially the same or higher. No one from this cohort has tested that determination yet. By examination: the day the roughly 12 added semester credits are done. The August 21, 2026 rules accepting out-of-state supervision help the examination route; the credentials route never asks about supervision at all.

Exam

NCE or NCMHCE, your choice.

Education

On the credentials route, education isn't reviewed at all; no transcript gets filed. On the examination route, the standard is 60 semester hours, and career development isn't required since only 8 of 10 areas need to be met. That leaves roughly 12 added credits for MAP graduates, in the areas the check sheet names on the coursework forms.

Where this law comes from

The compilation is the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing's 'Statutes and Regulations — Professional Counselors,' Rev. 07/01/2025; it notes AS 08.29.210 (supervisor certification) was repealed by secs. 24 and 26, ch. 44, SLA 2024, and ties the 'related field' definition in 12 AAC 62.990(b) to sec. 6, ch. 75, SLA 1998 as amended by sec. 7, ch. 49, SLA 1999.

Before acting
  • File by credentials, not by examination, if at all possible: the examination packet's exam-recency clause (initial license within three years of passing, or retake) is a trap for anyone who tested years ago, and the credentials packet reviews no education and no supervision.
  • The new supervision form has not posted: as of August 20, 2026 the board's forms page still says updated applications are coming, and the live supervision form still requires board pre-approval before supervision begins. The old wall stands on paper until the new forms land. Recheck after August 21.
  • Two twelve-month clocks: an application is abandoned when twelve months pass since the board last received correspondence, and the $200 application fee (of the $450 total) is non-refundable. Every applicant needs an Alaska name-based background check even if never a resident.
  • Board housekeeping, resolved but worth knowing: the board operates in its statutory wind-down year while seeking an extension next session.
  • Fees as printed on the 2025 revisions: $200 application + $250 initial license; two-year cycle expiring October 31 of odd years. Verify at filing.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full — both application packets 2026-08-20 (packet pass); the examiner's written answer re-read verbatim in Gmail 2026-08-20; AS 08.29.120 verified on a dated mirror (text matches the July 2025 compilation, whose PDF fetched but did not extract cleanly). 12 AAC 62's new text posts 2026-08-21 — the waiting action item covers it.

LPC · AS 08.29.120; 12 AAC 62
sources read 2026-08-21 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

HYPOTHESIS: An application-packet pass on 2026-08-20, with the forms read in full, found that the twelve areas and the board's 4:3 quarter conversion halve the credit gap. The old three-year supervision buyout turned out to be relocated rather than deleted, and the board's go-live FAQ confirms compact membership went active July 30, 2026.
The path

Coursework review on every path — the Required Course Summary is filed on all routes (Traditional, Provisional, Act 457, Military, LBE). Arkansas converts at 3-to-4 semester-to-quarter, so 72 quarter hours = 54 semester here: a six-hour gap, not twelve. Three years of unbroken Washington licensure skips the hour-by-hour supervision audit. Compact: Arkansas is live (July 30, 2026); a privilege ($50 + $30) bypasses all of this once Washington joins.

When it opens

Whenever the coursework gap, about six semester hours, is closed. At three years of unbroken licensure, the supervision audit dissolves as well. Or wait for the compact: Arkansas is live, and a privilege beats all of it for remote practice.

Exam

NCE or NCMHCE, verified in the board's rule.

Education

Sixty semester hours at B- or better across twelve areas: professional identity/ethics (3); social/cultural diversity (3); human growth/development (3); career development (3); helping relations (3); group work (3); assessment (3); research/program evaluation (3); abnormal psychology/psychopathology (3); marriage/family/relationship systems (3); supervised practicum/internship (9 credits, 3+ courses, 6+ months); technology in counseling (1 credit). Practicum is credit-denominated — check field-experience credits, not just clock hours. At Arkansas’s 4:3 conversion, the MAP gap runs about six semester hours plus missing areas. Non-CACREP applicants file two catalogs and a syllabus per course.

Where this law comes from

The Automatic Occupational Licensure Act was Act 457 of 2023 (effective 2023-08-01, by constitutional default). The board implements it by posting the act itself and a rule (17 CAR §75-905) that grants the license and then requires all remaining requirements within one year on pain of revocation. The endorsement rule's three-year threshold was removed in the June–July 2026 revision.

Before acting
  • Arkansas became the compact's seventh live state on July 30, 2026 (the board's go-live FAQ). For remote practice, the privilege will make this whole pathway moot once Washington joins.
  • Corrected 2026-08-20: the direct-hours figure is 2,000, not 2,200, and three years of unbroken Washington licensure substitutes for the hours audit entirely.
  • Syllabus archaeology applies here too: non-CACREP applicants submit two graduate catalogs plus a syllabus per listed course. Collect them now.
  • Twelve-month application clock with one paid extension; the universal-recognition (Act 457) route still requires Arkansas residency and defers rather than waives all of this.
  • A jurisprudence exam is required of endorsement applicants (runs through CCE Academy).
Sources (Fable)

Fable: application forms and the Act texts (457, 968, 725, 820) read in full 2026-08-19/20; the ABEC 2024 rules PDF is cited but was not independently re-read — the rule-text layer rides on the packet-pass forms, which recite the operative requirements.

LPC · Ark. Code Ann. §§17-7-101–106; 17 CAR §75-905
sources read 2026-08-19 · board asked 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

CORROBORATED: Delaware's Division of Professional Regulation customer service answered in writing on 2026-08-24, quoting the five-year door's text in full. §3034(b) licenses an applicant from a non-substantially-similar jurisdiction who 'has held a license in good standing for a minimum of 5 years' and 'has passed the NCE or other examination acceptable to the Board... provided the applicant meets all other qualifications for reciprocity,' plus a flat statement: 'All LPCMH applicants for Delaware licensure must pass the NCE or NCMHCE. There are no exceptions.' Read carefully, this answers the exam question loudly and the NCC question only by silence. Staff framed the universal requirement as the exam, and the quoted (b) text contains no certification element, but 'all other qualifications' is left undefined, so the NCC-at-the-(b)-door question is narrowed rather than closed. The NCC-based reading of the board's page above stands until a filing or a sharper answer tests it.
The path

Reciprocity requires NBCC certification plus a similarity review (24 Del. C. §3034). Hold the NCC — one career course away for most MAP graduates (see the NCC section) — and reciprocity opens from a substantially similar state. At five-plus years licensed in any one jurisdiction, the board's page says 'no further documentation is needed,' thinning the similarity paperwork, though the certification requirement still stands. Avoid the examination route: its CACREP-standards course mapping is the wrong door.

When it opens

After obtaining the NCC, the career course is the cure here, plus a similarity review of Washington's rules. Five-plus years licensed reduces that review to nearly nothing. A no on similarity routes to the associate license, not a denial.

Exam

NCE accepted by statute.

Education

Not reviewed on the NCC-based reciprocity route; the CACREP-standards mapping exists only on the examination route.

Where this law comes from

The section credits show §3032 last amended by 83 Del. Laws, c. 433, §20 and §3034 last amended by 81 Del. Laws, c. 425, §18.

Before acting
  • Board answered in writing (2026-08-24): every applicant must pass the NCE or NCMHCE, no exceptions. But §3034(b)'s five-year door runs on tenure plus exam with no certification element named, and 'all other qualifications' is undefined. Hold the NCC plan regardless; a five-plus-year licensee with the NCE has a real argument that (b) opens without it.
  • The DELPROS portal clock starts when you OPEN the application: six months to submit or it deletes. Gather documents first, open last.
  • Delaware's background check cannot be recycled from another state's licensure.
  • The telehealth registration's compact-state bar still stands (see the remote-practice section).
  • Statutory anatomy of the five-year clause, for precision: §3034(a) is the certification-plus-similar-state door and reads 'shall grant'; §3034(b) is the five-year door for jurisdictions whose standards are not substantially similar, and reads 'may be licensed.' The board's page glosses five years as 'no further documentation needed,' but the statute makes that door discretionary.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — 24 Del. C. §§3030–3034 complete and the board's live LPCMH page (modified 2026-07-08), which still carries 'certification… is a requirement of licensure for all applicants,' the five-year no-further-documentation clause, and the associate fallback.

  • 24 Del. C. §§3032, 3033, 3034 — https://delcode.delaware.gov/title24/c030/sc02/index.html (verified 2026-08-19)
  • DE Board Oct 2025 Evaluation of Coursework (Reg. 2.1) + LPCMH Course Comparison form rev. 10/2025 — dpr.delaware.gov
  • 24 Del. C. §6003 telehealth registration — dpr.delaware.gov
  • Professional Counselor of Mental Health Licensure (the LPCMH application-requirements page; carries both the Examination and Reciprocity requirement sets) (rev. no revision date printed; page metadata article:modified_time 2026-07-08) — https://dpr.delaware.gov/boards/profcounselors/newlicense/ (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
  • Evaluation of Coursework for LPCMH and LACMH (flagged "New" on the Forms page; 13 pp) (rev. Revised 4/2026) — https://dprfiles.delaware.gov/profcounselors/Evaluation_of_Coursework_LPCMH.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
  • LPCMH Course Comparison FINAL 10.2025 (the form the LPCMH and Associate pages actually link; 10 pp) (rev. Revised 10/2025) — https://dprfiles.delaware.gov/profcounselors/LPCMH%20Course%20Comparison%20FINAL%2010.2025.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
  • Evaluation of Coursework (legacy version, still live and still linked from the Forms page with no deprecation notice) (rev. Revised 4/2019) — https://dprfiles.delaware.gov/profcounselors/Counselor_Mental_Health_Eval_Of_Coursework1.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
  • Direct Supervision Reference — Professional Counselor of Mental Health (rev. Revised 05/2023) — https://dprfiles.delaware.gov/profcounselors/LPCMH_Direct_Supervision_Ref1.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
  • Delaware Board of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Professionals, Professional Counselor licensure page — NBCC certification described as a requirement of licensure for all applicants; five-plus years licensed in one jurisdiction: 'no further documentation is needed' (re-verified in the 2026-08-20 adversarial review; both clauses read directly)
  • Delaware Division of Professional Regulation, customer service — written answer to a direct inquiry, 2026-08-24: “The entirty of §3034(b) states… [full quote] … All LPCMH applicants for Delaware licensure must pass the NCE or NCMHCE. There are no exceptions.” (ticket ref on file in the maintainer's mail records)
LPCMH · 24 Del. C. §§3032–3034, 6003
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-24 · entry updated 2026-08-24

HYPOTHESIS: An application-packet pass on 2026-08-20 found the 80-quarter conversion that halves the gap, the degree-title discretionary risk, the strict lookback phrasing, and the portal-only filing guidance, all drawn from the board's application revisions read in full.
The path

Course-by-course review against the 60-hour standard. A live conflict between statute and rule (the rule still contains a deleted 'applied psychology' pathway) makes outcomes less predictable than the paper suggests.

When it opens

The day the coursework is done, about eight quarter hours here, with no waiting period. Check the sixty-month lookback below before assuming your hours survive.

Exam

NCE accepted.

Education

60 semester / 80 quarter hours — Georgia converts at 80, not 90, so a 72-quarter transcript is only eight short. Degree must name clinical counseling or counseling psychology (M.A. in Psychology carries neither — a credit-independent risk). Eleven areas including career development; addictions and sexuality not required. No syllabi; course titles read against the rule. Supplementation expressly permitted: courses ‘prior to, during or after the degree program’ (135-5-.02(a)11). Credit conflict: application prints 60/80, statute (§43-10A-11) prints 60/90, rule prints no total.

Where this law comes from

O.C.G.A. §43-10A-11 was last amended by 2024 Ga. Laws 557, §2, effective July 1, 2024, following the 2022 Ga. Laws 813, §1 rewrite effective July 1, 2022.

Before acting
  • Georgia’s own instruments conflict on credits: the application prints ‘60 semester or 80 quarter hours’ while the statute (§43-10A-11) prints 90 quarter — eight hours short on the form’s math, eighteen on the statute’s. Get the number in writing before enrolling, and plan around the higher figure.
  • The sixty-month lookback is Georgia's real trap: experience and supervision 'should not be reported for more than a 5 year/60-month period immediately preceding the submission of the application.' MAP graduates whose supervised hours ended more than five years before filing lose them.
  • Georgia's own instructions conflict on filing channel too: the how-to guide says portal-only (paper returned to sender) while the 08-15-2023 application revision instructs mailing with a mail-processing fee. Confirm the channel with the board before submitting anything.
  • If any supervisor was an LPC, the current application demands their ACS or CPCS credential number — reconstruct that before filing.
  • Do not register for the background check before submitting the application; those fees don't come back.
  • Georgia is live on the compact, so after the 90-quarter cure and Washington's go-live it arrives by privilege without any of this.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — Ga. Comp. R. 135-5-.02 complete: the applied-psychology pathway (f) is live in the current compilation (statute-vs-rule conflict confirmed), the 'prior to, during or after' supplementation clause verified verbatim at (a)11, and the 60-month lookback with its endorsement case-by-case discretion at (a)7(vi)/(a)8(vi). Board application forms read in the packet audit.

LPC · O.C.G.A. 43-10A-11; Rule 135-5-.02
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-20

CORROBORATED: Two sources corroborate this on 2026-08-20. The program office answered in writing that courses may combine within an area, that post-degree coursework fills short areas, and that the new provisional license is for hour-accruers with Hawaii supervisors rather than out-of-state licensees. The board's full application instructions were read the same day, and the nine subject areas, per-area minimums, practicum and post-graduate specifications, and the complete-before-filing rule above all come from that document rather than a summary.
The path

No reciprocity exists, and license age never helps. But the totals are friendly: 48 semester hours is exactly Hawaii's number, and the statute expressly allows post-degree supplementation with no cap. It's a pure content-area project.

When it opens

The day the short areas are cured. No waiting period, no NCMHCE, no exam retake, since NBCC sends your NCE verification directly. But everything must be complete before filing: education, practicum, and all 3,000 post-graduate hours. Hawaii accepts no in-progress applications, and an application not completed within a year is destroyed as abandoned.

Exam

NCE, by score verification; no retake.

Education

48 semester / 72 quarter hours (MAP degree exactly), nine areas at 3 semester / 5 quarter each: (a) human growth/development; (b) social/cultural foundations; (c) counseling theories/applications; (d) group theory/practice; (e) career/lifestyle development; (f) appraisal; (g) tests/measurements; (h) research/program evaluation; (i) professional orientation/ethics. Appraisal and tests/measurements are separate — most transcripts covering one lean on both. Multiple courses may combine within an area (each counted once); post-degree coursework fills gaps. Typical MAP gaps: career/lifestyle development and tests/measurements.

Where this law comes from

The section's source note reads L 2004, c 209, pt of §2, as amended by L 2006, c 14, §3; L 2007, c 252, §2; L 2008, c 206, §1; L 2018, c 185, §2; and L 2020, c 63, §2.

Before acting
  • Paperwork is the main work: the Coursework Form needs a catalog description and syllabus for every listed course — collect your syllabi now, while the program can still produce them. Practicum (2+ terms, 6 semester / 10 quarter hours, 300+ supervised contact hours) and post-graduate experience both require notarized supervisor verification.
  • Window trap: the 3,000 post-graduate hours with 100 hours of face-to-face supervision must be completed within two to four years. Part-time MAP graduates can fail the four-year cap. Check your dates before anything else.
  • Supervisors must have been licensed (MHC, psychologist, clinical social worker, psychiatric APRN, psychiatrist, or MFT) for the entire supervised period — a WA LMHC supervisor qualifies on its face.
  • The program office's answers carry Hawaii's own disclaimer (HAR §16-201-90: informational, not binding on the Board). Keep the email with any application.
  • No reciprocity exists, and the application instructions say so flatly. License age never helps, and nothing about waiting changes that. Fees: $60 application; license fees vary by triennium year ($256 to $444 as printed in the mid-2024 revision, verify at filing); renewal is triennial every June 30.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full — the board's application instructions 2026-08-20; HRS §453D-7 complete and the program office's three answers re-read verbatim in Gmail 2026-08-20 (the supplementation clause, 'includes, or is supplemented by', is in the statute itself, uncapped; the 2-to-4-year experience window and the 300-hour practicum floor are statutory).

LMHC · HRS §453D-7
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

HYPOTHESIS: An application-packet pass on 2026-08-20 confirmed that the 60-hour floor is live and keyed to application date by the rule's own words. The university-sealed practicum certification and the undisclosed residence rule turned up as new findings; the LPC-first sequence and the NCC substitution are the strategies worth knowing.
The path

Illinois raised its degree minimum from 48 to 60 semester hours on July 1, 2026, weeks ago, and the rule is ambiguous about whether the trigger is application date or graduation date. A graduation-date reading would nearly erase the education gate for MAP graduates, but nobody has the answer yet.

When it opens

After the cure, now measured definitively against the 60-hour standard, and only if the university will certify the practicum box. The strategic sequence: Illinois's LPC tier requires no post-degree experience and only the NCE, and an active Illinois LPC then substitutes for the entire clinical tier's education file. Cure once, at the LPC gate.

Exam

LPC: NCE. LCPC, the independent tier, requires both the NCE and the NCMHCE: one of the only states demanding both.

Education

60 semester / 90 quarter hours, keyed to application date with no grandfather — MAP graduates are 12 hours short regardless of graduation year. Thirteen areas at 3 semester hours each on a university-sealed certification form, including a yes/no practicum box: 700 hours with 280 direct (a 600-hour internship fails). A 30-hour single-institution residence rule sits in the rule text. Two favorable clauses: post-degree coursework may make up deficiencies, and only seven of thirteen areas must sit inside the degree.

Where this law comes from

The posted 225 ILCS 107 text carries P.A. 103-715, effective January 1, 2025, among its amendatory notes.

Before acting
  • The application-date question is settled by the rule text itself (July 1, 2026, 'individuals applying'), but both IDFPR qualification sheets still describe it in the future tense. Expect confusion at intake, and carry the rule cite.
  • The 700/280 practicum is a sealed university yes/no certification, not an hours negotiation. Ask Seattle University whether it would check that box before spending anything on Illinois.
  • The NCC substitutes expressly for the education certification on the LPC tier (§1375.30). Whether it does the same at the clinical tier is unconfirmed, so ask before relying on it. Either way, the career-course-then-NCC route has real value for this state.
  • Applications stay active three years; fees are non-refundable, printed twice.
Sources (Fable-graded with a provenance note)

Fable-graded with a provenance note: the full Part 1375 text and both IDFPR qualification snapshots were read in the 2026-08-20 application-packet audit, and the entry carries the §1375.45 July-2026 trigger quote verbatim; IDFPR and ILGA pages are JS-gated to direct re-fetch, so no independent Fable re-read exists yet.

LCPC / LPC · 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1375
sources read 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

HYPOTHESIS: A department tech on Licensing Team 2 replied in writing on 2026-08-25, and the reply declined the questions rather than answering them; the decline is itself the finding. A different staffer than the one who had written four days earlier gave the office's standing posture: 'our office is not able to advise on what license you are eligible for. We are also unable to review any information for qualification until an application has been submitted,' followed by a pointer to the licensing guide and the MiPlus portal and a processing time of 4 to 8 weeks. The sequence leading up to it is the useful part. On 2026-08-21 a licensing-team member had asked how long the full license had been held ('The answers to your questions will depend on what you provide'), and the licensure history went back the same hour: full LMHC since October 2025, associate from July 2023 to October 2025. That counter-question led nowhere. All three questions stand open: which CACREP standards vintage an under-five-year endorsement file draws, whether the 48-semester tier keys to program entry, and whether the five-year endorsement really takes only a Professional Disclosure Statement. This pathway therefore stays a hypothesis resting on the rule text it already cites, and Michigan joins Maryland as a jurisdiction that won't read a transcript question before an application exists. Staff answers don't bind the board in any event; here there isn't even that. What the bureau wouldn't answer, the current compilation does, the same day. Both rule documents were re-read in full on 2026-08-25 (the compiled Counseling General Rules and the final rules filed January 15, 2026). R 338.1765 carries no 2026 amendment: the entry-date grandfather stands verbatim in the current text ('entered a program on or before June 30, 2023' at 48 semester/72 quarter), and the five-year presumption stands at R 338.1775(2), presuming subrule (1)(b), (c), and (d), meaning license verification, education, and examination, on proof of five years' full licensure, with the document set reducing to fee, application, and disclosure statement. On the vintage question, 1765's equivalency benchmark is a live cross-reference to 'the standards adopted under R 338.1763(1) or (2),' and amended 1763 adopts CACREP 2024 at (1) and 2016 at (2), which is disjunctive: either suffices. So the second and third questions are confirmed by current rule text, and the first is answered by the cross-reference. That's the maintainer's reading of the text, still hypothesis-grade by this guide's own ladder, because no staff or board statement corroborates it.
The path

Two doors. Under five years licensed: a cheap one-course cure, typically career development, against the grandfathered 48-semester-hour tier (R 338.1765 covers program entry on or before June 30, 2023 -- this whole cohort). The endorsement rule reviews no supervised experience. At five-plus years licensed: R 338.1775(2) presumes education and examination satisfied, and the file reduces to a Professional Disclosure Statement. The licensing guide (rev. 2026-01-26) confirms the five-year route but names no credit figure, so carry the rule citation.

When it opens

Now, after one course plus a credential evaluation. At license + 5 years, a one-document filing with education and exam both presumed.

Exam

NCE accepted.

Education

Two tiers keyed to program-entry date, both in the rule (R 338.1765) but invisible in the applicant packet. Entry on or before June 30, 2023: the 48-semester/72-quarter tier -- this cohort clears it exactly, zero margin. Later entrants face the 60/90 tier. Both stand in the current compilation (1765 unamended by the January 15, 2026 rules, history ending at 2023 AACS). The equivalency evaluation benchmarks against 'the standards adopted under R 338.1763(1) or (2),' a live cross-reference. Amended R 338.1763 adopts CACREP 2024 at subrule (1) and 2016 at subrule (2) -- the reference is disjunctive, so substantial equivalence to either vintage suffices. That is the maintainer's reading, not a board position. The evaluator (CCE or any NACES member, applicant's choice) fills out diagnosis- and treatment-shaped content areas. At five-plus years licensed, R 338.1775(2) presumes education satisfied; the file is a single Professional Disclosure Statement.

Where this law comes from

R 338.1765 and R 338.1775 both carry the history '2021 AACS; 2023 AACS' — the 48-hour/60-hour split by program-entry date comes from the 2023 AACS rule set, and the January 15, 2026 final rules (2026 MR 2) amended R 338.1761, 1763, 1771, 1772 and 1781 but left R 338.1765 and R 338.1775 untouched.

Before acting
  • The grandfather turns on program entry, not graduation. Preserve admission-date evidence; the evaluator, not the applicant guide, is where it matters.
  • The tiers are invisible in the applicant packet; the guide prints no numbers. Carry the rule citation, because intake staff reading their own guide can't see your grandfather.
  • The evaluator is a free choice: CCE or any current NACES member; CCE's Michigan form is itself stale (it prints only the 48/72 tier).
  • The five-year endorsement presumption waives more than transcripts; it waives examination too. The document set is one disclosure statement.
  • The licensing guide (rev. 1/26/2026) still frames the review around CACREP 2009/2016, but the rules effective January 15, 2026 adopted 2024-or-2016 as the benchmark pair, and R 338.1765's cross-reference to 'R 338.1763(1) or (2)' picks that up automatically. The guide is stale against the rules. Which vintage the CCE and NACES worksheets actually print is a question for the evaluator, not the bureau.
  • No pre-application review exists: the bureau confirmed (2026-08-25) it cannot advise on eligibility or review documents until an application is filed. The entry-date grandfather has to land with the third-party evaluator (CCE or NACES member), not the bureau.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — Mich. Admin. Code R 338.1765 complete: the entry-date grandfather verified verbatim ('entered a program on or before June 30, 2023' at 48/72), 'any supplemental coursework' expressly within the evaluation's scope, and the CCE-or-NACES evaluator choice in the rule text. MCL 333.16186 and the licensing guides read in the sweep and packet audit. Re-read 2026-08-25 against the post-January-2026 compilation: R 338.1765 unamended (history ends 2023 AACS), the 48/72 entry-date tier and the 1775(2) five-year presumption both verbatim in current text, and 1763's amended subrules (2024 at (1), 2016 at (2)) read in the final rules as filed.

LPC · R 338.1765, R 338.1775
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board replied without answering 2026-08-25 · entry updated 2026-08-25

HYPOTHESIS: Route (b)'s text expressly contemplates a 48-hour master's inside a 60-hour program, with no date limit attached, and its OR-clause (15 hours per week for six months) preserves part-time accrual. Both points survived a close, adversarial rereading of the statute. The narrower planned-program question is still with the board: whether a post-2009, 48-hour master's may complete the 60 with post-degree coursework, since the packet's own allowance reads as textually pre-2009-only, and how the 30-to-40-hours-per-week experience gate treats part-time practice. A board query covering both went out 2026-08-20; no reply yet.
The path

Route (b) is built for this degree: ‘a planned program of 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours of graduate coursework in counseling or a field determined by the board... to be closely related — including a 48-semester-hour or 72-quarter-hour master’s degree.’ Post-degree supplementation is the structure, not inference. Psychology is expressly closely related; NCE accepted (NCMHCE not). Open question: must the added 18 quarter hours sit in a ‘planned program’? Experience: 3,000 supervised hours (1,500 direct), all post-master’s, over two to six years.

When it opens

After roughly 12 added semester credits (career among them, if your electives lack it), once the planned-program question is answered, plus an experience log that clears the 1,500-direct-hour floor.

Exam

NCE.

Education

Sixty semester hours / 90 quarter hours total, including a 48-semester/72-quarter master's (met exactly). Content areas per §49.2, as the board's FAQ restates them. No CACREP requirement, no syllabi, no credential evaluation anywhere in the applicant materials. The open question: whether post-degree credits must sit inside a 'planned program' or may simply accumulate.

Where this law comes from

The §49.13 rule text carries the note that the section was amended October 10, 2014, effective 10/11/2014, at 44 Pa.B. 6557, under section 6(2) of the Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors Act (63 P.S. §1906(2)).

Before acting
  • Experience counts in two patterns: one setting at 30–40 hours/week for 3+ months, or 15+ hours/week for 6+ months. The second clause makes part-time practice viable. Audit your log against it, the 1,500-direct floor, and the two-to-six-year span.
  • Supervision is a ratio with an individual floor: 2 hours per 40 of experience, at least half individual; supervisors must have been licensed where the supervision occurred.
  • Citation note: the content areas live in §49.2 (the FAQ restates them). Pennsylvania does not list the NCMHCE, so NCMHCE-only licensees face an exam gap.
  • Act 41's practical gifts stand: a provisional license to practice while completing requirements, and a 2-of-5-years recency test.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — 49 Pa. Code §49.13 complete: route (3)(ii) expressly contemplates a 48/72 master's inside a 60/90 planned program with no 2009 limitation; both experience patterns, the 2-per-40 supervision ratio, and the 2-to-6-year window all verified verbatim. §3111 read in the 8/19 sweep.

LPC · 49 Pa. Code §§49.1–49.18; 63 Pa.C.S. §3111
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

CORROBORATED: The Department answered the support ticket on 2026-08-27 (License Permit Program Associate, Division of Professional Credential Processing), settling the practical half of what was asked. Settled: an out-of-state licensee can practice while a Wisconsin application pends. “[Y]ou can apply for a Bridge license (also known as an Act 10 license) after you apply for your initial or reciprocal credential… This will enable you to practice while you await the decision”, with the LPC bridge form named (#12504). Telehealth into Wisconsin otherwise requires board licensure (MPSW 1.12(1)), and the one exception is MPSW 1.12(4), quoted by the Department and verified against the rule text: a clinician licensed elsewhere may keep treating an established client via telehealth while the client is temporarily in Wisconsin, not more than 5 days in any month and 15 days in total. Left open: how the §440.094 telehealth-only mode and its employer attestation work in practice, and the reciprocity may-versus-shall split. This ticket never carried that question and is now closed; both take a fresh LicensE support ticket. A 2026-08-20 pass through the application packet found the reciprocity packet's three items, read in full, contain no education documents; the forms-versus-rule conflict noted above is documented at the form-field level.
The path

The reciprocity rule itself (MPSW 11.04) conditions licensure only on a substantially equivalent out-of-state credential, a clean discipline history, and Wisconsin's statutes-and-rules exam. It says nothing about transcripts or curriculum forms. The conflict lives in the agency's downloadable forms, which do request them. And the education rule (MPSW 14.01(3)) permits up to 18 credit hours completed outside the degree program, not necessarily post-degree.

When it opens

Possibly now via reciprocity — the packet’s three items plus the jurisprudence exam. Whether the board must grant it (rule says ‘shall’) or may (statute says ‘may’) is still open; the Department’s first answer closed without reaching it. Practice while the application pends is board-confirmed: file the initial or reciprocal credential, then the Bridge (Act 10) license, form #12504.

Exam

NCE accepted.

Education

Two doors. Reciprocity (the door to take): application, license verification from Washington, and a $75 open-book jurisprudence exam at 85%. No transcript, no education worksheet, no course descriptions, no supervision affidavit — the test compares states’ rules, never your transcript. Standard door: 60-hour equivalency worksheet across named areas, but the worksheet is defective (duplicates one area across two sections, omits another entirely).

Before acting
  • The reciprocity packet reviews states, not transcripts: three items, none academic. Whether the Section grants it (statute 'may') or must ('shall,' per its own rule) remains open. The first DSPS ticket closed 2026-08-27 without reaching it; a fresh LicensE ticket is the channel now.
  • The $75 jurisprudence exam is mandatory on reciprocity: open-book, 85% to pass, three-month window, retakes cost extra.
  • Keep the Washington license active. The board's instructions require the out-of-state license to remain active until Wisconsin credentialing completes.
  • Application abandonment runs about 90 days after a deficiency request, not the one-year norm; this is flagged from general DSPS guidance rather than a counselor-specific document, so confirm it.
  • The education worksheet, if you end up on the standard door, is internally defective: it omits a mandatory content area. Expect confusion, and carry the rule with you.
  • MPSW 1.12(4) allows continuing telehealth with an established client temporarily in Wisconsin — capped at 5 days in any month and 15 days total, with home-state authorization required. The rule does not specify what resets the 15-day total; treat it as a hard ceiling unless the board says otherwise.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — MPSW 11.04 complete: 'shall grant' on five conditions (credential, substantial equivalence, clean record, no disqualifying offenses, jurisprudence exam) with nothing academic among them, exactly as the entry reads it. The forms and §440.094 read in the sweep and packet audit; The Department's 2026-08-27 answer read verbatim in Gmail the same day, and its MPSW 1.12(4) quotation verified against the published rule text (Justia mirror, current through May 27, 2025).

LPC · Wis. Stat. ch. 457; DSPS forms 1962/2239
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-27 · entry updated 2026-08-27

CORROBORATED: The Wyoming Mental Health Professions Licensing Board answered on 2026-08-25, at its board inbox: a partial answer, but a useful one. Asked which governs for a 72-quarter-hour transcript, the Transcript Evaluation form's coverage test or the rule's 90-quarter total, the Board answered by citation: “The rules chapter 11 Section 3(b)(iii),” quoting the subsection in full. It has two branches, which matters more than the answer itself. The floor is seventy-two quarter hours or forty-eight semester hours; the ninety/sixty figure binds only “[a]pplicants who graduated after July 1, 2013.” The MAP degree is exactly seventy-two quarter hours. So a MAP graduate of 2012 or the first half of 2013 meets Wyoming's education total outright: no cure, no make-up credits, whatever the coverage form then asks. For everyone who graduated after that date, the ninety-quarter figure governs and the eighteen-hour gap is real. The Board didn't say in so many words that the total governs, but the total is what it put in front of the question, which corroborates rather than changes the existing reading. The second question, whether graduate coursework completed after the degree may be added to reach that total, the Board did not address. The rule's text points to an answer anyway, in the two subsections the reply didn't quote: (b)(v), “Course work shall be completed in a master's or doctoral program or subsequent graduate level course work,” and (b)(i), which extends the accreditation test to “the graduate degree program, and any applicable additional graduate level course work.” Wyoming is the exact mirror of New Jersey here: the same question, and rule texts that point opposite ways. New Jersey binds the sixty hours to the program in the text itself; Wyoming's rule points the other way, though by inference rather than by saying so. Subsection (b) is framed throughout as a test of a program, and a board could read (b)(v) as limiting what kind of coursework counts rather than as licensing aggregation. What makes the permissive reading the better one is (b)(i): it subjects “any applicable additional graduate level course work” to the accreditation test, which would be pointless if such coursework could never count. The cure tier stands, better supported than before. Still unsettled: whether the Board reads (b)(iii)'s total as satisfiable by the degree plus (b)(v) coursework. The staff reply invited a follow-up (“Does this answer your question?”), and that question went back to the board on 2026-08-28, quoting (b)(v) and (b)(i) against (b)(iii) and asking for a definitive yes or no. Awaiting an answer.
The path

For pre-July-2013 graduates, no cure needed: the rule’s floor is seventy-two quarter hours, exactly the MAP degree. Post-July-2013, the total rises to ninety — an eighteen-hour gap plus career development if your electives lack it. Either way, all hours requirements clear on a WA record, the NCE is accepted, and no odd traps surfaced.

When it opens

Post-July-2013: opens when coverage gaps are filled — for most MAP transcripts, the career course and little else. No waiting period, no extra exam. Pre-July-2013: education total already met at seventy-two quarter hours. Either way, treat the coverage test as the instrument and the total as the law; check which branch of (b)(iii) your graduation date falls into.

Exam

NCE accepted.

Education

Coverage test: one course per area, no minimums, no double-counting across nine areas: practicum/internship, human growth/development, social/cultural diversity, helping relationships, group work, career development, assessment, research/program evaluation, professional orientation/ethics. No syllabi, descriptions, or notary; experience self-reported on reciprocity. Total in the rule: (b)(iii) sets 72 quarter hours, rising to 90 for post-July-2013 graduates (board, 2026-08-25). Pre-2013 MAP grads clear as-is. Whether post-degree coursework closes the gap rests on (b)(i) and (b)(v) — text supports it, board unconfirmed.

Where this law comes from

Both chapter 11 rules carry the history 'Amended, Eff. 6/3/2015; Amended, Eff. 2/2/2016; Amended, Eff. 7/26/2019; Amended, Eff. 12/17/2021,' matching the Board's statement that its current rules were filed with the Secretary of State effective December 17, 2021.

Before acting
  • Two fee figures live simultaneously: the reciprocity packet prints $419 ($375 + $39 + $5), the application document prints $393 ($350 + $39 + $4) — both from the same forms page. Confirm with the board (WyoMHPLB@wyo.gov) before writing the check.
  • The board will not pre-review transcripts. You learn whether the coverage reading works only after the full file is in, so budget for that uncertainty.
  • Fingerprint cards must be within six months of submission, so get printed last.
  • No late renewal exists: miss the postmark and the license is void; lapse five years and you retake the exam.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — 078-11 Wyo. Code R. 11-6 complete: a master's 'in professional counseling' + exam + good standing, 'upon approval of the board,' with the five-year discipline lookback; the Transcript Evaluation form (packet audit) is how the degree-title phrase gets operationalized for non-counseling-titled degrees.

LPC · Wyo. Stat. §33-38-101 et seq.
sources read 2026-08-21 · board asked 2026-08-28 · board answered 2026-08-25 · entry updated 2026-08-28

CORROBORATED: A health licensing specialist at DC Health's Allied & Behavioral Health Boards answered all four questions inline on 2026-08-24. First, the endorsement policy is current as of this year: 'Yes,' with five years licensed by verification plus attestation, or three years with a current NCC. Second, the education bypass this guide had assumed is narrower than the policy read: endorsement 'takes away the need to submit post-graduate supervision verification and submitting an internship practicum,' but 'all other supporting documents must be submitted for review based upon the LPC regulations,' the transcript included. So the ordinary education review applies on endorsement too. Third, 'NCE or NCMHCE are required, the Board does not accept state exams': the national exam you already passed is the accepted currency, and no jurisprudence exam was raised. Fourth, whether a codifying rulemaking is planned: 'Unknown.' The friendly ordinary review described above, psychology an enumerated acceptable subject with content judged by content rather than course title (DCMR 17-6602.2), is now the operative screen rather than a fallback, and career development remains the one known gap. Correction, made the same day: an earlier fold of this answer called the education exposure 'one course, not a floor.' That was wrong, and the maintainer caught it within the hour. §6602's floor is 60 semester hours, and on the staff reading it now reaches endorsement applicants. Whether §3-1207.10(c)'s own text overrides that floor is staged as a follow-up question.
The path

Two endorsement clocks under D.C. Code §3-1207.10(c), neither containing an equivalence test. Five years licensed: license verification plus a written experience attestation. Three years with the NCC: same. The board's written answer (2026-08-24) narrowed the bypass: endorsement waives supervision verification and practicum documentation, but the transcript is still reviewed under the LPC regulations. The ordinary education review applies -- but its terms favor this degree: psychology is an enumerated field, content is judged by substance rather than course title (17-6602.2), and career development is the one known gap. No residency requirement, no jurisprudence exam, and your existing national exam is accepted.

When it opens

Coursework plus license + 3 years (with NCC) or + 5 years (without). DCMR §6602's floor is 60 semester hours; MAP's 48 leaves roughly 18 quarter hours short, with career development among the required areas. Open hinge: §3-1207.10(c)'s endorsement provision reads as self-contained -- if the board confirms the (c) tracks carry their own complete qualifications, this snaps back to a clean license + 3 years.

Exam

Whatever you already passed: DCMR 17-6605.2 accepts an exam administered by any US jurisdiction's counseling board. No jurisprudence exam.

Education

DCMR §6602 requires 60 graduate semester hours -- MAP's 72 quarter (48 semester) is 12 short -- plus content areas including lifestyle and career development. Psychology is an enumerated acceptable field, and content areas are judged by substance, not course title (17-6602.2). On the board's 2026-08-24 reading, all of this applies to endorsement applicants. Whether §3-1207.10(c)'s self-contained text overrides the hours floor is the one question still worth a written answer.

Where this law comes from

The endorsement subsection took its current shape in the Health Occupations Revision General Amendment Act of 2024 (D.C. Law 25-191, effective 2024-07-19); DC joined the Counseling Compact separately (D.C. Law 25-238, 2024-12-17), which neither amends nor conditions this route.

Before acting
  • No implementing regulation exists in DCMR ch. 17-66 -- the endorsement path runs on statute plus a board policy PDF. Rulemaking plans: 'Unknown' (board, 2026-08-24). The policy is confirmed current this year, but confirm it still stands before filing.
  • The exposure is a floor: §6602's 60 semester hours (roughly 18 quarter hours over MAP) plus career development. The statute's (c) endorsement provision reads as self-contained, but until the board confirms that in writing, plan on the coursework.
  • No telehealth registration -- DC clients need a DC credential.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — D.C. Code §3-1207.10 complete: both endorsement clocks verbatim ((c)(1) five years' independent clinical practice; (c)(2) three years + the NCC), no equivalence test in the text, and the verb is 'may.' The DCMR chapter and checklists read in the 8/19 sweep and upgrade.

LPC (LGPC available sooner) · D.C. Code §3-1207.10(c); DCMR 17-6605.2
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-24 · entry updated 2026-08-24

CORROBORATED: TN Department of Health licensure staff answered a tracked service request on 2026-08-21: the reciprocity policy applies generally to a Washington licensee, but the answer's own document list preserves the education floor verbatim: 'If your graduate counseling degree is less than 60 hours earned you do not qualify.' Timing, per the answer: the highest-level license held 'for at least the last two of three year[s].' NCE or NCMHCE is accepted on base reciprocity; the TN jurisprudence exam is required; and the document set includes the Course Work Summary, two reference letters, a birth certificate, a notarized citizenship declaration, supervision verification, and a TN-coded background check ($210 fee). The caution against treating reciprocity as a shortcut past the 60-hour floor holds up: the cure math stands, confirmed rather than merely inferred.
The path

Sixty semester hours plus the NCMHCE, with no shortcuts. Tennessee has two bilateral reciprocity agreements (North Carolina and Kentucky; Washington is not one) and a general 2019 board policy. No universal-recognition statute exists for counselors; 63-22-103 (as amended effective 7/1/2024) covers only marriage and family therapists.

When it opens

After the 60-hour cure plus the NCMHCE — everything complete before filing (deficiency letters give 60 days). The 2019 reciprocity policy (3 of 5 years at the highest independent level, plus TN jurisprudence exam) eases documentation, not requirements: its final item preserves ‘all other minimum statutory requirements,’ so the 60 hours and exams survive. Board confirmed (2026-08-21): ‘less than 60 hours earned you do not qualify.’

Exam

NCMHCE required. Tennessee is the one Southern state that forces it.

Education

Career development not required. Sixty semester hours across eleven areas, no per-area minimums: theories of human behavior/learning/personality; abnormal behavior/psychopathology; counseling theories/psychotherapy; evaluation/appraisal; group dynamics; counseling techniques; multicultural counseling; ethics; research; DSM use; treatment/treatment planning. A clinical MAP transcript covers more of this than career-centric states. MHSP’s 9-hour diagnosis cluster allows postgraduate completion: ‘either during the course of a graduate degree or as postgraduate work’ (0450-01-.04(4)(c)3).

Where this law comes from

Tenn. Code Ann. §63-22-103 was amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts ch. 700, §1, effective July 1, 2024 (original Acts 1984, ch. 933, §4); rule 0450-01-.04 was last amended by a filing of January 7, 2014, effective April 7, 2014.

Before acting
  • Experience is the first Tennessee obstacle, before coursework: 1,500 of the 3,000 post-master's hours must be face-to-face client contact. Audit your log against that before anything else.
  • Confirmed in the board's 2026-08-21 answer: reciprocity keeps the 60-hour education floor ('less than 60 hours earned you do not qualify'). The cure precedes any Tennessee filing. The answer's timing formulation is the highest-level license held for the last two of three years.
  • Files close 60 days after a deficiency letter; educational requirements must be complete before the application date.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full — the 2019 reciprocity policy and board forms 2026-08-20 (packet pass); Tenn. Comp. R. 0450-01-.04 complete 2026-08-20 (the rule's reciprocity is mutual-agreement-based; MHSP exams NCE + NCMHCE + jurisprudence; the 9-hour cluster's postgraduate allowance verified).

LPC-MHSP · Tenn. Comp. R. 0450-01
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-21

CORROBORATED: The board's licensing and permit specialist answered all three questions on 2026-08-24. First, the two-year clock runs 'only on the full LMHC'; associate time does not count. Second, the deeming does NOT excuse the course review: 'All applicants must meet the required academic courses based on the date their degree program began,' with the requirement checklist attached and Rules 681.81–.83 cited. The audit-not-automatic reading above is the board's own position, and the checklist that applies to you is the one in force when your program began. Third, the 300 practicum clock hours are confirmed by any of four routes: the board's Practicum Form signed by a university representative, the same form signed by the practicum site supervisor, a university letterhead letter stating exact hours and matching course numbers, or, for out-of-jurisdiction applicants, the practicum rules in force at original licensure plus proof of hours from the original application via an open-records request. Three documents came attached: the requirement checklist, the Practicum Form, and the counseling FAQs. The attached checklist and §681.83, read in full 2026-08-24, put a date on 'based on when your program began': the 60-semester-hour standard and §681.83(d)'s four additional named courses attach to programs begun on or after August 1, 2017, a detail caught directly from the board's own attachment.
The path

Two-year deemed equivalency (22 TAC §681.82(c)): after 2 years holding a full US counselor license, experience is deemed met -- 3,000 supervised hours and the 300-hour practicum documented, not re-earned. But the academic requirements still apply to every applicant (board-confirmed 2026-08-24), keyed to program start date. Before August 1, 2017: the 48-semester-hour standard, which MAP meets exactly. On or after August 1, 2017: the 60-semester-hour standard (§681.83(d)) -- 90 quarter hours, leaving MAP roughly 18 quarter hours (12 semester hours) short, plus four named courses. Check your program-years checklist against your transcript before filing.

When it opens

License + 2 years (full LMHC only, board-confirmed 2026-08-24), plus coursework for most readers. Programs begun before August 1, 2017 clear the 48-semester floor cleanly. Programs begun on or after that date face the 60-hour standard and four additional courses.

Exam

NCE or NCMHCE via NBCC transfer; Texas jurisprudence exam within 6 months of applying.

Education

Era-keyed by program start date. Before August 1, 2017: the 48-semester floor (MAP's 72 quarter hours = 48 semester, sufficient) plus §681.83(b)'s ten course areas including career, appraisal, research, and a practicum on the transcript. On or after August 1, 2017 (the entire 2022–2024 core of this guide's readers): the 60-semester-hour standard (90 quarter hours; MAP is roughly 18 short), plus §681.83(d)'s four named additions -- addictions counseling; counselor ethics with Texas-specific content (records management, business/family law, current Council rules); couples/marriage/family counseling; and psychopathology with DSM criteria and psychopharmacology basics. §681.83(e): passing the NCE or NCMHCE does not itself satisfy academic requirements.

Where this law comes from

22 TAC §681.82 was originally adopted effective September 1, 2003 (28 TexReg 4134), and its current text — including the subsection (c) two-year deemed-equivalency language relied on here — reflects the amendment effective November 21, 2021, published at Texas Register Volume 46, Number 46 (November 12, 2021), 46 TexReg 7786.

Before acting
  • The 300 practicum hours are proved four ways (board-listed 2026-08-24): the board's Practicum Form signed by a university representative or site supervisor; a university letterhead letter with exact hours and matching course numbers; or original-licensure-era rules plus proof from your original application via open-records request. SU's internship assessment forms recorded total clock hours -- request yours while program records are warm.
  • This is an audit, not an automatic deeming -- the board said so directly. Pre-August-2017 program starts keep the zero-margin 48-semester floor (practicum must appear on the transcript, and the MAP internship does). Post-August-2017 starts face the 60-hour standard plus four named courses, including a Texas-content ethics course almost no out-of-state transcript carries. Both the national exam and the Texas jurisprudence exam stand on every path.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly

  • 22 TAC §681.82 (academic requirements) — subsection (c) verified verbatim: an applicant holding a full active LPC in good standing from a US jurisdiction for at least two years immediately preceding receipt of the application is deemed to have met all academic and experience requirements, including the practicum, on 3,000 hours of supervised experience, 48 semester hours of coursework, and 300 clock hours of supervised practicum, matches the entry's claim exactly, https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/texas/22-Tex-Admin-Code-SS-681-82 (verified 2026-08-19; the official texreg.sos.state.tx.us viewer has migrated to a JavaScript portal that returned no section text)
  • 22 TAC §681.83 (academic course content, referenced by §681.82(b)) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/texas/22-Tex-Admin-Code-SS-681-83 (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19; not independently fetched this pass)
  • BHEC LPC Rulebook (Nov 2025) — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19: bhec.texas.gov returned no extractable text and no specific rulebook PDF URL could be confirmed without guessing)
  • Tex. Occ. Code ch. 503 (Licensed Professional Counselor Act; §503.302 base qualifications: master's or doctoral degree, at least 48 semester hours, 300 clock-hour practicum, 3,000 supervised hours, licensing and jurisprudence exams) — https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/OC/htm/OC.503.htm (verified 2026-08-19)
  • 22 TAC sec. 681.82 (Academic Requirements / endorsement deeming rule) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/texas/22-Tex-Admin-Code-SS-681-82 (verified 2026-08-19; secondary)
  • Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council, licensing & permit specialist — written answer to contact-form inquiry, 2026-08-24: the two-year clock runs “only on the full LMHC”; “all applicants must meet the required academic courses based on the date their degree program began” (Rules 681.81–.83); four accepted routes for practicum-hours evidence. Attachments on file in the maintainer's mail records: requirement checklist, Practicum Form, counseling FAQs
  • 22 TAC §681.83 (Academic Course Content) — read in full 2026-08-24 via Cornell LII (the official TAC portal has moved to a JS-gated Appian app; secondary copy carries the full amendment history through eff. 11/19/2020): (b) ten required course areas for counseling-related degrees; (d) “as of August 1, 2017” four additional courses — addictions; counselor ethics with records management, business/family law and current Council rules; couples/marriage/family; psychopathology with DSM and psychopharmacology — “to meet the 60 semester hour requirement”; (e) exam passage does not satisfy academic requirements — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/texas/22-Tex-Admin-Code-SS-681-83
LPC · 22 TAC §§681.82(c), 681.83
board asked 2026-08-21 · board answered 2026-08-24 · entry updated 2026-08-24

The path

Licenses issued after the 2024 standard change are measured against a 60-semester counseling degree and 2,250 direct hours: nearly double Washington's minimum. The board gives no credit for anything done since licensure, so time on the license doesn't help.

When it opens

Only a discretionary associate-level provisional license exists.

Exam

NCE is exactly what Alabama wants; the exam is the friendly part of this file.

Education

The 60-hour era applies to MAP graduates' license dates; the direct-hours wall is the real barrier.

Before acting
  • The rule keys to application date, the board's chart to issuance date. That inconsistency is worth raising with the board if Alabama ever becomes relevant.
  • Universal-recognition check, 2026-08-19: no such statute exists. Alabama's endorsement provision is discretionary, and its rule reimposes the state's education and hours requirements rather than waiving them.
Sources (Opus agent (8/19 sweep, with revision-date pin-cites to the 6/14/25 rules), spot-checked by Fable; the Alabama admin-code site is JS-gated to direct fetch, so no independent Fable re-read exists. Closed-tier stakes are the lowest in the guide.)

Opus agent (8/19 sweep, with revision-date pin-cites to the 6/14/25 rules), spot-checked by Fable; the Alabama admin-code site is JS-gated to direct fetch, so no independent Fable re-read exists. Closed-tier stakes are the lowest in the guide.

LPC · Ala. Admin. Code 255-X-10
board asked 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-20

HYPOTHESIS: [Board query sent 2026-08-25, awaiting reply: whether §1(3)'s psychology-degree-title exclusion is categorical, or any content or equivalency review is available to a fully licensed out-of-state applicant.]
The path

Kentucky's regulation names psychology-titled degrees as unacceptable, by name (201 KAR 36:070 §1(3)), and bars remediation. It's the one state where the MAP degree title itself is fatal, independent of hours or coursework.

When it opens

None by licensure. A compact privilege becomes available after the education cure and the relevant go-lives, but it only covers remote practice from Washington, not a path to moving there.

Exam

Irrelevant given the title bar.

Education

Unfixable by coursework: the exclusion is categorical.

Before acting
  • This is an untested paper reading — a board inquiry costs nothing if Kentucky matters to you. The current text (verified 2026-08-19): §1(3) lists psychology among degrees ‘shall not be accepted,’ §7(2) bars remedial work for those degrees, and §2(2) requires CACREP accreditation for everyone whose grandfather window closed in 2020.
  • Don't spend money on Kentucky-specific coursework; the exclusions are categorical on paper.
  • Universal-recognition check, 2026-08-19: Kentucky has no such statute. The 2026 bill named for one (HB 458) died in committee, as did its 2023 predecessor.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: the current regulation was read verbatim on 2026-08-19

LPCC · 201 KAR 36:070 §1(3), §7(2)
sources read 2026-08-19 · board asked 2026-08-25 · entry updated 2026-08-25

HYPOTHESIS: The Professional Counselor Examiners Committee replied 2026-08-25 (consumer-affairs unit inbox) without actually answering the question. Asked whether post-degree graduate coursework may combine with the degree to reach subsection (d)'s 60-semester/80-quarter total, the Committee wrote back sixteen minutes later: 'You may refer to the requirements as outlined in the regulations,' followed by the full text of N.J.A.C. 13:34-12.1 and a link to it. No interpretation, no staff opinion, no exception offered. Two things follow. The reply weakly corroborates the rule reading this guide already rests on: what the Committee put in front of the question is subsection (d) as written, 'the coursework and practicum, internship, and/or fieldwork for the program consists of at least 60 semester hours,' and no combining provision appears anywhere in the text it sent. But it is not confirmation. A board that declines to interpret has not said what it does at review, and Massachusetts and Hawaii both answered the same question the other way on their own rules. The reading stands at hypothesis, and the question stays open.
The path

The 60 hours must sit inside a degree program whose catalog says it trains counselors. Post-degree aggregation likely doesn't count. Add 4,500 experience hours and a nine-area audit. Structural, not curable.

When it opens

A compact privilege, once the hours cure and the compact go-lives both land, is the only realistic door, and even that only covers remote practice from Washington. It is not a path to relocating and practicing in New Jersey.

Exam

NCE accepted. Not the problem.

Education

Program-bound 60: the Committee, asked directly on 2026-08-25, restated the rule without interpreting it. Expect no, but the answer is not on record.

Before acting
  • An NJ license is required even for telehealth into New Jersey. No registration workaround exists.
  • New Jersey's bar is a 60-semester-hour floor plus a degree-in-counseling title bind written into statute (N.J.S.A. 45:8B-40(c)), not program accreditation. The board's rule even carries an express non-CACREP alternative. The general endorsement statute (45:1-7.5) covers this board but is equivalence-conditioned, so it cannot reach past the statutory floor.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — N.J.A.C. 13:34-12.1 complete: three years' active practice, the CACREP door at (c), the non-CACREP door at (d) with the catalog-purpose test and the 60-semester/80-quarter program-bound total, 4,500 hours at (f), NCE at (g). The structural closure holds on the rule's own text.

  • N.J.A.C. 13:34-12.1 — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-jersey/N-J-A-C-13-34-12-1 (verified 2026-08-19)
  • N.J.S.A. 45:8B-114 (compact); 45:1-62 (telehealth)
  • NJ Professional Counselor Examiners Committee — njconsumeraffairs.gov/pc
  • N.J.S.A. 45:1-7.5 — Issuance of professional or occupational license, certificate of registration, or certification (2025 N.J. Rev. Stat.) — https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-45/section-45-1-7-5/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • P.L.2013, c.182 (A1545 4R) — chapter law text, incl. C.45:1-7.5, repealer of C.45:1-7.2 and C.45:1-7.3, and effective-date clause; approved 2014-01-13 — https://pub.njleg.state.nj.us/Bills/2012/PL13/182_.HTM (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • N.J.S.A. 45:8B-40 — Requirements, application for licensure as professional counselor (statutory 60-graduate-semester-hour / degree-in-counseling floor) — https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-45/section-45-8b-40/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-jersey/N-J-A-C-13-34-17-1
  • New Jersey Professional Counselor Examiners Committee (Division of Consumer Affairs unit inbox) — reply to a direct inquiry, 2026-08-25, sixteen minutes after it was sent: “You may refer to the requirements as outlined in the regulations,” followed by N.J.A.C. 13:34-12.1 quoted in full, including subsection (d)'s “coursework and practicum, internship, and/or fieldwork for the program consists of at least 60 semester hours or 80 quarter hours,” and a link to the codified rule. The combining question asked was not addressed. Informal and non-binding; a restatement of the rule, not a staff interpretation of it. (Original on file in the maintainer's mail records.)
LPC · N.J.A.C. 13:34-12.1
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-25 · board replied without answering 2026-08-25 · entry updated 2026-08-25

CORROBORATED: The board's senior administrator confirmed on 2026-08-21: 'Yes, there is a pathway of Examination for those disapproved jurisdictions. However, the requirements will need to be met.' The disapproved listing bars the expedited shortcut, not every door. But the standard Examination route carries the full requirements described above: both exams for the LPCC, 3,000 direct hours, the education standards. The closure holds for MAP graduates on the standard route's own terms.
The path

New Mexico's friendly reputation is obsolete for MAP graduates: Washington appears on the disapproved-jurisdiction list for expedited licensure, at both the LPCC and LMHC levels, 'on the grounds that the education, training, or examination requirements for licensure are not consistent with New Mexico's minimum requirements' (16.27.24.8 NMAC, effective 1/18/2023, verified verbatim 2026-08-19). The LPCC route also requires both the NCE and NCMHCE, plus 3,000 direct hours.

When it opens

None realistic for MAP graduates.

Exam

Both exams required.

Education

Moot given the disapproved listing.

Before acting
  • The non-expedited question is resolved: the board confirmed on 2026-08-21 that an Examination pathway exists for disapproved jurisdictions, with the full standard requirements. The list closes the shortcut; the requirements close the door for MAP graduates anyway.
  • Whether the old five-year reciprocity provision was formally repealed remains unconfirmed by any source, so don't rely on that characterization.
  • The board's disapproved-jurisdiction rule (16.27.24.8 NMAC) names Washington explicitly, for both the LMHC and LPCC levels, as 'not consistent with New Mexico's minimum requirements,' confirmed by reading the current rule text directly.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: the disapproved lists were read verbatim on 2026-08-19

  • 16.27.24.8 NMAC (eff. 1/18/2023; Washington on both the LPCC (B)(1)(a) and LMHC (A)(1)(b) disapproved lists, read verbatim 2026-08-19), https://srca.nm.gov/parts/title16/16.027.0024.html (verified 2026-08-19)
  • 16.27.16.12(B) NMAC (surviving cross-reference to licensure by credential or reciprocity)
  • 16.27.24 NMAC, Counselors and Therapists — Expedited Licensure (incl. 16.27.24.7 definitions, 16.27.24.8 list of disapproved licensing jurisdictions naming Washington, 16.27.24.10-.12 procedures), New Mexico State Records Center & Archives — https://www.srca.nm.gov/parts/title16/16.027.0024.html (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • NMSA 1978, § 61-1-31.1, Expedited licensure; issuance — current text with amendment history (Laws 2016, ch. 19, § 1; 2020, ch. 6, § 4; 2022, ch. 39, § 7; 2023, ch. 190, § 22) and annotations describing the 2022 and 2023 amendments — https://law.justia.com/codes/new-mexico/chapter-61/article-1/section-61-1-31-1/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • https://www.srca.nm.gov/parts/title16/16.027.0017.html
  • New Mexico Counseling and Therapy Practice Board (RLD Boards and Commissions), Senior Board Administrator — written answer to a direct inquiry, 2026-08-21: “Yes, there is a pathway of Examination for those disapproved jurisdictions. However, the requirements will need to be met.” Staff guidance only.
LPCC · 16.27.24.8 NMAC
sources read 2026-08-19 · board asked 2026-08-20 · board answered 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-21

The path

The CACREP requirement attaches to the degree program itself and keys to application date. Post-degree coursework can't confer program accreditation, so a cure would not help here.

When it opens

No realistic route for a MAP degree. A compact privilege, once the hours cure and the compact go-lives both land, is the only door open at all, and even that covers remote practice from Washington only, not a path to moving to North Carolina.

Exam

NCE fully sufficient. The exam was never the problem.

Education

CACREP-or-equivalent program accreditation: structurally unavailable to this degree.

Before acting
  • Psychopharmacology is also named, but that's moot given the accreditation bar.
  • North Carolina also passed a universal-recognition statute, N.C.G.S. §93B-15.3 (S.L. 2025-61, effective 2025-10-01), but it excludes every Chapter 90 health-care practitioner, which is where LCMHCs live, and reaches only licensees from five neighboring states besides. Checked 2026-08-19.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — N.C.G.S. §90-336 complete: (b2) keys to application date (on or after July 1, 2022) and requires a degree from a CACREP-accredited institution with the regional-accreditation alternative dropped entirely — the closure is even cleaner in the text than the entry states.

LCMHC · N.C.G.S. §90-336(b2)
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-20 · entry updated 2026-08-20

CORROBORATED: The board answered on 2026-08-21: 97-02-01-04 reciprocity “does not apply to the LPCC License.” The LPCC is a specialty added to a held LPC (60 graduate semester credits with named courses, 700 practicum hours, 3,000 post-master's supervised hours with 100 by an LPCC, three references, NCMHCE). LPC applications, “reciprocity or standard,” are each “reviewed for academic requirements, test results and individual supervision.” The closure holds, now on the board's own words rather than a paper reading.
The path

Closed on a degree-title test the board enforces on every route. The board confirmed (2026-08-21): reciprocity (97-02-01-04) "does not apply to the LPCC License." The LPCC layers onto a held LPC, requiring 60 graduate semester credits (including abnormal psychology/psychopathology and clinical counseling skills), 700 practicum hours, 3,000 post-master's supervised hours (100 by an LPCC), three clinical references, and a passing NCMHCE. Even LPC applications are "reviewed for academic requirements, test results and individual supervision," and the education rule admits only programs "identified specifically as counseling programs" — a test a psychology-titled degree cannot pass.

When it opens

No formula unlocks it: the degree-title academic review runs on every route, “reciprocity or standard application”, and the LPCC layer adds a 60-semester-credit floor plus the NCMHCE on top of a held LPC.

Exam

Two layers: the NCE covers the base-LPC exam element, but the LPCC specialty requires a passing NCMHCE. No NCE-only path exists to the clinical title.

Education

Degree-title test: uncurable for a psychology-titled degree.

Before acting
  • The 'substantially the same requirements' review is discretionary, not codified; the 2026-08-21 board answer shows even that review sits behind the per-application academic screen, so the closure is board-described, not merely inferred.
  • North Dakota also enacted a recognition chapter, N.D.C.C. ch. 43-51.1 (SB 2395, effective 2025-08-01), but it switches itself off for any board in an effective interstate compact, and this board is a Counseling Compact member. Its education clause defers to board-determined methods anyway. Checked 2026-08-19.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: the current chapter was read directly on 2026-08-19

  • N.D. Admin. Code ch. 97-02-01 (read in full 2026-08-19) — https://ndlegis.gov/information/acdata/pdf/97-02-01.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
  • N.D.C.C. ch. 43-51.1, Universal Licensure and Board Operations (codified official text) — https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t43c51-1.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • North Dakota Century Code, Title 43 chapter index — confirms ch. 43-47 (Counselors), ch. 43-47.1 (Counseling Compact), and ch. 43-51.1 (Universal Licensure and Board Operations) — https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t43.html (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
  • https://www.ndbce.org/PDFs/LPCC-renewal.pdf
  • North Dakota Board of Counselor Examiners — written answer to a direct inquiry, 2026-08-21: the 97-02-01-04 reciprocity provision “does not apply to the LPCC License,” the LPCC being a specialty added to a held LPC; LPC applications, “reciprocity or standard,” are each “reviewed for academic requirements, test results and individual supervision.” Staff answer; does not bind the board.
LPCC · N.D. Admin. Code 97-02-01-04 (reciprocity), 97-02-01-01, 97-02-01-02
sources read 2026-08-19 · board asked 2026-08-21 · board answered 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-21

HYPOTHESIS: The closure rests on the application packet itself: the hours-after-60-credits sequencing is printed twice, the 24 practicum/internship credits are structural, and the discretionary endorsement is absent from the packet. A board answer saying otherwise would change this. A query went to the health department's licensing unit on 2026-08-21, the published inquiry channel since the board has no direct inbox, asking whether any endorsement or equivalency review exists for a non-CACREP degree; it was routed 2026-08-24 to the profession's licensing specialist, with no substantive answer yet.
The path

Closed. Two structural bars, both uncurable. First, sequencing: the application prints it twice — 'These hours are to be accrued after 60 credits are completed.' A post-hoc cure does not finish Rhode Island; it restarts it: coursework first, then 2,000 supervised hours over again, then the NCMHCE. Second, 24 semester credits of practicum and internship (12 each), which a MAP transcript cannot retroactively grow. No discretionary exam-free endorsement exists in the packet.

When it opens

Never, for anyone whose supervised hours predate the cure. The rule itself (216-RICR-40-05-11.3.2(A)(1)(c)) requires the 60/90 credits 'prior to beginning post graduate experience and supervised case work hours.' The endorsement provision (11.3.9) recognizes only CACREP-accredited 60-semester-hour degrees, closing it as firmly as the by-exam route. Asking the board costs nothing; just don't plan on it.

Exam

NCMHCE (NCE not accepted) unless the discretionary endorsement applies.

Education

Nine blocks on the Core Curriculum form: helping relationships and counseling theory at 9 credits minimum, then human growth and development, social and cultural foundations, group counseling, lifestyle and career development, appraisal, research and program evaluation, and professional orientation at 3 each, plus electives, inside a 60-semester/90-quarter total that also demands 12 semester credits of practicum and 12 of internship. The credit-denominated field experience is the uncurable part.

Where this law comes from

The rule page records the active version as an Amendment effective 05/15/2023, promulgated under R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 5-63.2 to implement the statutory amendments that created the associate-level licenses.

Before acting
  • The timing clause is now verified at both levels: the application prints it twice, and the rule text itself (11.3.2(A)(1)(c)) requires the credits before the post-graduate hours begin.
  • Applications expire one year from receipt.
  • If Washington's original supervision documentation exists on file with DOH, the packet allows it to be sent in lieu of chasing old supervisors. Worth knowing for other states too.
Sources (Fable)

Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — 216-RICR-40-05-11 complete: the credits-before-experience sequencing is in the rule itself (11.3.2(A)(1)(c)), and the written endorsement provision (11.3.9) recognizes only CACREP 60-semester degrees. Application text read in the packet audit.

LMHC · 216-RICR-40-05-11; R.I. Gen. Laws §5-63.2-15
sources read 2026-08-20 · board asked 2026-08-21 · entry updated 2026-08-24

The accreditation problem: the one nobody can cure

The MAP holds neither CACREP nor MPCAC accreditation. CACREP was never a possibility — the degree is an M.A. in Psychology, and SU’s CACREP programs sit in a different college. MPCAC accredits exactly this kind of program — master’s-level psychology degrees that train counselors — and Bastyr’s counseling-psychology M.A. holds it. A few state rules accept CACREP-or-equivalent language that MPCAC can satisfy. Seattle University does not hold MPCAC accreditation (checked August 19, 2026). Of the four problems above, this is the only one you can’t fix. Hours can be added, courses taken, exams sat. Accreditation attaches to the program, not to you, and nothing you do afterward confers it. It is also never retroactive: MPCAC’s review pipeline runs one to three years, and any future accreditation would cover the program going forward, not already-conferred diplomas. Worth watching: states keep adopting accreditation language, keyed to your application date, not your graduation date. North Carolina’s CACREP requirement hit applications on or after July 1, 2022. Delaware rebuilt its coursework review around full CACREP standards in late 2025. Michigan adopted CACREP 2024 standards in January 2026. Mississippi draws its line at post-2017 degrees. A state open today can close before you file. One more thing: Seattle University’s current MAP is 90 quarter credits (program page, August 2026), so later cohorts won’t face the credit gap this guide is about. Degrees conferred earlier keep the totals they were conferred with.

section checked 2026-08-20

Two rules, whatever you pursue

Never let your Washington license lapse. Every open pathway here — endorsement, reciprocity, the years-licensed formulas, the telehealth registrations, any future compact privilege — presumes an active, unencumbered WA LMHC. Lapse it and your options reduce to curing the degree from scratch. Renew Washington first, before any new state, every time. Second: licenses have carrying costs. Each new state brings renewal fees, CE requirements (sometimes state-specific mandatory courses), and occasionally a jurisprudence exam. Collect the states you will use, not the states you can get. If you stop using one, retire it deliberately — states treat a lapse and a voluntary surrender differently.

section checked 2026-08-27

Universal-recognition laws

About twenty states have passed universal-license-recognition laws since 2019: statutes that say a board shall license you on your out-of-state license alone, usually after a year and upon establishing residency, without reviewing your education. Where they work, they bypass the credit-hour and content-area problems on this map entirely. Mississippi, Missouri, and West Virginia have clean universal-recognition routes. Indiana, Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, and Kansas also have routes through these or similar statutes, each with its own conditions documented in the entry. Fine print: most require residency (these are relocation laws, not collect-from-home laws), and most stamp the resulting license valid in that state only, never compact-eligible. These laws fail counselors in five ways:

section checked 2026-08-28

Queries in flight: what the boards have been asked

Direct questions are pending with boards across the map. Each answer lands in the entry it concerns, quoted and dated, changelog in step. Every jurisdiction has now been asked, is staged, or takes questions only by phone. As of August 28, 2026:

Answered

Awaiting a reply

Staged, not yet sent

No async channel

section checked 2026-08-28

The NCC

The NCC feeds several states’ endorsement routes (Delaware’s and DC’s expressly), and most MAP grads are closer to qualifying than the folklore suggests. The ‘CACREP-only from 2027’ deadline was announced in 2014, postponed twice, and never written into the eligibility policy; the April 2026 revision deleted CACREP from the degree and credit clauses (§C.1, §C.2) entirely. There is no CACREP requirement. Bottom line: if you hold a full LMHC and passed the NCE, you are closer than you think.

section checked 2026-08-26

Where to take a make-up course (verified August 2026)

Any make-up course must be graduate-level, for-credit, on an official transcript from a regionally accredited institution. CE hours never count. Verified options for single-course enrollment from CACREP-accredited programs: Capella (COUN5279 Life Planning & Career Development, 4 quarter credits, ~$2,275, asynchronous, quarterly starts) and Walden (COUN6753 Career Counseling, 5 quarter credits, ~$2,800, 10-week terms). Liberty (COUC522, ~$2,000, semester credits) is cheaper and structurally ideal for the compact math, but whether its Special-Student status permits counseling-course enrollment is unverified. Adams State closed its counseling courses to non-degree students (verified on their site). For the full 18-quarter compact cure, Capella is the only verified one-stop: career, appraisal, addictions, and research at 4 quarter credits each, 16 credits for four courses and a fifth needed to reach 18 — roughly $9,100 to $11,400 depending on course count. Prices verified early August 2026 and will drift.

section checked 2026-08-03

The evidence ledger, and what is still open

How far past paper each pathway has been tested. Thirty boards have answered an inquiry in writing. Three pathways have been tested by filing, and Colorado has been carried to an issued license. For the full status of every inquiry, see Queries in flight.

Approval observed — a completed application was approved

Filed and pending — in adjudication now

Corroborated — a board answered an inquiry in writing (30)

Settled by the rule text itself — no inquiry needed

The open questions where one written answer would help everyone

section checked 2026-08-28

How this was built and verified

Matt Sorg set the questions, ruled on every verdict and tier, and decided what counted as enough evidence. Claude Fable (Anthropic's extended-reasoning model) did the primary reading; when the scope grew to all fifty states, D.C., and British Columbia, Claude Opus sub-agents ran entries in parallel and Fable synthesized them back into a single record. That first pass produced a draft. The second half was verification: read every decisive text directly, ask every board in writing, date everything. The four checks below are that program.

1 · Read the decisive texts directly

2 · Ask the board, in writing

3 · Say how far past paper each pathway has been tested

4 · Date everything, so staleness is visible

What this is not

section checked 2026-08-21

Changelog

Full history (125 earlier entries)