SB 993 allows limited behavioral clinician identification safeguards
Oct 4, 2026 edition · GC-2026-0222 · Published 2026-10-04 · Version 2 · Final
SB 993 permits specified behavioral clinicians to limit identifying details in client notices for individual safety concerns in defined psychiatric or correctional settings. Employer authorization, a disclosed complaint-identification process and retained notice evidence remain required.
What happened
California enacted SB 993 on September 27, revising client notice provisions for marriage and family therapy, educational psychology, clinical social work and professional clinical counseling under the ordinary January 1, 2027 effective-date rule. The normal notice includes the practitioner’s board-filed full name, license or registration number, type and expiration date, together with the board complaint information. The amendment permits discretion about some or all of those identifying details for individual safety concerns in acute psychiatric hospitals, correctional treatment centers and the other specified settings serving people under correctional authority.
The discretion requires authorization from the employing entity or agency, an established means for the client to request and obtain enough identifying information to file a board complaint, disclosure of that process in the notice, and preservation of a notice copy in the client record. Delivery of the notice must still be documented, and the board complaint notice remains. The exception is tied to setting and safety conditions; it is not general permission for every therapist to withhold identity or prevent a client from making a complaint.
Scope and timing
- Authority status
- Final
- Applicability
- Potentially applicable
- Audience
- Health systems, Provider networks, Health-tech
- Jurisdiction
- California
Why it matters
Staff safety and meaningful client complaint access must both be supported. A shortened notice without an accessible identification-request process can miss the conditions that make the exception available.
Recommended action
Review eligible settings, individual safety concerns and employer authorization. Prepare notices and a usable identification-request process, preserve copies and document delivery. Check the profession-specific provision before withholding details and retain the board complaint information.
Sources
- SB993 enacted final textOfficial · California Legislature · 2026-09-27 · Source review 2026-10-05
- Official Assembly 2023-24 Constitution, Article IV section 8Official · California Legislature · Source review 2026-10-14
Complete edition and supplemental material
This finding in the complete approved report →Regulatory horizons, CIA trends and implementation trackers remain in the full report.
Read the entire Compliance Sweep report →