Behavior Analyst Licensure in Michigan: BCBA and State License Requirements

Michigan issues two licences: the licensed behavior analyst (l.b.a.) and the licensed assistant behavior analyst (l.a.b.a.).

The statute protects all four of the exact titles it names, l.b.a. and l.a.b.a. included, and bars similar words or letters that suggest licensure.

It restricts practice itself, too: from one year after the effective date of the rules promulgated under sections 18257 and 18259, no one may engage in the practice of applied behavior analysis or practice as an assistant behavior analyst without a licence or other authorization under the article.

The statute defines practice as an assistant behavior analyst as the practice of applied behavior analysis under the supervision of a behavior analyst.

The department provides a 4-year license cycle.

The sources read do not state the effective date of those rules, so the date the restrictions began is not established on this page.

Michigan writes no degree or coursework rule of its own.

The statute directs the department, in consultation with the board, to set minimum licensure standards in rules and lets it adopt the professional standards issued by the BACB, in whole or in part.

The current LARA guide operationalizes that: proof of current certification in good standing with the BACB, submitted directly from the BACB to LARA — you cannot attach it yourself.

Every applicant files the online MiPLUS application with a $452.40 application and 4-year license fee, completes a criminal background check, answers good moral character and sex offender questions, certifies human trafficking training under Administrative Rule 338.1821 and 2 hours of implicit bias training within the 5 years before issuance, supplies a Social Security number, shows English language proficiency, and arranges verification of licensure from every state or country where they hold or ever held a licence.

A conviction of a listed offense denies the application.

Neither the statute nor the application checklist names a Michigan examination.

The statute requires the department to promulgate minimum licensure standards and lets it adopt BACB professional standards, and the application turns on proof of current BACB certification.

Whether the Behavior Analyst administrative rules (R 338.1801-338.1835) add a state jurisprudence or law exam is not stated in the sources read — the rule text was not among the documents read.

Check the MiPLUS application instructions before you file.

Supervision is built into the assistant licence: the guide requires a Verification of Supervision for Assistant Behavior Analyst form completed by the supervising Michigan licensed behavior analyst — currently certified and in good standing with the BACB — certifying that supervision complies with current BACB supervision requirements, filed again at every renewal.

Technicians are governed by conditions, not a credential.

The statute exempts a technician implementing a care plan under delegation and supervision of a behavior analyst; there is no state registration.

From April 3, 2020 an individual may not act as a behavior technician without a completed training program based on the BACB's registered behavior technician task list, and a technician may not use words, titles or letters indicating they are a behavior analyst or assistant behavior analyst.

The statute also bars technicians with discipline in force from another state, the military or the federal government, a 42 USC 1320a-7(a) relevant-crime conviction with no time limit, listed felonies and misdemeanors on one-to-15-year look-backs, an MCL 769.16b order, or a substantiated neglect, abuse or misappropriation finding.

Part 182A defines the practice as the design, implementation and evaluation of instructional and environmental modifications to produce socially significant improvements in human behavior.

It also excludes medical and osteopathic practice, diagnosis and treatment; speech-language pathology; physical and occupational therapy; psychological testing; the diagnosis of a mental or physical impairment; and neuropsychology, psychotherapy, cognitive therapy, sex therapy, psychoanalysis, hypnotherapy and counseling as treatment modalities.

The 18253(3) exemptions are conditional throughout.

Self-care and uncompensated friend-or-family care require the caregiver not to represent or hold themselves out as a behavior analyst.

Holders of a licence, certificate, registration or other authorization from this state must stay within their profession's scope and qualifications and not represent themselves as a behavior analyst.

Students and postdoctoral fellows are exempt only inside a rules-approved program of study or practicum, directly supervised by a licensed behavior analyst or a BACB-approved course instructor.

Technicians, family-run home programs, school paraprofessionals, psychologists under part 182, supervised BACB experience seekers and nonhuman or organizational practitioners are exempt on their own listed conditions.

Part 182A requires no new third-party reimbursement.

Licensure by endorsement exists for someone who already holds a current behavior analyst licence in another state or in a province of Canada.

Verification must show the licence in good standing and any disciplinary action taken or pending.

Endorsement adds to the standard requirements rather than replacing them: the BACB certification proof, the background check and the training requirements still apply, and the assistant guide carries the same endorsement checklist for assistants.

Separately, every applicant — endorsement or not — must arrange verification of licensure from the licensing agency of every state or country in which they hold or ever held a licence, showing that no disciplinary proceedings are pending and no sanctions are in force.

A Michigan licence runs on a 4-year cycle: the statute says the department shall provide for one, and the guide's renewal section confirms a 4-year renewal cycle, with the online application due no sooner than 90 days before expiration and a $374.40 renewal fee.

The statute lets the department require a licensee seeking renewal to furnish evidence of current BACB certification during the preceding licensing period, and the current guide requires exactly that proof, again submitted directly from the BACB.

Renewal re-certifies the one-time human trafficking training and adds implicit bias training at 1 hour for each year of the licence cycle.

Relicensure after a lapse costs $472.40.

For assistants, renewal adds the supervision verification form.

The chapter is stable in the saved text: every section still carries its original history note, added by 2016 PA 403 (the board section by 2016 PA 404), effective April 3, 2017.

The dated change inside it is the technician standard: from April 3, 2020, a training program based on the BACB's registered behavior technician task list became a condition of acting as a behavior technician.

The statute's entry routes are dated too: the department was to issue licences to people BACB-certified on or before the part's effective date who applied within one year after the licensure rules, with a parallel assistant window.

The board's page lists meeting schedules through 2026 and a Behavior Analyst Rules Committee Work Group, and the licensing guide was revised January 26, 2026.

What the sources read do not date is the effective date of the rules that triggered the practice restriction — confirm it with LARA.