Behavior Analyst Licensure in South Dakota: BCBA and State License Requirements

South Dakota issues a single credential: the behavior analyst licence.

Section 36-38-6 restricts both directions at once — you may not represent yourself as a behavior analyst, and you may not engage in or attempt to practise applied behavior analysis, unless you are licensed or exempt.

Unlicensed practice is a Class 2 misdemeanor (§ 36-38-19), and the chapter is also enforceable in civil court: the state's attorney may seek an injunction, and any citizen of the state may sue (§ 36-38-22).

The definition section scopes the licence to the provision of applied behavior analysis as §§ 36-38-2 and 36-38-3 define it, and ties the title to meeting the qualifications of subdivision 58-17-159(2), a cross-reference whose text is not in the sources read.

No assistant licence appears anywhere in the chapter.

An applicant needs four things.

First, a master's degree or a doctoral degree — the chapter names no required field.

Second, current certification as a board certified behavior analyst by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board, Inc., or any successor in interest to that organization: BACB certification is the route, not a substitute.

Third, no conviction of a felony or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, as subdivision 22-1-2(25) defines it, during the past five years.

Fourth, verification that the applicant is not subject to any disciplinary proceeding or pending complaint before any other licensing board — unless this board considers that proceeding or complaint and agrees to licensure.

The chapter adds no coursework, fieldwork or hour rule of its own; those standards ride in through the BACB certification.

The qualification list names no South Dakota examination.

The exam a candidate actually sits is the BACB's own, embedded in the BCBA certification the statute requires — the BACB's exam rules are national and belong to the how-to-become coverage, not this page.

Section 36-38-27 does let the board promulgate rules delineating qualifications for licensure, and the board's rules were not among the sources read, so whether any state-specific exam or jurisprudence test exists is not stated in the sources read.

Check the application instructions on the board's page before you file.

There is no assistant licence to apply for.

An assistant behavior analyst or paraprofessional works lawfully under an exemption with four conditions: services are delivered under the extended authority and direction of a behavior analyst and supervised per BACB requirements; the person may not represent himself or herself as a behavior analyst; the person uses a title showing assistant or paraprofessional status — the statute lists assistant behavior analyst, ABA technician, behavior technician, tutor, or line therapist; and the person submits to a criminal background check and fingerprint checks through the Division of Criminal Investigation.

Two rules matter for employers.

The supervising behavior analyst, not the assistant, is responsible for the fingerprinting and background-check fees, and the resulting records stay confidential (§ 36-38-25).

And a person convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude in the past five years may not deliver services under a behavior analyst's direction at all (§ 36-38-26).

The statute does not mention RBT certification.

The practice of applied behavior analysis means applying principles of operant and respondent learning, including designing, supervising, evaluating and modifying treatment programs — for individuals with an autism spectrum disorder, for individuals and for groups — plus consultation to individuals and organizations.

The exclusions matter just as much for reading a job description: diagnosis, counseling, psychological testing, personality, intellectual and neuropsychological assessment, psychotherapy, cognitive therapy, sex therapy, family therapy, care coordination, psychoanalysis, hypnotherapy and long-term counseling are all outside the practice.

The behavior analyst licence itself does not authorize diagnosis or therapy — the chapter limits what counts as the practice of applied behavior analysis.

The chapter also makes the relations and communications between a licensee and a person consulting them in a professional capacity confidential (§ 36-38-24).

The chapter as read contains no reciprocity or endorsement section: an out-of-state behavior analyst applies under the same four qualifications as anyone else (§ 36-38-7).

The one movement rule is an exemption for a non-resident provider — one who has established an office in this state — whose in-state services stay within a twenty-day aggregate in a year and who is authorized to perform these activities where they live.

The drafting is awkward (the statute says the period must not 'exceed an aggregate of more than twenty days'), so confirm the counting with the board before relying on it.

If the provider exceeds twenty consecutive days of practice in a calendar year, they must report to the board, in writing, the nature and extent of their practice in the state.

For ongoing work, plan to apply.

Section 36-38-27 authorizes board rules specifying requirements for the annual renewal of licensure, and the board's fee page prices that renewal at $300.00 a year.

The statute caps the amounts: an application fee set by board rule, not to exceed $300 (§ 36-38-8), and an initial-licensure fee, due after the applicant presents evidence of certification, not to exceed $350 (§ 36-38-10).

The board's page lists a $350.00 initial application fee and a $300.00 annual licensing fee — $650.00 in total for a first licence — and its labels do not line up one-to-one with the statute's, so confirm the current schedule with the board before you pay.

Fees for BACB certification itself are paid directly to the BACB.

No continuing education total appears in the chapter; any CE rule would sit in the board's rules, which were not read, so it is not stated in the sources read.

The chapter's own source notes record four amendments after the 2016 act.

SL 2019, ch 175, § 1 amended § 36-38-25, the background-check section.

SL 2020, ch 167, § 10 amended § 36-38-4, the advisory-committee section.

SL 2021, ch 168, §§ 47 and 48 repealed § 36-38-21 outright.

SL 2023, ch 172, § 1 amended both § 36-38-22 (injunctions, including the citizen suit) and § 36-38-23 (money credited to the board's fund).

The saved sources show the amended sections' current text but not the session laws themselves, so what each amendment changed, and when each took effect, is not stated in the sources read.

The licence requirement (§ 36-38-6), the qualifications (§ 36-38-7), the exemptions (§ 36-38-5) and the rule-writing authority (§ 36-38-27) still carry only their 2016 source notes.

Section 36-38-5 exempts eleven groups: (1) employees of a regionally accredited academic institution performing teaching, training or research duties; (3) physicians, psychologists, counselors, social workers, clergy and other listed professionals within their profession's standards and without a behavior analyst title; (4) students in a defined program directly supervised by a behavior analyst in this state, an instructor in a course sequence approved by the certifying entity, or another qualified faculty member, using a training-status title; (5) family members implementing plans under a behavior analyst's direction; (7) practice with nonhumans; (8) organization-level consultants with no direct services to any person; (9) unlicensed people accruing BACB-supervised experience under a training-status title; (10) school board employees performing the duties of their position; and (11) anyone meeting subdivision 58-17-159(1), whose text is not in the sources read.

(2) and (6) are covered above.

Behind the licence sit the Board of Social Work Examiners and a three-member Applied Behavior Analyst Advisory Committee — two licensees and one public member, meeting at least annually — and the board must adopt a code of ethics (§ 36-38-11).