Licensing staff report transfer of research psychoanalyst registrations; CPD, renewals and exam pass rates reviewed

The California Board of Psychology Licensure Committee received staff reports on licensing workload and policy changes, continuing professional development and renewal trends, and 2024 examination pass rates at its Jan. 31, 2025, meeting in an open Webex session.

Committee members heard that Senate Bill 815 transferred administration and enforcement of research psychoanalyst and student research psychoanalyst registrations from the Medical Board of California to the Board of Psychology effective Jan. 1, 2025. Mai Zhong, who presented the licensing report, said the board had completed a data transfer of records and that, as of the report, there were 72 research psychoanalysts and 21 student research psychoanalysts in current status; canceled-status counts were 29 and 39 respectively. Zhong said new application numbers for those license types were not yet available because the transfer was recent and manual data conversion was still underway.

The committee also heard that the board added an inactive status for the Psychological Service Provider (PSP) registration (limited to a 72-month period under regulation). Zhong explained the inactive status will pause the 72‑month time limit for PSP registration when a registrant is not providing supervised services or lacks a supervisor; previously the only option had been cancellation. Zhong reported two PSPs had been approved for inactive status in the original attachment, and staff later noted seven had been approved as of the morning of the meeting.

Continuing professional development and renewal trends were provided by Mr. Polk. Polk said about 98% of renewals in 2024 were submitted online and roughly 2% were mailed; across 2024, about 78% of renewing psychologists did so as active, roughly 3% as retirements, and about 13% of monthly renewal applications were for psychological associates. Polk also summarized continuing education audit results (June 2023–January 2024): an average audit pass rate of 89%, 5% of audits ultimately failed after full review, and 22% were deficient or pending additional documentation. Polk noted a temporary pause in audits while the CPD coordinator vacancy was filled; staff said the vacancy has been filled and audits will resume.

Miss Hanson presented examination data for 2024. The board’s compiled figures showed an overall EPPP pass rate of 37.61% for 2024 and a first-time pass rate of 60.4%. Hanson noted that first-time pass rates are typically higher than overall pass rates and provided 2023 as a reference (overall pass rate 39.8%). For other exam categories summarized in staff materials, Hanson said complete pass rates for specified categories averaged about 80% for 2024, slightly higher than 2023.

Committee members complimented staff on taking on the transferred registrations without an immediate increase in processing time and had no further questions. The committee opened each staff item to public comment but received no substantive public input on the licensing, CPD/renewals, or examination materials.

The committee recorded these informational items for its records and did not take formal policy action on the presentations during open session.