When a Texas clinician's license passes its expiration date without renewal, the license becomes delinquent and the clinician may not practice until it is renewed. A license can also bar practice before its date, because only a license on active status permits unrestricted practice. A Texas group practice should check each clinician's status on the Council's public license lookup and not rely on a date in a spreadsheet.
This guide covers the licenses a Texas therapy group practice usually employs: LPC and LPC Associate, LMFT and LMFT Associate, LMSW and LCSW, and licensed psychologist. The rules come from 22 TAC chapters 881 to 885, written by the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council, and from each board's own chapter. We read the rule text in the Council's consolidated rulebooks, which the Council warns may not reflect the current state of the law. So we also searched every Texas Register issue from March 20, 2026 through October 16, 2026 and found no adopted change to any rule cited here. One proposal that touches a supervisor's license is covered below.
What happens when a Texas clinician's license expires?
A Texas clinician whose license expires without renewal is on delinquent status and may not practice. The rule is 22 TAC §882.21(c).
A licensee who fails to renew a license for any reason when required is considered to be on delinquent status. A licensee may not engage in the practice of the licensee's respective profession under a delinquent license.
Renewals are due on the last day of the license holder's birth month, under 22 TAC §883.1(b), so a clinician with a March birthday is delinquent from April 1. A delinquent clinician can still renew for a while, at a higher price. Occupations Code §507.255 sets the windows, and 22 TAC §885.1(c) repeats them.
The one-year row has two sources. Occupations Code §507.255(d) reads:
If the person's license has been expired for one year or more, the person may not renew the license. The person may obtain a new license by submitting to reexamination and complying with the requirements and procedures for obtaining an original license.
The Council's rules add a route called reinstatement. 22 TAC §885.1(c)(3) says that after one year or more "the person may not renew the license; however, if eligible the person may apply for reinstatement of the license", and §882.22(a) says "A person seeking re-licensure must apply for reinstatement, rather than applying for a new full license."
Rule 885.1 adds the Texas.gov and Office of Patient Protection fees to each late amount. For an LPC, whose base renewal fee is $135, 1.5 times is $202.50 before those fees. Late fees "cannot be waived", according to the Council's continuing education and renewal FAQs.
The status rule counts the end of the delinquent period a little differently. Under §882.21(c) and (g), a license delinquent for more than 12 consecutive months may not be renewed and expires. A license with a pending complaint stays delinquent until the complaint is resolved. 22 TAC §882.22(f) lists what the Council may require for reinstatement of an expired license:
An application for reinstatement of an expired, retired, revoked, or resigned license may be granted upon proof of each of the following: (1) payment of the application fee; (2) submission of a self-query report from the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) reflecting any disciplinary history or legal actions taken against the applicant. A self-query report must be submitted to the agency as a PDF that ensures the self-query is exactly as it was issued by the NPDB (i.e., a digitally certified self- query response) or in the sealed envelope in which it was received from the NPDB; (3) a fingerprint based criminal history check which reflects no disqualifying criminal history; (4) passage of any examinations required by a member board; (5) documentation of any continuing education required by a member board; and (6) submission of any other documentation or information requested in the application or which the Council or a member board may deem necessary in order to ensure the public's safety.
The reinstatement row of the §885.1 fee chart reads $510 in total, made up of a $500 base fee and $10 more.
What does a Texas license renewal require?
A Texas clinician renews online every two years. The clinician pays the renewal fee, reports compliance with continuing education and meets the extra conditions in 22 TAC §883.1. Under §883.1(b), renewals "are due on the last day of the license holder's birth month, but may be completed up to 60 days in advance." The Council's renewal page puts the same window as a license that is "active or inactive and within 60 days of expiration". Section 883.1(d) adds three conditions:
In addition to the requirements of subsection (c) of this section, licensees must also show compliance with each of the following as a condition of renewal: (1) provide or update the standardized set of information about their training and practices required by §105.003 of the Health and Safety Code; (2) affirm or demonstrate successful completion of a training course on human trafficking prevention described by §116.002 of the Occupations Code; and (3) if chosen for an audit under §882.50 of this title, licensees are required to submit a self-query report from the National Practitioner Data Bank in the same manner required by §882.2 of this title.
Subsection (f) states the consequence: "A license may not be renewed until a licensee has complied with the requirements of this rule." The Council's renewal page also lists proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful presence among the items in the online renewal. A clinician who reports continuing education falsely, or practices on a license renewed under false pretenses, is subject to discipline under §883.1(g).
Reminders do not shift the deadline. The Council's renewal page says it mails a reminder postcard to the licensee's address of record and emails a notice at least 30 days before the renewal date, and §883.1(h) puts the duty on the clinician.
Responsibility for renewing a license rests exclusively with the licensee, and the failure of the licensee to receive the reminder notification from the Council shall not operate to excuse a licensee's failure to timely renew a license or any unlawful practice with a subsequent delinquent license.
The notices go to the clinician's address of record, not to the practice, so a Texas group practice has to hold each clinician's renewal date itself.
How many continuing education hours does a Texas clinician need to renew?
A Texas LPC needs 24 hours of continuing education each renewal period, an LMFT or a social worker needs 30 and a psychologist needs 40 hours of professional development. Each board's rule sets the number, and each requires 6 hours in ethics and a block of hours on a distinct population.
The rules define the distinct-population hours as training "designed to ensure competency when providing services to a distinct population, defined as a group of people who share a common attribute, trait, or defining characteristic of the licensee's choice." Older summaries call this a cultural diversity requirement. The current rules do not use that term. The special hours for supervisors count toward the total, and a licensee may carry forward at most 10 hours that the renewal did not need. Four rules set the record-keeping period: 22 TAC §681.140(i) for LPCs, §801.261(i) for LMFTs, §781.501(i) for social workers and §463.35(h) for psychologists. Each requires proof of compliance for a minimum of 3 years after the applicable renewal period.
The human trafficking course is separate from the board rules. Occupations Code §116.003 says a covered health care practitioner "shall successfully complete a training course described by Section 116.002 as a condition for renewal." The Council's renewal page says all licensees must complete a course from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission's approved list, and its FAQs say a course of any length counts for one hour of continuing education.
The Council audits renewals. 22 TAC §882.50(c)(1) reads:
(1) Random audits. Each month, 5% of the licensees will be selected by an automated process for an audit of the licensee's compliance with the agency's continuing education requirements. The agency will notify a licensee of the audit. Upon receipt of an audit notification, a licensee must submit continuing education documentation in the manner requested by the Council.
The Council's renewal page describes the selection differently: "Each month, 5% percent of each license type eligible for renewal is randomly selected to undergo a CE hours audit." The rule counts 5% of the licensees, and the page counts 5% of each license type eligible for renewal. The Council requires licensees to report continuing education through CE Broker, and its FAQs say it will not accept receipts in place of a certificate.
Do LPC Associates and LMFT Associates renew a license?
LPC Associates and LMFT Associates do not renew. Their licenses expire 60 months after issuance, and neither needs continuing education. 22 TAC §681.91(g) and §801.202(a) set the 60 months, and the Council's FAQs say licenses "that do not renew, such as LMFT and LPC associates" carry no continuing education requirement.
An Associate who does not finish the required hours within the 60 months must reapply, under §681.91(h) and §801.202(b). A Texas group practice therefore tracks two dates for each Associate: the expiration of the Associate license and the status of each supervisor. The supervision guide covers the hours and records.
Why does a Texas license's status matter more than its expiration date?
A Texas license has one expiration date but eight statuses, and seven of the eight bar practice or limit it, so a clinician can be barred while the date is still months away. 22 TAC §882.21 defines them, as amended November 9, 2025.
The rule defines the restricted status in subsection (d).
Restricted Status. Any license that is currently suspended, on probated suspension, or is currently required to fulfill some requirements in an agency order is a restricted license. A licensee may not engage in the practice of the licensee's respective profession under a suspended license. A licensee who is under a probated suspension or other restriction may only practice under the terms of that restriction.
A suspended license and a license on probated suspension can show an expiration date far in the future. A license with a pending complaint cannot be placed on inactive status, and a delinquent or inactive license with a pending complaint does not expire until the complaint is resolved. In each case the date answers when the next renewal is due. The status answers whether the clinician may see a client today.
The MFT rule uses the same logic for supervisors. 22 TAC §801.143(i) says "A supervisor whose license status is other than "active" is no longer an approved supervisor."
What happens to an LPC Associate's hours if the supervisor's license lapses?
A Texas LPC Associate's hours under a supervisor whose license has expired do not count, and the supervisor must refund the supervisory fees for the period after the expiration. 22 TAC §681.93(g) says so.
A supervisor whose license has expired is no longer an approved supervisor and: (1) must immediately inform all LPC Associates under his or her supervision and assist the LPC Associates in finding alternate supervisors; and (2) must refund all supervisory fees for supervision after the expiration of the supervisor status. (3) Hours accumulated under the person's supervision after the date of license expiration may not count as acceptable hours.
The refund in (g)(2) is not optional, because the rule says "must refund". The rule also does not say how "expired" relates to the delinquent status in §882.21. The Council's fee rule calls a license in the first year after its date "expired (i.e., delinquent)", while §882.21(g) reserves the status "expired" for the period after 12 months. We found no Council statement that settles the point, so a practice that wants no hours at risk treats the first day after the expiration date as the cutoff. A revoked, suspended or probated supervisor is covered by §681.93(h). The Council filed proposed amendments to §681.93, including subsection (h), on July 23, 2026, published it in the August 7, 2026 Texas Register and left (g) unchanged, as the Texas Register proposal shows. We found no adoption notice through October 16, 2026.
The other boards word the rule differently.
- MFT. Under 22 TAC §801.143(i) and (j), hours accumulated under a supervisor after the date the supervisor's license status changed from "active" "will not count as acceptable hours unless approved by the council". Subsection (j)(2) requires the supervisor to "refund all supervisory fees received after date of loss of supervisor status".
- Social work. 22 TAC §781.403(g) says if either the supervisor's or the supervisee's license "is revoked, suspended, placed on probated suspension, or becomes delinquent or expired during supervision", the hours accumulated during that time "will not be accepted unless approved by the Council." This rule reaches the supervisee's license too.
- Psychology. We did not find a comparable rule in the March 2026 psychology rulebook and make no claim about it.
What can happen when someone practices on a lapsed Texas license?
Practicing counseling in Texas without a license is a crime, and the Council can also fine the person and seek a civil penalty. Each profession's act sets its own offense.
- Counselors. Occupations Code §503.452 makes it a Class B misdemeanor to knowingly engage in the practice of professional counseling without a license, or to use any title that implies licensure.
- Marriage and family therapists. Occupations Code §502.454 makes knowingly acting as an MFT without a license a Class B misdemeanor.
- Social workers. Occupations Code §505.507 appears twice in the published code, once as a Class B misdemeanor and once as a Class A misdemeanor, and we did not resolve which governs.
- Psychologists. Occupations Code §501.503 makes unlicensed practice a Class A misdemeanor.
Under Occupations Code §507.352, an administrative penalty may reach $5,000 for each violation, and each day a violation continues is a separate violation. Under §507.402, a civil penalty may reach $1,000 for each day.
Licensed colleagues carry duties as well. A counselor "must not aid or abet the unlicensed practice of professional counseling" and "must report to the Council knowledge of any unlicensed practice of counseling", according to 22 TAC §681.41(h) and (i). 22 TAC §801.44(t) and §781.303(5) say the same for MFTs and social workers. A practice owner who is a licensee is bound by these. This guide did not read payer contracts or general employer liability law.
A narrow set of people may counsel without a license. Occupations Code §§503.051 to 503.060 list them. A student in a supervised course of study qualifies only if the person "is designated as a \"counselor intern.\"" Several of the other exemptions apply only if the person does not use a title that implies a counseling license.
How does a Texas group practice check a clinician's license, and how often?
A Texas group practice checks a license on the Council's online license verification, which opens the public search by name or license number. The Council says its results "are considered primary source verification." No rule we found sets how often an employer must check, so the schedule below is a practice, not a requirement.
The search shows the license status, the date of first licensure, the date the current license rank was issued, the expiration date, specialty designations such as supervisor status and any publicly available disciplinary history. It does not show everything. The Council's verification page says:
information concerning current complaint status, current investigation status, or previously dismissed complaints is not available through public search results or the Public Information Act.
A clean lookup shows an active license, not an absence of complaints.
For a larger roster, the same page offers downloadable lists of all current licensees by profession, which the Council says it updates every 24 hours. They include license status, expiration date and whether the licensee has had a disciplinary action. One file compared against the practice's roster replaces a lookup for each person.
A schedule that fits the rules:
- Before the offer is final and again before the first client visit.
- Monthly for every clinician and every supervisor, because an order can change a status on any day.
- At 90 days and 30 days before each expiration date, since renewal opens 60 days ahead.
- On the first day after each expiration date, to confirm the renewal posted.
Print or save the result each time with the date. The record shows the check was made.
What to do this week
- List every clinician with license type, license number, birth month and expiration date. For LPC Associates and LMFT Associates, list the 60-month expiration date instead.
- Look up each one on the Council's public search and record the status, the expiration date and the date you checked. Anything other than active goes to the owner the same day.
- Add each Associate's supervisors and look up each supervisor too. Record the supervisor designation shown in the result.
- Put three dates on the calendar for each license: 90 days before, 30 days before and the day after the expiration date.
- Ask each clinician renewing in the next six months for four things: continuing education hours reported, the ethics and distinct-population hours, the human trafficking course and, for an LPC or an MFT supervisor, the jurisprudence examination.
- Confirm the address of record is current for each clinician, since the Council mails the reminder there and not to the practice.
- Decide in writing who takes a clinician off the schedule if a status is anything other than active, and who tells the Associates under a supervisor whose license has lapsed.
- Set a date to check whether the Council has adopted the August 2026 proposal to §681.93, including subsection (h).
Where Practice Pillar fits
Practice Pillar, software for therapy group practices, states on its operations page that a license counts as current only when the board's status and the expiration date both say so. A spreadsheet with a status column, an expiration column and a date-checked column holds the same record.
Sources
- Texas Administrative Code, title 22, part 41 (Council chapters 881 to 885), Texas Secretary of State. Sections §§882.21, 882.22, 882.50, 883.1 and 885.1 read in the Council's consolidated rulebooks on October 19, 2026.
- Consolidated rulebook for professional counseling, March 2026, marriage and family therapy, social work and psychology, Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council. Source of the text of 22 TAC §§681.41, 681.91, 681.93, 681.140, 801.44, 801.143, 801.202, 801.261, 781.303, 781.403, 781.501 and 463.35. Checked October 19, 2026.
- Occupations Code chapters 116, 501, 502, 503, 505 and 507, Texas Legislature Online. Checked October 19, 2026.
- The statute text was read in the files OC.116, OC.501, OC.502, OC.503, OC.505 and OC.507 on tcss.legis.texas.gov, the server behind the statutes site. Checked October 19, 2026.
- Renewing a license, continuing education and renewals FAQs and online search and verify a license, Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council. Checked October 19, 2026.
- Texas Register, August 7, 2026, proposed rules, title 22 Examining Boards, Texas Secretary of State. Shows the proposed change to 22 TAC §681.93(h). The adopted and proposed rule pages for title 22 in every issue from March 20, 2026 through October 16, 2026 were searched for chapters 681, 781, 801, 463 and 881 to 885. Checked October 19, 2026.
Changes to this guide
- Published, signed by Practice Pillar Editorial Staff.
- First draft. Rules checked against the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council's March 2026 consolidated rulebooks, Occupations Code chapters 116, 501, 502, 503, 505 and 507, and the Council's renewal, continuing education and license verification pages, all read on October 19, 2026. Texas Register issues from March 20, 2026 through October 16, 2026 searched for adoption notices.
This guide explains the rules it cites. It is not legal advice.