Alabama Licenses Issued in 2025 Expire Dec. 31. Renew by Dec. 15 or Pay $50.

Alabama behavior analyst and assistant behavior analyst licenses are on a fixed calendar, and it lands in seven weeks. The Department of Mental Health's licensing page says the renewal deadline is December 15, after which “a $50 late fee will apply.” All licenses expire December 31 of the year after the year they were issued. The page's own example: a license issued any time in 2025 expires December 31, 2026. That's 40 days to the renewal deadline and 56 to expiry.

The turn: the regulator changed in February, and it's now an agency

SB113 passed the House with amendments and the Senate concurred on February 19, 2026, and the enrolled act says it “shall become effective immediately.” The Alabama Behavior Analyst Licensing Board became the Alabama Behavior Analyst Advisory Council, and the Department of Mental Health took the regulatory authority. Licenses issued by the old board continue “under the jurisdiction of the department,” and the board's rules stay in effect until the department amends or repeals them.

What moved is enforcement. Under the enrolled text, complaints now go to the Mental Health Commissioner, who decides whether to institute a hearing, and the Commissioner may summarily suspend a licensee found to pose an imminent danger, with a hearing within 10 days.

Who is bound

• Licensed behavior analysts and licensed assistant behavior analysts (BCBAs and BCaBAs). The council page says RBTs don't need a license.
• Everyone who employs them. The statute prohibits the unlicensed practice of behavior analysis. There's no separate agency license here, so a lapse sits with the individual and the schedule they were on.

The limits

The page doesn't list renewal fees or continuing education requirements; check the online renewal form for both. The statute also lets the department allow late renewal for a fee and bars renewing a license more than two years after it expires. Read the exact terms on the form before you rely on a date past December 15.

What you must know or do

Owners and clinical directors: list every BCBA and BCaBA who practices in Alabama and the year each license was issued. Anyone issued in 2025 expires December 31. Check each name against the council's roster of active licenses.

Each licensee: renew through the council's online renewal link before December 15. Don't count on a December 31 grace; the $50 fee starts the day after the 15th.

Schedulers: don't assign a clinician to a January session until the roster shows the renewed license. If a name is missing, email balicense.dmh@mh.alabama.gov, the address on the council page, before the 31st.