Who must be licensed to practice ABA in Mississippi, and how do you get credentialed?

Is ABA licensed in Mississippi, and under which board

Yes. Mississippi licenses behavior analysts and assistant behavior analysts under Miss. Code Ann. § 73-75-1 et seq., created by the Legislature in 2015. The licensing authority is the Mississippi Autism Board, a five-member board appointed by the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, whose "principal offices are located in the Office of the Mississippi Secretary of State" rather than in a standalone licensing agency (Rule 1.2 and Rule 2.1, 30 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 3301, Ch. 1-2; Miss. Code Ann. § 73-75-7, § 73-75-9). The board meets at least twice a year, with a quorum of three members, and is responsible for examination, licensing, renewal, and discipline (Rule 2.2, 2.3). No sunset, renaming, or consolidation bill affecting the board was found in the current or immediately prior legislative session; the board's statutory name has not changed since its 2015 creation.

The credential tiers: analyst, assistant, and technician

Mississippi licenses two tiers and registers, but does not license, a third.

A person licensed under either analyst tier is issued a "Certificate of Licensure" that must be prominently displayed at the licensee's place of employment (Rule 4.1).

The BACB foundation

Mississippi's rules name the BACB specifically and consistently, rather than leaving room for a generic "accredited alternative" the way several other states in this guide do: an applicant for the analyst tier "must have passed the Board Certified Behavior Analyst® Examination and provide evidence of certification as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) or Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral (BCBA-D) by the BACB," and the assistant tier requires the equivalent Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst credential (Rule 3.2(b), 3.3(b)). This guide found no provision recognizing an alternate certifying entity such as QABA for Mississippi licensure. Mississippi does not restate the BACB's own degree, coursework, or fieldwork requirements; it requires current BACB certification, which is where those requirements live.

What it takes to get licensed, including the oral exam

Beyond BACB certification, Mississippi requires its own, board-administered test: "applicants for licensure as a behavior analyst must complete an oral examination administered by the Board" (Rule 3.2(c)), described elsewhere in the board's rules as an "oral jurisprudence examination" the board must schedule "no less than quarterly," with dates "published by the Board no later than six (6) months in advance" to align with BACB exam windows (Rule 2.3(g)). Applicants must submit all supporting materials, including fingerprint cards, "no later than seven (7) days before the published examination date" (Rule 3.2(c)(2)). This is a real state-specific examination, not merely a label; most states in this guide impose no separate state exam at all.

Title protection, scope, and exemptions

Mississippi's exemption is narrow and conditional rather than a list of categories: the rules do not restrict "a qualified assistant or paraprofessional in performing duties related to applied behavior analysis as assigned by a professional exempt by statute from the rules and regulations herein," but add that "no supervised assistant or paraprofessional shall perform duties under such supervision that the exempt professional is not otherwise qualified to perform" (Rule 8.1). In other words, the exemption rides on the scope of an already-exempt professional; it is not a freestanding carve-out for ABA-specific work.

Supervision rules

A licensed assistant behavior analyst practices "under ongoing supervision by a licensed behavior analyst" and must submit supervision records to the board as part of licensure (Rule 3.3(c)). For behavior technicians, the supervising analyst "must comply with the supervision policy of the BACB," and the board "may audit supervision record(s) of a licensee at its discretion" (Rule 9.3(e)); Mississippi sets no separate numeric supervision schedule of its own for technicians, deferring instead to the BACB's standard. "The behavior technician in the state of Mississippi is not a separately licensed professional and works solely under the license of the behavior analyst" (Rule 9.1, 9.5).

Renewal, fees, and continuing education

By statute, "the licensure period shall not exceed three (3) years" (Rule 5.1(b); Miss. Code Ann. § 73-75-21). Renewal requires the renewal form, proof of continuing education, and the renewal fee, filed before expiration; a late filing draws a $50 penalty, and a lapsed license may be reinstated within two years but not after (Rule 5.2, 5.3). On continuing education, this guide cannot state a current hour count with confidence. The Secretary of State's filed administrative code (a 2019-dated document) shows "twelve (12) hours of continuing education each year, including one (1) hour of ethical or legal continuing education," due by June 30. The Mississippi Autism Board's own document, titled "FINAL Part 3301 Revisions 7.2025," shows a different figure, "thirty-six (36) hours of continuing education per three (3) year renewal cycle, including three (3) hours of ethical or legal continuing education," but the board's own meeting minutes show that document had not completed the state's rulemaking process as of this guide's research: the board voted to approve the edits internally in July 2025, and its November 14, 2025 minutes state the board "has not heard from OLRC regarding rule change submission," with no later minutes confirming approval. Because this guide cannot confirm the revision took effect, it does not state a current CE hour count on this page; confirm the current continuing-education requirement directly with the board. Fees are confirmed from the Secretary of State's filed text and are not affected by this uncertainty: $250 for a behavior analyst application or renewal, $100 for an assistant behavior analyst application or renewal, a $50 late renewal penalty, $75 for a temporary license, $25 for a duplicate certificate, and $25 to register a behavior technician (Rule 10.2). The criminal background investigation fee is listed as "TBD" in the Secretary of State's filed text and as $35 in the board's unconfirmed revision; confirm the current background-check fee directly with the board.

Getting credentialed with payors

Licensure lets you practice; credentialing lets you bill, and they are separate. After licensure, a provider enrolls with Mississippi Medicaid and credentials with commercial plans, most of which draw provider data from CAQH. Credentialing verifies the license and history and is followed by periodic revalidation. The billing entity and its ownership are disclosed during enrollment, which is where licensing meets the entity and ownership questions covered elsewhere in this guide. What each payor covers and pays for ABA is a separate topic on the Medicaid and insurance page. A sale or expansion in Mississippi turns on more than licensing: the Mississippi sale and expansion guide covers the records and the covenant.

Mississippi-specific wrinkles

Three Mississippi features stand out. First, the board itself is unusual: it has no separate headquarters or staff of its own, operating out of the Secretary of State's office, which also means Mississippi's administrative code lists this chapter twice, once under the Secretary of State's own numbering and once under the board's "Title 30" numbering; this guide cross-checked both and found a discrepancy on the continuing-education cycle and the background-check fee that it could not resolve, since the board's own proposed revision had not cleared the state's rule-review process as of the most recent board minutes reviewed; confirm the current CE requirement and background-check fee with the board. Second, the oral jurisprudence examination is a genuine state-specific testing requirement administered at least quarterly by the board, not merely a form to sign; most states in this guide rely on the national exam alone. Third, licensure by reciprocity exists but is not a free pass: an applicant "shall submit to the Board, verified by oath, written evidence in form and content satisfactory to the Board that the applicant has met all requirements set forth in Rule 3.1 and 3.2 or 3.3," meaning the same BACB-certification and (for the analyst tier) oral-exam requirements apply regardless of an out-of-state license (Rule 3.4).

How licensing connects to the rest of your compliance stack

Licensing is the credential the rest of the structure is built around:

• Entity and ownership. See the Mississippi entity page and the Mississippi ownership page for how this license interacts with entity choice.
• Medicaid and insurance. Licensure and credentialing are prerequisites to coverage; what is covered and paid is separate. See Medicaid and insurance mandates.
• Facility and records. Supervision documentation carries into facility and HIPAA compliance. See facility licensure and HIPAA.

Becoming licensed and credentialed in Mississippi: the sequence

1. Obtain BACB certification. BCBA or BCBA-D for the analyst tier, BCaBA for the assistant tier.
2. Apply to the Mississippi Autism Board. Submit the application, fee, transcripts, BCBA verification, and fingerprint cards.
3. Pass the board's oral jurisprudence examination. Scheduled at least quarterly; sit for it, or hold a temporary license while awaiting the next sitting.
4. Credential with payors. Enroll with Mississippi Medicaid and credential with commercial plans, typically via CAQH, then plan for revalidation.
5. Renew before the license expires. No later than every three years; confirm the current continuing-education cycle and hour count directly with the board.

Mississippi licensing variables at a glance

Frequently asked questions