LBExamYes, the Law and Business exam can be waived. Five statute sections waive a California contractor examination. They do not all waive the same one, and only three of them can reach this paper. Bus. & Prof. Code s. 7065(d) needs nobody’s permission: “No examination shall be required of a qualifying individual if, within the five-year period immediately preceding the application for licensure, the qualifying individual has either personally passed the written examination for the same classification being applied for, or has served as the qualifying individual for a licensee whose license was in good standing at any time during the five-year period immediately preceding the application for licensure and in the same classification being applied for.” The statute grants that exemption outright. Sections 7065.1 and 7065.2 are waivers the registrar may grant, and the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) says the registrar has suspended the first branch of s. 7065.1. Reciprocity reaches the trade exam only.
At page 57 of its 2023 Sunset Report the board tells the legislature that its trade examination may be waived for an applicant whose license is in good standing in a reciprocity state, “but waivers are not provided for the California law and business examination as it is required for all applicants”. Read in place that is about reciprocity, which is the subject of the sentence it sits in and which s. 7065.4 does limit to the trade paper. It leaves ss. 7065(d), 7065.1 and 7065.2 where they are: specific provisions of the licensing statute, which the board applies on its application page. Page 100 of the same report reproduces background written by the staff of the two legislative committees it answers to, which says an applicant “must take and pass both a trade examination and a California Law and Business examination unless they have qualified for a waiver of the examination”. That sentence names both papers before it allows for a waiver of the examination.
The five sections, and what each one does
| Section | What it reaches | Discretionary? |
|---|---|---|
| s. 7065(d) | No examination required at all | No. The statute says no examination shall be required |
| s. 7065.1 | The examination for a contractor’s license | Yes. The registrar may waive |
| s. 7065.2 | The examination for a contractor’s license | Yes. The registrar may waive |
| s. 7065.3 | An additional classification, without further examination | Yes, on a conclusive showing to the registrar |
| s. 7065.4 | The trade examination only | Yes. The registrar may waive |
Section 7065.01 sits alongside them and is not a waiver at all. Section 7065.01 says no trade examination is required for the limited specialty classification, C-61. The Law and Business paper still applies.
s. 7065(d): the one that is not discretionary
Two routes, both measured over the five years immediately before the application: passing the written examination for the classification yourself, or serving as the qualifying individual for a licensee in good standing in it.
CSLB’s application page for an original license reaches the same result and cites s. 7065 for it. Under a heading asking whether the applicant has to take the examination, it says no examination will be required of somebody who meets one of those conditions.
Get Licensed to Build waives less than the statute does. Where s. 7065(d) says “No examination shall be required”, the guide sets out substantially the same conditions at page 28 and answers about the trade exam alone. The application page is on the statute’s side of that, saying no examination will be required. Where a guide and a statute say different things, the statute is the rule.
s. 7065.1: three doors, and one of them is shut
The registrar may waive the examination for a contractor’s license in three situations:
- (a) The qualifying individual has, for five of the seven years immediately preceding the application, been listed on board records as personnel of a licensee active and in good standing in the same classification, and has been actively engaged in that licensee’s construction activities in it.
- (b) The qualifying individual is an immediate family member of a licensee whose individual license was active and in good standing for five of the seven years, has been actively engaged in the business for five of those seven years, needs the license to continue the existing family business because of the licensee’s absence or death, and applies for a new license in the same classifications.
- (c) The qualifying individual is an employee of a corporation or limited liability company replacing its former qualifying individual: five of seven years continuously employed there in a supervisory capacity in the same classifications, the company itself licensed and in good standing in them for five of seven years, and no waiver requested under this subdivision in the past five years.
CSLB’s application page then narrows it. Waivers under s. 7065.1 may currently be granted under subsections (b) and (c). Of subsection (a) the same page says that it “also provides for waiver of the exam” but that “the Registrar exercised his authority to suspend waivers under this section”. So the five-of-seven-years-on-the-personnel-record route is on the books and not being granted, and a registrar’s decision could restore it without the statute changing a word. That was the position on September 4, 2026.
s. 7065.2: the federal work route
Short, and it applies to one situation. The registrar may waive the examination for a contractor’s license if the applicant previously held a valid California contractor’s license and has been acting as a contractor for the United States government in a position exempt from licensure under the chapter.
s. 7065.3: for a license already held
On a conclusive showing of experience satisfactory to the registrar, an additional classification may be added without further examination, on all of these conditions:
- (a) For five of the seven years before the application, the qualifying individual has been listed as personnel of a licensee whose license was active and in good standing, and was actively engaged in that licensee’s construction activities.
- (b) The qualifying individual has, within the last ten years, not less than four years of experience as a journeyman, foreman, supervising employee or contractor in the classification being added.
- (c) The new classification is closely related to what the licensee already holds, or the qualifying individual is with a licensed general engineering or general building contractor and the new classification is a significant component of that contractor’s construction business. The registrar determines which of those two applies.
The section carries an audit of its own, separate from the one on original applications: the registrar investigates no less than 3 percent of the applications filed under s. 7065.3.
16 CCR s. 833(d) lets the registrar waive the trade examination under s. 7065.3 for the C-22 asbestos abatement classification, for a licensed contractor holding the asbestos certification who shows not less than four years of journey-level experience in C-22 within the last ten. The licensee has to have obtained that certification by passing the written asbestos certification examination, and to have held it in active good standing throughout those four years. The board’s own waiver there is of the trade paper, and only for somebody who already holds a license. Subdivision (c) of the statute also keeps s. 7065.3 away from a licensee licensed solely in the limited specialty classifications. Because the section adds to a license already issued, it is not a route past a first sitting of this paper.
What reciprocity does not do
California has reciprocity arrangements with other states, and a license in one of them does less here than a reader might expect. Section 7065.4 lets the registrar accept the qualifications of an applicant licensed in a similar classification in another state, where that state does the same for California licensees. It then lets the registrar waive the trade examination for that applicant, on written certification from the other state that the license has been in good standing for the previous five years. The Law and Business paper is not in that sentence. It is waived only under ss. 7065(d), 7065.1 and 7065.2, so an applicant coming in through reciprocity sits it unless one of those three applies.
What a waiver still leaves you to do
The experience. A waiver is about the examination. 16 CCR s. 825 still wants four years in the classification within the last ten. Get Licensed to Build tells applicants at page 28 to complete the work experience section even if they think they are eligible for a waiver, and to have someone other than the applicant verify every claim. One board rule, 16 CCR s. 816(c), lets the registrar excuse that filing for two of the five sections, and it is the registrar’s to exercise. Four years of experience, and who can certify it sets out how that rule works and what the four years take.
Meeting every one of the conditions. CSLB is plain that a waiver provision applies only where an applicant satisfies every condition the section sets. Whether an applicant meets the criteria for a waiver is a final determination the board makes during the application review, so the answer that counts comes out of that review.
Sources
- Contractors State License Law, Business and Professions Code, Division 3, Chapter 9, ss. 7065, 7065.01, 7065.1, 7065.2, 7065.3 and 7065.4
- CSLB board rules, California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Division 8, ss. 816, 825 and 833, as reprinted in the CSLB Law Book 2026
- CSLB’s Application For Original Contractors License page, committed in the corpus as a document of
cslb-applicant-pages - Get Licensed to Build, CSLB, page 28 counted as the pages of the file, which the document prints as 22
- CSLB 2023 Sunset Report, the examinations passage at page 57 and the examination background at page 100, as the report prints those numbers in its own running foot. Committed in the corpus as
cslb-sunset-review-report-2023