Montana LAC Continuing Education Requirements
Montana addiction counselors must complete 20 continuing education hours per year to renew their LAC license.
Next deadline: June 30, 2027The renewal cycle is annual, and CE is due by June 30 each year.
- State source
- Montana board rule
- Last verified
- October 2026
- Ruleset version
- 2026.2
Every figure on this page is read from this rule, and the page refreshes when the ruleset changes. How we verify
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Montana LAC requirements
Total
Limits on how the hours are earned
- New course or publication preparation
- max 10 hrs
- Carryover
- max 20 hrs
Up to 20 unused hours can carry into the next cycle.
Cycle and record rules
- Renewal
- The renewal cycle is annual, and CE is due by June 30 each year.
- Renewal fee
- The board renewal fee is $128 per year, and a late (delinquent) renewal adds a $128 fee.
- New licensees
- "Continuing education requirements will not apply until after the licensee's first renewal" (ARM 24.219.435(5)). Nothing is owed for the June 30 renewal that follows initial licensure; from the next renewal on, 20 hours are due each year, and two of those hours must cover suicide risk assessment and safety planning every odd year.
- Approved providers
- The board does not pre-approve providers or courses. "Licensees are responsible for selecting quality programs that focus on protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public and contribute to licensees' professional knowledge and competence"; acceptable activities "directly relate to the licensee's scope of practice", review existing concepts and techniques, convey information beyond the basic professional education, update knowledge on advances in the profession, or reinforce professional conduct or ethical obligations (ARM 24.219.435(6)). Hours must be completed within the July 1 - June 30 year, before renewal; keep the certificates for three years.
- Recordkeeping
- Keep CE documentation for 3 years after each course's completion date.
- Board audit
- The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance.
- Late renewal
- The board allows a 45-day grace period after expiration. A late renewal adds a $128 late fee.
To keep your proof in order, see what to keep for a CE audit, which covers every state’s retention period and what the audit notice asks for.
Check where you stand
Enter the hours you have completed this cycle to see what is left before June 30, 2027.
Your result appears here as you enter hours.
Open the full Addiction Counselor CE hours calculatorMontana LAC required trainings and mandates
Beyond the 20-hour CE total, Montana requires specific trainings. Some are due once around initial licensure, and others run on their own recurring schedule.
Recurring mandates outside the 1-year cycle
- Two hours on suicide risk assessment and safety planning every odd year, counted within the 20 annual hours (ARM 24.219.435(4)(a), as amended effective August 22, 2026).
Full board policy details
- Cadence and renewal date: 20 hours "annually, prior to renewal" (ARM 24.219.435(1)). The Licensed Addiction Counselor is the one Board of Behavioral Health license that renews on June 30 rather than December 31 (ARM 24.101.413: "Licensed Addiction Counselor", "Annually", "June 30"); the board's renewal form repeats "Your Montana Licensed Addiction Counselor license will expire on June 30." Renew online by 11:59 p.m. Mountain time on June 30 or by mail postmarked on or before that date (ARM 24.101.413(2)).
- Dual licensure: "Licensees holding more than one type of license must demonstrate completion of 20 hours of CE with each license" (ARM 24.219.435(3)). An LAC who also holds an LCPC, LCSW or LMFT from this board owes 20 hours for each license, each on its own renewal year (LAC June 30, the others December 31); the rule does not reduce or combine the totals and does not say whether one course may be reported under both licenses, so this file models the LAC's 20 only and the counselor or social work rule models the other license's 20.
- Provider model: no approved-provider list, no NAADAC/NCC AP or IC&RC gate, and no separate rule for substance-use content; any activity meeting the ARM 24.219.435(6) content criteria qualifies. The board's examination rule (ARM 24.219.403(1)(f)) accepts NCC AP, Northwest, Southwest and IC&RC ADC/AADC exams for initial licensure, but the renewal does not depend on maintaining any of those certifications.
- Teaching and authorship: the ten-hour ceiling in ARM 24.219.435(4)(b) covers first-time preparation of a new course, in-service training workshop or seminar and first-time author preparation of a published or presented paper, together. Repeat presentations and republished work earn nothing; the rule does not restrict attending the same course twice.
- Delivery format: ARM 24.219.435 sets no live, in-person, online or self-study minimum or maximum. All 20 hours may be earned in any format that meets the content criteria of subsection (6).
- Suicide risk assessment and safety planning: "a minimum of two hours must relate to suicide risk assessment and safety planning every odd year" (ARM 24.219.435(4)(a), amended effective August 22, 2026 by MAR Notice 2026-512.2). The hours sit inside the 20, recur on a two-year clock, and are not due at the first renewal.
- Disciplinary and hardship: "Any CE hours required by disciplinary order do not apply toward the 20 hours that are required annually" (ARM 24.219.435(9)); "A licensee may request an exemption from CE requirements due to hardship. Requests will be considered by the department" (24.219.435(10)).
- Inactive status and reactivation: "Inactive licensees or certificate holder may not practice" (ARM 24.219.430(2)). To convert back to active, a licensee "may not have been out of active practice for more than five years" and "must have completed ten hours of continuing education (CE) per each year of inactive status. The CE must have been completed within the twenty-four months prior to converting to active status" (24.219.430(4)). The make-up scales with the number of inactive years and is checked against a 24-month window, which the engine cannot derive, so it is documented here and under compliance admin rather than encoded as a stacked total.
- Addiction Counselor Licensure Candidate (ACLC): a person who has completed the LAC education but not the supervised work experience "may apply for licensure as a candidate" (MCA 37-39-307(1)), must "submit a training and supervision plan" (37-39-307(2)), and "cannot practice without a supervisor" (ARM 24.219.422(9)); LAC candidates "register annually" and may do so three times unless the board approves more (ARM 24.219.431(2)). The candidate is a supervised tier, not an independent credential, and is not scoped by this rule.
Montana LAC CE: frequently asked questions
How many CE hours do Montana LAC licensees need?
Montana requires 20 continuing education hours per year to renew a LAC license. The renewal cycle is annual, and CE is due by June 30 each year.
How often do Montana LAC licensees renew?
The renewal cycle is annual, and CE is due by June 30 each year.
How much does Montana LAC license renewal cost?
The board's renewal fee is $128 per year, per the Montana board fee schedule. Renewing late adds a $128 delinquency fee on top. CE course costs are separate and set by course providers.
Is the first renewal different for new Montana LAC licensees?
"Continuing education requirements will not apply until after the licensee's first renewal" (ARM 24.219.435(5)). Nothing is owed for the June 30 renewal that follows initial licensure; from the next renewal on, 20 hours are due each year, and two of those hours must cover suicide risk assessment and safety planning every odd year.
Sources and verification
- State source
- Montana board rule
- Fee schedule
- Montana board fee schedule
- Last verified
- October 2026
- Ruleset version
- 2026.2
We reviewed this page against the Montana board source, and we refresh it from the compiled ruleset above. Methodology and disclaimer. Compliance data is for guidance only, not legal or board advice. Always confirm requirements with your licensing board before renewing. See something wrong? Report it
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Addiction Counselor CE requirements in other states
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- District of Columbia
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- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
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- Mississippi
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