New Jersey LCADC & CADC Continuing Education Requirements
New Jersey addiction counselors must complete 40 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew their LCADC / CADC license, including 3 hours of jurisprudence / state law and 3 hours of cultural competency.
40hours every 2 years
Topic minimums, counted within the 40
3jurisprudence / state law
3cultural competency
Next deadline: July 31, 2028The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by July 31 of even years.
Where this comes from
- State source
- New Jersey board rule
- Last verified
- October 2026
- Ruleset version
- 2026.3
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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Requirements
New Jersey LCADC & CADC requirements
Total
40 hoursYou need 40 hours every 2 years. The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by July 31 of even years.
Topic minimums, counted within the 40
The remaining 34 hours are not tied to a topic minimum.
- Jurisprudence / State Law
- 3
- You need 3 hours each cycle.
- Cultural Competency
- 3
- You need 3 hours each cycle.
Limits on how the hours are earned
- Jurisprudence / state law via live
- min 3 hrs
- Home study / self-study
- max 20 hrs
- First time presentation
- max 9 hrs
- Publication
- max 10 hrs
Up to 20 hours may be completed through home study / self-study.
At least 3 hours of jurisprudence / state law must be earned live.
Cycle and record rules
- Renewal
- The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by July 31 of even years.
- Renewal fee
Renewal fees by license status Status / fee Amount and conditions LCADC license renewal, biennial $250. License renewal fee, biennial: $250.00. CADC certification renewal, biennial $180. Certification renewal fee, biennial: $180.00. Late renewal fee $50. Added to the renewal fee within the 30-day late window; not the renewal total. Reinstatement fee $125. Paid with the current and past-due renewal fees on reinstatement after suspension for non-renewal (13:34C-1.7). Biennial amounts from the Committee fee schedule, N.J.A.C. 13:34C-1.11. The headline renewal figure is the LCADC license fee; the CADC certification fee is lower.
We verified these fees on 2026-10-05. Board fee schedule.
- New licensees
- First renewal after a license or certificate issued in the first year of the biennium (August 1 of an even year through July 31 of the odd year): 20 contact hours, including the six-hour Committee-approved legal-standards course (live or live synchronous webinar) and three hours of social and cultural competence.
- Approved providers
- Courses are automatically approved when offered or approved by a regionally accredited college or university, the APCBNJ or any other IC&RC member board, NAADAC, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, NBCC, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, NASW, AAMFT, the National Council on Compulsive Gambling or the American Compulsive Gambling Counselor Certification Board, and fall within the Committee's content areas (N.J.A.C. 13:34C-5.4(b), (d)). Any other course must be submitted to the Committee for approval before the renewal date (5.4(c)). The legal-standards course must be Committee-approved and taken live. The Committee "may disallow any continuing education contact hours claimed ... that are not relevant to the practice of alcohol and drug counseling in the State of New Jersey" (5.4(a)).
- Recordkeeping
- Keep CE documentation for 6 years after each renewal.
- Board audit
- The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance.
- Late renewal
- The board allows a 30-day grace period after expiration. A late renewal adds a $50 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.
Your hours
Check where you stand
Enter the hours you have completed this cycle to see what is left before July 31, 2028.
Your result appears here as you enter hours.
Open the full Addiction Counselor CE hours calculatorFull board policy details
- Biennial cycle: licenses and certificates are renewed "for a period of two years from the last expiration date" (N.J.A.C. 13:34C-1.5(b)) and the statute requires that "Licenses and certifications shall be renewed biennially" (N.J.S.A. 45:2D-7). The Committee's FAQ states that all certificates and licenses expire July 31 of the even-numbered year regardless of the date of initial certification or licensure, and the codified rule dates its biennial periods from August 1 of even years ("Beginning August 1, 2018, for each biennial period after the initial biennial period", 13:34C-5.2(d)). The cycle is therefore the statewide August 1 even-year to July 31 even-year biennium, not the licensee's own issue date.
- Legal standards: six Committee-approved hours in the initial biennial period, three in every later period, all "in-person instruction, which includes webinars that are live (not previously recorded) and synchronous" (N.J.A.C. 13:34C-5.2(d)). The hours count toward the 40/60 total (5.2(d)1) but may not double as the three social-and-cultural-competence hours (5.2(f)). Before the August 1, 2018 biennium the recurring requirement was also six hours; the Committee cut it to three by amendment effective April 16, 2018 (50 N.J.R. 1163(a)).
- Distance learning: a licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor may count at most 20 distance-learning contact hours per biennial period and a certified alcohol and drug counselor at most 30 (N.J.A.C. 13:34C-5.3(b)4); the hours are credited as approved by the approving organization. The remaining 20 (LCADC) or 30 (CADC) must be earned in person or in live synchronous webinars.
- Alternative activities (N.J.A.C. 13:34C-5.3(b)): presenting a new course or program earns 1.5 contact hours per hour presented up to nine per period; teaching a new semester course at an accredited institution earns 20 contact hours per course per period; completing coursework earns 15 contact hours per semester credit; authoring a peer-reviewed article earns five contact hours per article up to ten per period. Documentation for each activity type is listed in 13:34C-5.5(c): program materials for presentations, the course description for teaching, an official transcript for coursework, the approving organization's certificate for distance learning, and a copy of the published article.
- Dual licensure: N.J.A.C. 13:34C says nothing about hours earned for a professional counselor, social work, psychology or marriage and family therapy renewal, and it neither reduces nor combines the 40/60 hours for a dual licensee. Each credential is renewed on its own cycle (the LPC biennium ends November 30 of even years, the LMFT June 30 of even years, the LCADC/CADC July 31 of even years) with its own attestation. The same course can serve both renewals only to the extent each board's own approval and subject rules admit it: the Committee automatically approves NBCC, ACA, APA, NASW and AAMFT programs (13:34C-5.4(b)) and the Professional Counselor Examiners Committee lists NAADAC and IC&RC member boards (N.J.A.C. 13:34-15.4), so an addiction course approved by either side is usually acceptable to both. The subject floors are not interchangeable: the Committee's legal-standards course must be a Committee-approved course on the alcohol and drug counseling statutes, not the counselor board's ethics hours. A state-licensed health care provider may obtain the LCADC without examination on a showing of equivalent education, training and experience (13:34C-2.4); that route changes nothing about the CE owed afterwards.
- Inactive status and reactivation: a licensee may renew as inactive and "shall not engage in the practice of alcohol and drug counseling" until returned to active status (N.J.A.C. 13:34C-1.5(c)). Reactivation requires "Evidence of having completed all continuing education credits that were required to be completed during the biennial period immediately prior to the renewal period"; a holder of "a valid, current license or certification, as applicable, in good standing issued by another state" who met that state's CE "shall be deemed to have satisfied the requirements"; and "To the extent that specific courses are required ... the Committee will allow applicants to take the courses within 12 months following reactivation" (13:34C-1.6). That is the standard current-period requirement, so no separate reactivation block is modeled. Reinstatement after suspension for non-renewal carries the same CE showing plus the past-due and reinstatement fees (13:34C-1.7).
- Scope of the two credentials: "A certified alcohol and drug counselor shall practice under the supervision of a licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor or other clinical supervisor as deemed appropriate by the Committee" and "is prohibited from making diagnoses"; the licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor's scope includes "Diagnosis of substance-related disorders" and clinical supervision (N.J.A.C. 13:34C-3.1). "No person shall engage in the independent practice of alcohol and drug counseling for a fee unless the person is licensed as a licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor or the person is a certified alcohol and drug counselor practicing under the supervision of a licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor" (N.J.S.A. 45:2D-8). The CADC is a supervised credential that still owes its own CE; the LCADC is the independent-practice credential.
New Jersey LCADC & CADC CE: frequently asked questions
How many CE hours do New Jersey LCADC / CADC licensees need?
New Jersey requires 40 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew a LCADC / CADC license. The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by July 31 of even years.
How often do New Jersey LCADC / CADC licensees renew?
The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by July 31 of even years.
How much does New Jersey LCADC / CADC license renewal cost?
| Status / fee | Amount and conditions |
|---|---|
| LCADC license renewal, biennial | $250. License renewal fee, biennial: $250.00. |
| CADC certification renewal, biennial | $180. Certification renewal fee, biennial: $180.00. |
| Late renewal fee | $50. Added to the renewal fee within the 30-day late window; not the renewal total. |
| Reinstatement fee | $125. Paid with the current and past-due renewal fees on reinstatement after suspension for non-renewal (13:34C-1.7). |
Biennial amounts from the Committee fee schedule, N.J.A.C. 13:34C-1.11. The headline renewal figure is the LCADC license fee; the CADC certification fee is lower.
We verified these fees on 2026-10-05. Board fee schedule.
Are there subject-specific CE requirements for New Jersey LCADC / CADC licensees?
Yes. In addition to ethics, New Jersey requires 3 hours of jurisprudence / state law, 3 hours of cultural competency.
Can New Jersey LCADC / CADC licensees complete CE online or by home study?
Up to 20 hours may be completed through home study / self-study. At least 3 hours of jurisprudence / state law must be earned live.
Is the first renewal different for new New Jersey LCADC / CADC licensees?
First renewal after a license or certificate issued in the first year of the biennium (August 1 of an even year through July 31 of the odd year): 20 contact hours, including the six-hour Committee-approved legal-standards course (live or live synchronous webinar) and three hours of social and cultural competence.
Sources and verification
- State source
- New Jersey board rule
- Fee schedule
- New Jersey board fee schedule
- Last verified
- October 2026
- Ruleset version
- 2026.3
We reviewed this page against the New Jersey 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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New Jersey guides & data
What to keep for a CE audit →Learn what boards ask for in a CE audit, how long each state says to keep certificates, and what the notice looks like, then use the printable checklist.New Jersey mental health workforce data →38,996 active providers, or 408.4 per 100,000 residents, ranked 28 of 51. The page includes a county density map and free CSV downloads.
Other New Jersey CE requirement pages
Addiction Counselor CE requirements in other states
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