California Business and Professions Code

§ 729

BPC § 729 Effective Jan 1, 2026Div. 2 · Ch. 1 · Art. 10.5

Statute text

(a)Any physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, research psychoanalyst, student research psychoanalyst, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor, or any person holding themselves out to be a physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, research psychoanalyst, student research psychoanalyst, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor, who engages in an act of sexual intercourse, sodomy, oral copulation, or sexual contact with a patient or client, or with a former patient or client when the relationship was terminated primarily for the purpose of engaging in those acts, unless the physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, research psychoanalyst, student research psychoanalyst, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor has referred the patient or client to an independent and objective physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, research psychoanalyst, student research psychoanalyst, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor recommended by a third-party physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, research psychoanalyst, student research psychoanalyst, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor for treatment, is guilty of sexual exploitation by a physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, research psychoanalyst, student research psychoanalyst, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor.

(b)Sexual exploitation by a physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, research psychoanalyst, student research psychoanalyst, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor is a public offense:

(1)An act in violation of subdivision (a) shall be punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period of not more than six months, or a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that imprisonment and fine.

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Legislative history

Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 787, Sec. 5. (SB 775) Effective January 1, 2026.