California's AB 2490: the career substitute permit without three years of subbing, and the new 70-day limit

California's AB 2490 adds a second way to qualify for the Emergency Career Substitute Teaching Permit. Until now the permit has required three straight years of subbing, at least 90 days in each. The new law has the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) also accept at least 5 hours of professional development, an orientation training and an assigned teaching mentor program. A substitute who gets the permit that way can serve up to 70 cumulative days in a single classroom, special education included. The permit is valid for 12 months, and the first renewal takes 30 hours of professional development. The governor signed the bill on September 27, 2026. As of October 26, the CTC's own page for the permit still describes only the old route, and nothing we read says when districts can apply on the new one.

This is a California law. Other states set their own permits and day limits, and our post on how many days a substitute can stay in one classroom covers several of them.

We read every page cited here on October 26, 2026. The Legislature's own bill pages would not load for us, so the bill's terms below come from its digest as published on CalMatters' Digital Democracy site. This is not legal advice. The CTC decides who gets a permit, and your district's HR or credentials office is the one that applies for it.

What the career permit required until now

The CTC's leaflet for the permit, CL-505b, lets the holder work as a day-to-day substitute for "no more than 60 days for any one teacher during the school year," and for no more than 20 days for one teacher in a special education classroom. The permit is valid for one year and can be renewed.

To get it, the leaflet asks for:

• A bachelor's degree or higher, shown on official transcripts.
• Your employer's verification of three consecutive years of at least 90 days a year of day-to-day subbing, in the district asking for the permit or districts in a consortium with it, in the three years right before you apply.
• The superintendent's endorsement that you served well and that the district would allow up to 60 days for one teacher.
• Verification that the employer will make staff development available to you.
• An application submitted through your employer, with the processing fee.

Two things in that list matter for what follows. The experience has to come from the district asking for the permit or one it works with, so years in an unrelated district do not count. And you do not apply on your own. The Assembly Education Committee's analysis of the bill adds that the permit is limited to the schools run by the agency that requested it.

What AB 2490 adds

AB 2490 amends Education Code section 44300.5 and became Chapter 614, Statutes of 2026. Its digest says the CTC is to accept, in place of the experience verification, "at least 5 hours of professional development, an orientation training, and an assigned teaching mentor program."

For holders who qualify that way, the digest says:

• They may serve "up to 70 cumulative days in a single classroom, including for special education teachers."
• The permit is "valid for 12 months."
• The first renewal needs "verification of 30 hours of professional development."
• Local educational agencies, such as districts, must "follow specified procedures before assigning a substitute who holds a career substitute permit" and "annually report specified information to its governing board or governing body," with more information going to the CTC.

The digest does not list those procedures. The Arc of California, which opposed the bill, describes them as recruitment efforts a district must make before using this kind of substitute, and a notice to parents or guardians "within 10 school days of the placement." We could not check that wording against the enacted text.

Who the new route is for

Read beside the CL-505b requirements, the new route is for someone with a bachelor's degree who does not have three straight years of 90-day subbing in the district asking for the permit. That includes a sub in their first or second year, a sub whose years were in an unrelated district, and a sub who worked fewer than 90 days in one of the three years.

The digest describes the training as an alternative to the experience requirement only. It does not say the degree requirement changes. The permit is still something your employer requests, so the route helps only if your district uses it.

70 days, next to the older limits

• Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit: 30 days for any one teacher during the school year, 20 in special education (CTC leaflet CL-505p).
• Career permit on the experience route: 60 days for any one teacher during the school year, 20 in special education (CTC leaflet CL-505b).
• Career permit on the AB 2490 route: 70 cumulative days in a single classroom, special education included (the bill's digest).

The older limits count days per absent teacher. The new one counts days in a single classroom. The CTC has not published how it will count them. The digest ties the 70 days to permits issued on the new route, and it does not say the limit changes for holders who qualified on experience. If you hold the permit now, ask your district which limit applies to you before you take an assignment past day 60.

If a long assignment is offered, our post on long-term assignments has more on taking one on.

When it takes effect

The governor's office listed AB 2490 among the bills signed on September 27, 2026. In California, a law passed in a regular session goes into effect "on January 1 next following a 90-day period" from enactment, unless it is an urgency measure, which takes effect at once. Capitol Weekly explains the rule. Ninety days from September 27 is December 26, so under the usual rule the law takes effect January 1, 2027. The digest we read mentions no urgency clause and no later start date, but we could not open the enacted text to confirm that.

A law taking effect is not the same as a form your district can file. The CTC's CL-505b page, last updated October 1, 2026, still lists only the 90-day path, the 60-day limit and the 20-day special education limit. Its 30-day permit page, updated October 23, does not mention AB 2490 either. Until the CTC publishes how districts verify the new route, your district's credentials office is the one to ask.

A separate CTC proposal with different hours

You may also see a CTC proposal for its own alternative route to the same permit, through a change to its regulation, Title 5, section 80025.1. The CTC approved the proposal at its February 2026 meeting, and the written comment period closed May 4, 2026. The CTC's rulemaking page still lists it as proposed, with no adoption date.

The Assembly Education Committee's analysis describes that proposal as 15 hours of preservice preparation for the first permit and 30 more hours to renew, 45 hours in all. The CTC's notice says the proposal does not include special education classrooms. Those numbers are not AB 2490's. If one source says 15 hours and another says 5, this is why. How the two fit together is for the CTC to say.

What to ask your district

• Will the district request career permits on the AB 2490 route, and starting when?
• Who provides the 5 hours of professional development, the orientation and the mentor, and is that time paid?
• Which schools would the permit cover?
• How will days be counted toward 70, and what happens to the assignment at day 70?
• If you already hold the career permit on experience, does your limit stay at 60 days?
• What counts toward the 30 hours for the first renewal, and does the district offer them?

What we can't tell you

• The enacted wording. The Legislature's bill pages would not load for us. What we say about the new route comes from the bill's digest.
• When districts can apply. The usual rule points to January 1, 2027, but the CTC has not said when it will accept the new verification.
• How the CTC will count the 70 days against the older per-teacher limits.
• The parent notice and recruitment steps in detail. Our description of those comes from The Arc of California, not the law's text.
• Whether the CTC's separate proposal will be adopted, or changed because of AB 2490.
• Anything about your district: whether it will use the route, who runs the training, or what a 70-day assignment pays.

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