How to Apply for the REHS: A Step-by-Step California Certification Guide

The complete path from bachelor's degree to registered credential: transcript evaluation, the CDPH application, trainee hours, the exam itself, and what changed under 2026's AB 1288.

Becoming a Registered Environmental Health Specialist isn't a single application you fill out once. It's a multi-stage state certification process administered by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) under the Environmental Health Specialist Registration Act (Health & Safety Code §§106600–106735). Most candidates don't realize how many separate steps happen before they're even eligible to sit for the exam.

This guide walks through the full pathway in order: meeting the education requirement, getting your transcripts evaluated, applying to CDPH, working as a trainee, sitting for the exam, and registering once you pass.

Step 1: Meet the minimum education requirement

Under Health & Safety Code §106635, registration requires at minimum a bachelor's degree from a CDPH-approved institution (one listed in the American Council on Education's directory of accredited postsecondary institutions), along with a prescribed set of science coursework.

A few details that trip candidates up:

• CDPH does not accept online laboratory sections for General Biology, General Microbiology, General Inorganic Chemistry, or General Organic Chemistry. A distance-learning General Physics lecture and lab is currently the one exception.
• Coursework must total a minimum of 30 semester units of approved science coursework, spread across the categories CDPH specifies.
• Environmental Health, Environmental Health Science, and related majors from CDPH-approved programs can satisfy the requirement directly; CPS HR Consulting (see Step 2) will confirm this during your evaluation.

Step 2: Get your transcripts evaluated

CPS HR Consulting handles transcript evaluations for the REHS program statewide on CDPH's behalf. You'll download the evaluation application from CPS HR's site, then mail an official copy of your transcripts along with the completed application and a non-refundable evaluation fee (currently around $245, though you should confirm the exact figure on CPS HR's website since fees are periodically updated) to:

CPS HR Consulting
Attn: EHS Transcript Evaluation
2450 Del Paso Rd. #160
Sacramento, CA 95834

The evaluation generally takes about four weeks. CPS HR reviews your coursework against the statutory requirements and forwards its findings to CDPH.

Step 3: Submit your EHS Registration Application to CDPH

You can submit your Environmental Health Specialist Registration Application to CDPH at the same time you request your transcript evaluation. The two run in parallel, not sequentially. Mail your completed application with the non-refundable $178 application fee to:

California Dept. of Public Health
EHS Registration Program
MS 7404, IMS K-2
P.O. Box 997377
Sacramento, CA 95899

Step 4: Get your certification letter and find out which "Option" applies to you

Once CPS HR completes its evaluation, CDPH issues a certification letter that does two things: it confirms you meet the baseline education requirement, and it places you into one of five education/experience/training options (Options I through V) defined under §106635. Your assigned option spells out exactly how many training hours and, in some cases, how much additional coursework or work experience you still need before you can request admission to the exam.

This letter is the actual roadmap for the rest of your certification. Two candidates with similar degrees can land in different options depending on their specific coursework, so don't assume your path matches a classmate's.

Step 5: Get hired as an EHS Trainee and complete your training plan

With your certification letter in hand, you're eligible to apply for EHS Trainee positions with city, county, or state environmental health agencies. This is typically how candidates accumulate the supervised training hours their option requires. Most agencies list open trainee positions on their own job boards or a shared county job portal; requirements and application steps vary by employer, so check the specific agency you're applying to. We've compiled the official jobs page for every California county in our county HR directory to make this step faster.

Once hired, you'll work under the supervision of a Registered Environmental Health Specialist and complete a formal training plan covering at least six program elements: typically three "primary" elements chosen from core services like food safety, housing and institutions, solid waste, water quality, and vector control, plus additional secondary elements. Each element carries a required number of field-instruction hours, tracked in a daily training log reviewed by your training coordinator.

Your training period is capped by statute, commonly a period of several years from your date of hire, though the exact limit and how prior related experience counts toward it can vary by your assigned option and training plan, so confirm the specifics with your training coordinator. Once you've completed all required elements and hours, your coordinator signs off and you can formally request admission to the exam.

Step 6: Take (and pass) the REHS exam

The exam itself carries a non-refundable $235 fee and has historically been offered a few times a year, typically in Sacramento and the Los Angeles area. Confirm current dates and locations on CDPH's REHS program page before you plan around a specific cycle, since scheduling can shift.

A few rules worth knowing going in:

• You can't sit for the exam more than once in any two-year period.
• If you fail twice, state law requires a waiting period before you can attempt it again.
• Results are reported pass/fail only; CDPH does not release percentage scores.

If you want a structured way to prepare once you're cleared to test, our Comprehensive Second Edition workbook covers all 17 exam modules with California-specific citations and practice questions.

Step 7: Register with CDPH and start using the title

Passing the exam alone doesn't make you a Registered Environmental Health Specialist. You still need to complete registration and pay the $327 initial registration fee. Only after CDPH issues your registration certificate can you legally use the title "Registered Environmental Health Specialist" or the abbreviation "R.E.H.S." Using the title before that point is a misdemeanor under §106735.

Step 8: Keep your registration active

Registration is biennial: you'll owe a $327 renewal fee every two years (plus a $163 late fee if you miss the deadline), along with your continuing education hours. We cover the full renewal and CE process in After You Pass: REHS Registration, Continuing Education, and Renewal.

The bottom line

The exam is only one step in a process that usually spans well over a year once you factor in transcript evaluation, CDPH review, and trainee hours. Start the transcript evaluation as soon as you're close to finishing your degree. It's the slowest-moving piece, and everything else depends on it. Treat your CDPH certification letter as the actual source of truth for your path, since it's specific to your coursework. And because a hiring gap for trainee positions is often the real bottleneck, start watching county and city environmental health job postings well before you think you'll need them.