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Cal. BPC § 581

This is the official text of Cal. BPC § 581, part of California’s Business and Professions Code — regulates business practices and professional/occupational licensing - contractors, doctors, cosmetologists, real estate agents, and dozens of other licensed professions.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

No person, company, or association shall purchase or procure by barter or by any unlawful means or method, or have in possession any diploma, certificate, transcript, or any other writing with intent that it shall be used as evidence of the holder’s qualifications to practice as a physician and surgeon, osteopathic physician, podiatrist, any other system or mode of treating the sick or afflicted, as provided in the Medical Practice Act, Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 2000), or to practice as any other licentiate under this division or in any fraud of the law regulating this practice or, shall with fraudulent intent, alter in a material regard, any such diploma, certificate, transcript, or any other writing.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.