The clinical laboratory workforce comprises a critical sector of the healthcare workforce, and as with other types of healthcare workers such as registered nurses and pharmacists, there have been documented shortages of these workers for several years. This issue brief examines this workforce in California and addresses its critical issues and policy concerns, namely a severe shortage of clinical laboratory science workers at present and too few educational programs to meet the demand for these workers in the near future or beyond. There are some promising efforts to address the shortage but we must continue to develop both educational opportunities and recruitment efforts in clinical laboratory science in California.