I would contact the California  Boards of Registered Nursing. They have a website http://www.rn.ca.gov/.

You should be able to do this.  When you apply to take the NCLEX, apply for licensure in California as opposed to Washington.  You will have to follow all of California's requirements, you can get them from the Board of Registered Nursing (cuttie has the link in her post), along with the application.  Your school will probably provide your peers with the paperwork for Washington state, since most of them probably live within the state.

All graduates of registered nursing programs take the same licensure exam, the NCLEX RN.  It is administered by a private company on behalf of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, who writes the exam.  Therefore, if you live in Southern California, you can apply to take the NCLEX at a testing center in that part of California as opposed to going all the way up to Washington.  I did something like this:  I applied for licensure in Maryland, but took Boards in Dover, DE as the testing site there was an hour closer to where I lived than the one in Baltimore.

The paperwork process for applying for licensure will be slightly different, and your instructors may not have much experience dealing with the California BRN to answer your questions.  Dealing with the California BRN can be a bit frustrating at times (it covers a very big state), so contact them early and make sure you follow their requirements to the letter.

I didn't have any trouble getting my license by endorsement, but this was back in 2000.

However, I needed to get my temp license asap so I could start working, so I didn't bother with doing things by mail.  I got all the paperwork together in hand, and went to the BRN office in Sacramento.  They checked that I had everything, gave me a 90 day temp license, and I was on my way in a couple of hours.  The only reason it took as long as it did was because there were a bunch of other temp nurses doing the same thing, getting ready to work a strike in SF (I was starting a 16 week assignment in Watsonville).

However, I have heard the BRN has stopped doing this--a real shame if true.

theala says ...

I didn't have any trouble getting my license by endorsement, but this was back in 2000.

However, I needed to get my temp license asap so I could start working, so I didn't bother with doing things by mail.  I got all the paperwork together in hand, and went to the BRN office in Sacramento.  They checked that I had everything, gave me a 90 day temp license, and I was on my way in a couple of hours.  The only reason it took as long as it did was because there were a bunch of other temp nurses doing the same thing, getting ready to work a strike in SF (I was starting a 16 week assignment in Watsonville).

However, I have heard the BRN has stopped doing this--a real shame if true.

Yes it is true, you have to go through alot of fingerprinting now, even now  I have to be fingerprinted to still get my monies, from the In-Home Supportive Services Program, and plus get a background check, it all has to be done by  July1, 2010 .I work for my mother and brother for peace sake. I am a License Nurse, I already been fingerprinted. Thanks alot uncle Arnie!!.  You really are the Terminator!!!