I would check on that, that doesn't sound right. They want people to be NPIP certified, they wouldn't put a limit on it. I can believe there's a waiting list for the testers to be able to come out and test, but I can't believe that they would say only 50 farms in CA can have it.
Personally I chose not to do it. It's free for me and I could have it done any time, but there's no point to it. When I checked into it, in my state they only test for one disease, salmonella. They don't test for anything useful like MG or even AI, if you can believe that. They also don't even test waterfowl, which are the largest vectors of disease. Plus no one ever, ever checks up on if you're following the rules, meaning I could get NPIP certified, then go ahead and get birds in from someone who isn't which would technically ruin my certification, but no one one would know. Anyone who is NPIP can do this. The post office doesn't ever check if you're certified when you're mailing eggs or even chicks or adult birds.
So for me there's no point. All I would gain from it is going on a government list and letting them know I have chickens so that they can come around and destroy them on me when hysteria about the bird flu takes over (seriously - does anyone else remember the thread where a guy got quail eggs from a farm that then turned out to have AI, and they tested the eggs and they didn't have the flu, and then tested his birds and they didn't have the flu, and then decided they were going to destroy them all anyway?). And I'd also be limiting myself on where and who I could get birds from, meaning I'd be totally unable to get eggs or birds from a great breeder with super healthy birds because they don't have a piece of paper saying their birds don't have salmonella. No thank you.
Definitely no offense to those who get certified, it just doesn't make sense for me personally. I might in the future if the benefits ever outweigh the cons but for now they don't in my case.