BILL NUMBER: AB 1897	CHAPTERED  09/28/08

	CHAPTER  489
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  SEPTEMBER 28, 2008
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  SEPTEMBER 28, 2008
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 14, 2008
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 18, 2008
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 4, 2008
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 2, 2008
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 10, 2008
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 1, 2008

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Emmerson
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Torrico)

                        FEBRUARY 7, 2008

   An act to add Section 4980.40.5 to the Business and Professions
Code, relating to marriage and family therapists.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1897, Emmerson. Marriage and family therapists: licensure.
   Existing law provides for the licensure, registration, and
regulation of marriage and family therapists and marriage and family
therapist interns by the Board of Behavioral Sciences. Existing law
requires applicants for a license or registration to meet certain
qualifications, including, but not limited to, the possession of a
doctor's or master's degree in a subject related to marriage and
family obtained from an educational institution accredited by the
Western Association of Schools and Colleges, or approved by the
Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education or the
Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Education, as
specified. By operation of law, the Bureau for Private Postsecondary
and Vocational Education became inoperative on July 1, 2007.
   This bill would specify that a doctor's or master's degree
approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational
Education as of June 30, 2007, shall be considered by the board to
meet the specified licensure and registration requirements if the
degree is conferred on or before July 1, 2010. The bill would also
require the board to accept certain doctor's or master's degrees as
equivalent degrees if those degrees are conferred by educational
institutions accredited by specified associations. The bill would
make these provisions inoperative on the date that legislation
enacted in the 2007-08 Regular Session reestablishing the Private
Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act of 1989 or a
successor act and the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational
Education or a successor agency becomes operative.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 4980.40.5 is added to the Business and
Professions Code, to read:
   4980.40.5.  (a) A doctor's or master's degree in marriage, family,
and child counseling, marital and family therapy, psychology,
clinical psychology, counseling psychology, or counseling with an
emphasis in either marriage, family, and child counseling, or
marriage and family therapy, obtained from a school, college, or
university approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and
Vocational Education as of June 30, 2007, shall be considered by the
board to meet the requirements necessary for licensure as a marriage
and family therapist and for registration as a marriage and family
therapist intern provided that the degree is conferred on or before
July 1, 2010.
   (b) As an alternative to meeting the qualifications specified in
subdivision (a) of Section 4980.40, the board shall accept as
equivalent degrees those doctor's or master's degrees that otherwise
meet the requirements of this chapter and are conferred by
educational institutions accredited by any of the following
associations:
   (1) Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools.
   (2) Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
   (3) New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
   (4) North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
   (5) Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
   (c) If legislation enacted in the 2007-08 Regular Session
reestablishes the Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education
Reform Act of 1989 (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 94700) of Part
59 of Division 10 of Title 3 of the Education Code) or a successor
act and the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education
or a successor agency, this section shall become inoperative on the
date that legislation becomes operative. The board shall post notice
on its Internet Web site if the conditions described in this
subdivision have been satisfied.