BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1113| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1113 Author: Lowenthal (D) and Anderson (R) Amended: 5/14/09 in Assembly Vote: 21 SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEVELOP. COM. : 10-0, 6/22/09 AYES: Negrete McLeod, Wyland, Aanestad, Corbett, Correa, Florez, Oropeza, Romero, Walters, Yee SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-0, 5/18/09 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Prisoners: professional mental health providers: marriage and family therapists SOURCE : California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists DIGEST : This bill allows a marriage and family therapist intern to gain qualifying experience for licensure as a marriage and family therapist while working in a state correctional facility. ANALYSIS : Existing law, the Business and Professions Code: 1.Licenses and regulates marriage and family therapists CONTINUED AB 1113 Page 2 (MFTs), marriage and family therapy interns (MFT Interns), licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) and associate social workers (ASWs) by the Board of Behavioral Sciences (Board) within the Department of Consumer Affairs. 2.Provides that a person who wishes to gain experience toward licensure as an LCSW shall register with the Board as an ASW prior to obtaining that experience. The ASW shall gain experience under the supervision of a LCSW, licensed psychologist, MFT or psychiatrist, as specified. 3.Provides that a person who wishes to gain experience toward licensure as an MFT shall register with the Board as an MFT Intern prior to obtaining that experience. The MFT Intern shall gain experience under the supervision of an, MFT, LCSW, licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, as specified. This bill: 1.Adds a person gaining qualifying experience for licensure as an MFT (i.e., an MFT Intern) to the list of those for whom the license requirement may be waived. 2.Specifies that an MFT Intern is limited to working within his or her scope of practice. 3.Makes technical and clarifying changes. Background The Business and Professions Code provides for the licensing and regulation of more than 28,000 MFTs, 10,000 MFT interns, 16,000 LCSWs, and 7,200 ASWs by the Board. In order to qualify for MFT licensure, an individual must have at least a master's level degree and 3,000 hours of supervised experience as a MFT Intern over a period of at least 104 weeks, and consisting of specified types of activities. The experience must be gained under the supervision, as specified, of an MFT, LCSW, licensed psychologist or psychiatrist. AB 1113 Page 3 The Penal Code requires a person employed or under contract to provide diagnostic, treatment, or other mental health services or to supervise or provide consultation on those services in the State correctional system to be licensed as a physician and surgeon, psychologist or as an "other health professional" (which includes LCSW, and MFT licensees). An exemption from the requirement to hold a license provides for persons gaining qualifying experience in order to become licensed as a psychologist, or LCSW. Prior Legislation AB 2652 (Anderson) was introduced last year (2008) and was nearly identical to this bill. That bill was held in Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 1975 (Romero) Chapter 356, Statutes of 2000, waived the license requirement to practice in the state correctional system for clinical social workers gaining qualifying experience for licensure. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/30/09) California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (source) American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, California Division Board of Behavioral Sciences California Council of Community Mental Health Agencies California Psychiatric Association Mental Health Association in California OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/30/09) American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees California Psychological Association ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, states: "MFT Interns have education and experience requirements substantially AB 1113 Page 4 equivalent to clinical social work associates and are equally capable of providing the mental health services necessary within correctional settings. Permitting MFT interns to be employed within the CDCR would help reduce the mental health professional shortage currently at issue." The Board of Behavioral Sciences states that marriage and family therapy interns may already gain qualifying experience for licensure in other settings when those services are provided under the supervision of a qualified mental health practitioner pursuant to the Marriage and Family Therapy Act. Therefore, this bill proposes a practice already acceptable to the Board and merely makes it possible for CDCR to allow interns to provide services within its facilities. The California Psychiatric Association indicates that the bill would take a small but significant step toward meeting the crisis in providing constitutionally adequate mental health care to California's prison inmates. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Psychological Association (CPA) states in opposition, "With nearly 20% of the prison population in the mental health program designed for individuals with severe mental illness, the CDCR needs trained clinicians who possess the training and skill sets to assist these individuals. CPA does not believe that the skills, training, and education of an MFT make for a good fit within the prison system. "The scope of practice for an MFT is to assist individuals to have healthier interpersonal relationships within their families. This bill, in effect, is requesting a significant scope of expansion for MFTs to work with individuals with severe mental illness without any increase in training and educational standards to accommodate the expansion. "CPA is also concerned that the training of these individuals will not be effective as there will not be a position for an MFT in CDCR once they are licensed. There is currently no state-approved position for an MFT in state service ? Training an individual in a position in a Department for a job that will not exist is a poor use of AB 1113 Page 5 state resources." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Salas, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass NO VOTE RECORDED: Eng, Jones, Ma, Nava, Price, Ruskin, Saldana, Solorio, Swanson JA:nl 6/30/09 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****