BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2167|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2167
Author: Nava (D)
Amended: 8/12/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE : 6-1,
6/28/10
AYES: Negrete McLeod, Aanestad, Calderon, Corbett, Florez,
Yee
NOES: Correa
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wyland, Walters
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 68-1, 5/17/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Clinical social workers: examination
requirements
SOURCE : National Association of Social Workers,
California Chapter
DIGEST : This bill establishes new examination
requirements for applicants seeking licensure as clinical
social workers.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/12/10 add double-jointing
language with
SB 1489 (Senate Business, Professions and Economic
Development Committee) and AB 2191 (Emmerson).
CONTINUED
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ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Licenses and regulates clinical social workers (LCSWs)
by the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) within the
Department of Consumer Affairs. The BBS also licenses
and regulates marriage and family therapists (MFTs),
licensed educational psychologists (LEPs), and beginning
January 1, 2012, professional clinical counselors
(LPCCs).
2. Requires the BBS to issue an LCSW license to each
applicant meeting specified requirements who passes
BBS-administered written or oral examination or both
examinations, as specified.
3. Requires the BBS to establish fee amounts at or below
specified maximum amounts, including $150 for the
standard written examination, and $100 for the clinical
vignette written examination.
This bill:
1. Revises and recasts the requirements for LCSW licensure
to repeal (sunset) on January 1, 2014, the current
examination requirements.
2. Requires the BBS, beginning January 1, 2014, to issue an
LCSW license to each qualified applicant, as specified,
who passes the following examinations:
The Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)
Clinical Level Exam administered by the ASWB.
A California jurisprudence and ethics examination
incorporated or developed and administered by the
BBS.
3. Revises and recasts the examination fees above to
instead authorize the BBS to set a fee of up to $100 for
the California jurisprudence and ethics examination,
commencing January 1, 2014, and requires the fees to be
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based on the actual cost of developing and administering
the examination.
4. Provides that items #1, #2 , and #3 above shall become
operative on January 1, 2014, only if the BBS makes the
determination by regulation, by December 1, 2013, that
the ASWB Clinical Level Exam meets the prevailing
standards for validation and use of the licensing and
certification tests in California.
5. Requires BBS to immediately post that determination on
the main page of its Internet Web site.
6. Makes technical and conforming changes.
7. Contains double-jointing language with SB 1489 (Senate
Business, Professions and Economic Development
Committee) and AB 1489 (Emmerson).
Background
The BBS was a member of ASWB from October 1991 through
March 1999, and required the ASWB Clinical level
examination, along with a state-constructed oral
examination for licensure of clinical social workers.
However, around 1998, the BBS and the Department of
Consumer Affairs, Office of Examination Resources (OER)
began having concerns regarding the ASWB examination.
Based on these concerns, and the results of a new
California occupational analysis, the BBS determined that
there was a need for a state-constructed written
examination. The new California written examination was
administered beginning in late spring 1999.
In 2008, the BBS formed the Examination Program Review
Committee (EPRC) to engage in a review of the BBS's
examination programs for all licensing types. The BBS also
hired a consultant to perform an audit of the ASWB LCSW
exam plan. BBS staff has been working with ASWB to address
areas of concern identified by the audit.
ASWB . ASWB is an association of boards that regulate
social work. ASWB develops and maintains the social work
licensing examinations used across the country and in
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several Canadian provinces, and is a central resource for
information on the legal regulation of social work. ASWB
indicates that it has recently completed an analysis of the
practice of social work in the United States and Canada.
This research has led to a revision of examinations
beginning January 1, 2011. The revisions will not
significantly change the content of the examinations, but
will result in reorganization of the test content.
National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment
Program . The sponsor has indicated that the since
California does not accept the national exam administered
by the ASWB for LCSW licensure, California LCSWs are
effectively ineligible for the federal NHSC Loan Repayment
program.
The NHSC, through scholarship and loan repayment programs,
helps Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) in the
United States get needed medical, dental, and mental health
providers to meet health care needs. Since 1972, more than
30,000 clinicians have served in the Corps, expanding
access to health care services and serving people who live
in urban and rural areas where health care is scarce.
The NHSC Loan Repayment Program offers primary care
physicians, family nurse practitioners, certified nurse
midwives, physician assistants, dentists, dental
hygienists, and certain mental health clinicians $50,000 to
repay student loans in exchange for two years serving in a
community-based site in a high-need HPSA. The loan
repayment program recruits both clinicians just completing
training and experienced professionals to meet the
immediate need for care throughout the Nation.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/4/10)
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
(source)
Aging Services of California
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
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Association of Psychiatric Social Workers of Los Angeles
County
Board of Behavioral Sciences
California Mental Health Directors Association
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Greenlining Institute
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : In sponsoring the bill, the
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter,
writes: "There is a great need, especially in these bad
economic times, for social workers to work in underserved
areas, which contain ethnically diverse communities with
access to few, if any, qualified mental health
professionals. The NHSC Loan Repayment Program can
reimburse qualified social workers up to $50,000 for their
education costs. This goes a long way toward recruiting
talented students to the profession."
The sponsor states that it is working with the BBS to make
sure the national examination is up to California
standards. "The ASWB has already made changes to the exam
based on comments from the BBS, and the BBS will have the
final say on whether or not the national exam meets the
prevailing standards. California is the only state that
does not use the national exam for licensure. Therefore,
social workers from California are the only ones that are
shut out of the loan repayment program. All other 49
states are confident that the national exam reflects
clinical social work as practiced in their state."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley,
Buchanan, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
La Torre, De Leon, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino,
Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines,
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John A. Perez
NOES: Anderson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Tom Berryhill, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, DeVore, Furutani, Gaines, Silva, Torlakson,
Yamada, Vacancy
JJA:mw 8/16/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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