BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 33
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   July 1, 2009 

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                     SB 33 (Correa) - As Amended:  June 8, 2009  

          Policy Committee:                              Business &  
          Professions  Vote:                            11-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill recasts statutes governing the training and licensure  
          of marriage and family therapists (MFT). Specifically, this  
          bill: 

          1)Modifies curriculum requirements including increasing the  
            number of educational units, flexibility in choice of  
            coursework content, the number of face-to-face training hours,  
            and integration of training with respect to factors such as  
            cultural competency and socioeconomic position. 

          2)Repeals the current MFT educational requirements on January 1,  
            2019. 

          3)Revises the requirements licensees trained in other states  
            must complete. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          No direct fiscal impact to the Board of Behavioral Science (BBS)  
          to continue oversight of MFT academic and training requirements.  


           COMMENTS  

          1)       Rationale  . This bill is sponsored by the BBS within the  
            Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to update educational  
            requirements that have been generally been unchanged over the  
            past 20 years. This bill makes adjustments to increase the  
            emphasis on evidenced-based and best practices as well as  
            increasing the depth of training about mental illness and  
            cultural competency. According to the author, this bill stems  
            from work by the BBS MFT Educational Committee's work in 2006  






                                                                  SB 33
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            to review the curriculum requirements and how well the  
            training prepared professionals in public and private  
            employment settings. In addition, this bill increases the  
            focus on mental health specifically to reflect the impact of  
            efforts resulting from the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). 
           
          2)      Background  . Marriage and Family Therapy is a branch of  
            psychotherapy that assists individuals and families to resolve  
            issues and problems by emphasizing communication and family  
            and intimate relationships. There are more than 28,000  
            registered MFTs in California. 
           
          3)       Related Legislation  . This bill is similar to SB 1218  
            (Correa) in 2008 which was vetoed. No reason other than the  
            state budget delay was specified in the veto message. 

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081