BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 956
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 4, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

            AB 956 (Roger Hernández) - As Introduced:  February 18, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Business and 
          Professions  Vote:                            9-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill increases the specificity of information that a 
          marriage and family therapist registered intern (registered 
          intern) or a marriage and family therapist trainee (trainee), 
          prior to performing professional services, is required to 
          provide each client or patient.  It requires any advertisement 
          by or on behalf of an intern or trainee to include specified 
          information.  Specifically,  this bill  :

          1)Specifies that registered interns and trainees inform each 
            client or patient prior to performing any professional 
            services, that he or she is a registered intern, and provide 
            the name of his or her employer.

          2)Requires any advertisement by or on behalf of a registered 
            intern or trainee to include at a minimum that he or she is a 
            registered intern, the name of his or her employer, and that 
            he or she is supervised by a licensed person.  It also 
            prohibits the use of the abbreviation "MFTI" in an 
            advertisement unless the title "marriage and family therapist 
            registered intern" appears in the advertisement.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible state fiscal impact. This bill simply increases the 
          specificity of current disclosure requirements.

           COMMENTS  

           Rationale  . According to the author's office, misleading and 
          deceptive online advertisements offering mental health services 








                                                                  AB 956
                                                                  Page  2

          are becoming an emerging trend. Certain advertisements appear to 
          offer services performed by licensed professionals, but are 
          instead carried out by interns.  These advertisements can 
          mislead consumers to believe interns are medical professionals 
          by using the acronym MFTI, instead of explicitly stating the 
          full title of the intern.  This bill seeks to protect the public 
          from unknowingly receiving inferior care from an unlicensed 
          individual.  

           Background  .  Current law regulates the licensure and 
          registration of marriage and family therapists and interns by 
          the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS), and requires registered 
          interns and trainees to disclose to patients that they are 
          unlicensed and under the supervision of a licensed mental health 
          professional.  

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081