BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|Hearing Date:May 6, 2013 |Bill No:SB |
| |243 |
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS
AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Senator Curren D. Price, Jr., Chair
Bill No: SB 243 Author: Wyland
As Amended: April 29, 2013Fiscal: No
SUBJECT: Professional clinical counselors.
SUMMARY: Clarifies that professional clinical counseling does not
include the assessment or treatment of couples or families unless the
clinical counselor has completed specified training and education.
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) under the
Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to license and regulate
professional clinical counselors, clinical social workers, marriage
and family therapists and educational psychologists. (Business and
Professions Code (BPC) § 4990 et seq.)
2)Defines "professional clinical counseling" as the application of
counseling interventions and psychotherapeutic techniques to
identify and remediate cognitive, mental and emotional issues
including personal growth, adjustment to disability, crisis
intervention and psychosocial and environmental problems. (BPC §
4999.20 (a)(1))
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3)Defines the "practice of professional clinical counseling" as a
person who performs or offers to perform or hold himself or herself
out as able to perform this service for remuneration in any form
including donations. (BPC § 4999.13)
4)Specifies that professional clinical counseling does not include the
assessment or treatment of couples of families unless the
professional clinical counselor has completed all of the following
additional training and education, beyond the minimum training and
education required for licensure : (BPC § 4999.20 (a)(3))
a) One of the following:
i) Six semester units or nine quarter units specifically
focused on the theory and application of marriage and family
therapy.
ii) A named specialization or emphasis area on the qualifying
degree in marriage and family therapy; marital and family
therapy; marriage, family, and child counseling; or couple and
family therapy.
b) No less than 500 hours of documented supervised experience
working directly with couples, families, or children.
c) A minimum of six hours of continuing education specific to
marriage and family therapy, completed in each license renewal
cycle.
This bill:
1)Specifies that "professional clinical counseling" does not include
the assessment or treatment of couples or families unless the
professional clinical counselor has completed all of the following
training and education:
a) One of the following:
i) Six semester units or nine quarter units specifically
focused on the theory and application of marriage and family
therapy.
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ii) A named specialization or emphasis area on the qualifying
degree in marriage and family therapy; marital and family
therapy; marriage, family, and child counseling; or couple and
family therapy.
b) No less than 500 hours of documented supervised experience
working directly with couples, families, or children.
c) A minimum of six hours of continuing education specific to
marriage and family therapy, completed in each license renewal
cycle.
FISCAL EFFECT: This bill has been keyed "non-fiscal" by Legislative
Counsel.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the California Association of
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (CALPCC). According to
the Author, this is a clean-up bill regarding the interpretation of
previous legislation that established the profession for Licensed
Professional Clinical Counselors (LPCCs). The bill clarifies the
interpretation of required education, training and hour requirements
for LPCCs. The bill specifically deletes language that indicates
that training and education requirements must be, "beyond the
minimum training and education required for licensure."
2.Background. Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors. On October
11, 2009, California became the 50th state to license professional
counselors making LPCCs the newest of the four licensure groups
regulated by the BBS. LPCCs provide a variety of mental health
services including individual, group, marriage and family therapy.
LPCCs may practice in a variety of settings including, but not
limited to, community mental health, private practice and hospital
settings.
a) Education and Training. LPCC students are required to
complete graduate coursework in a Master's program approved by
the BBS. During their graduate program, students also complete
clinical internship rotations. In addition, the student must
complete a minimum of 3,000 post-degree hours of supervised
experience by a LPCC, LMFT, LCSW, licensed psychologist or
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licensed physician and surgeon, who is certified in psychiatry by
the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, over a period of
not less than two years, including not less than 1,750 hours of
direct counseling with individuals or groups in a clinical mental
health counseling setting and 150 hours in a hospital or
community mental health setting. Under current law, in order to
provide marriage and family therapy upon licensure, the student
must complete education and training requirements beyond the
minimum education requirements outlined by their educational
program.
b) Licensure Requirements. In order to be licensed as an LPCC,
applicants must complete their graduate training, clinical
internship and post-degree supervised hours and receive a passing
score on the National Clinical Mental Health Counselor
Examination (NCMHCE) and the California Law and Ethics Exam. The
Law & Ethics Exam should be taken in the first year of the
applicant's clinical internship and the NCMHCE should be taken at
the completion of the internship upon attainment of all
supervised hours.
3. Arguments in Support. The CALPCC supports the bill. They write,
"[Current] scope of
practice prevents LPCCs from seeing families and couples, unless
they have additional education and training in marriage and family
therapy beyond the requirements for LPCC licensure. This means that
this additional optional education must be above and beyond the
degree requirements for the LPCC license, and that the couples and
family supervised hours must be above and beyond the 3,000
post-degree hours required for the LPCC license. The reason that we
would like to make this amendment as soon as possible is that the
universities are already offering the two MFT courses to LPCC
students, who want to be able to counsel couples and families. They
are concerned that the BBS won't be able to accept these courses if
they are taken as part of the required degree program, and students
will need to repeat the courses post-degree."
The American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists also
supports the bill. In their letter they state, "While we pushed for
the additional training and experience to be mandated for LPCCs who
wish to work with couples and families, and still believe these to
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be vital requirements for LPCCs wishing to do such work, it was
never our intent (nor, we believe, the intent of the law) to force
these units to be done outside the qualifying degree program or the
experience to be outside of the 3,000 hours of supervised experience
needed for licensure.
It is our understanding that a further amendment will be offered to
section 4999.46, clarifying that qualifying hours of supervised
experience for licensure may be gained with individuals, couples,
families, or groups. This is consistent with the change to 4999.20
already in the bill, and with the intent described above."
The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists states
their support when they write, "Although the law says the education
and experience must be in addition to, and not part of, what is
required for licensure, this was not the intent of the legislation.
This legislation will fix this confusing language and allow for the
education and experience to be acquired as part of their 3,000 hour
requirement, as intended by the original legislation."
4.Related Legislation. SB 788 (Wyland, Chapter 619, Statutes of
2009). Established a new licensing group under the BBS and granted
BBS the authority to license, register and regulate professional
clinical counselors and interns. The bill also added two additional
Governor appointed members to the BBS. The bill enacted various
provisions concerning the practice of licensed professional clinical
counselors, interns and clinical counselor trainees including, but
not limited to, practice requirements and enforcement
specifications.
5.Suggested Author's Amendment. In order to provide conformity
throughout the Business and Professions Code sections relating to
training and education requirements, the following amendment should
be made:
Amendment. Amend BPC § 4999.46 (b)(2) as follows:
"Not less than 1,750 hours of direct counseling with individuals
or groups or couples or families in a setting described in Section
4999.44 using a variety of psychotherapeutic techniques and
recognized counseling interventions within the scope of practice
of licensed professional clinical counselors."
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SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
Support:
California Association of Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors
(Sponsor)
American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
Opposition:
None received as of April 30, 2013.
Consultant:Le Ondra Clark, Ph.D.