BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1012| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 1012 Author: Wyland (R) Amended: 8/7/14 Vote: 21 SENATE BUSINESS, PROF.& ECON. DEV. COMM. : 9-0, 4/21/14 AYES: Lieu, Wyland, Berryhill, Block, Corbett, Galgiani, Hernandez, Hill, Padilla SENATE FLOOR : 37-0, 5/5/14 AYES: Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Knight, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley, Roth, Steinberg, Torres, Vidak, Walters, Wolk, Wyland NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon, Wright, Yee ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 8/14/14 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Healing arts: licensure requirements SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill increases the number of hours, from five to six, which a marriage and family therapist (MFT) trainee or intern and a professional clinical counselor (PCC) intern may count towards their weekly supervision requirement. Assembly Amendments add PCC interns to the provisions of this bill and make conforming changes. CONTINUED SB 1012 Page 2 ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Provides for the licensure, registration and regulation of MFTs by the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS). 2. Defines the following terms: A. "Practice of marriage and family therapy" to mean that service performed with individuals, couples, or groups wherein interpersonal relationships are examined for the purpose of achieving more adequate, satisfying and productive marriage and family adjustments, as specified. B. MFT "intern" to mean an unlicensed person who has earned his/her master's or doctor's degree qualifying him/her for licensure and is registered with BBS. C. MFT "trainee" to mean an unlicensed person who is currently enrolled in a master's or doctor's degree program, as specified, that is designed to qualify him/her for licensure, and who has completed no less than 12 semester units or 18 quarter units of coursework in any qualifying degree program. D. "Experience" to mean experience in interpersonal relationships, psychotherapy, marriage and family therapy, and professional enrichment activities that satisfies the requirement for licensure, as specified. E. "One hour of direct supervisor contact" to mean "one hour per week of face-to-face contact on an individual basis or two hours per week of face-to-face contact in a group." F. "Professional clinical counseling" to mean 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 psychological and environmental problems, and the use, application and integration of the CONTINUED SB 1012 Page 3 coursework and training, as specified. G. PCC "intern" to mean an unlicensed person, who meets specified requirements, and is registered with BBS. H. "Clinical counselor trainee" to mean an unlicensed person who is currently enrolled in a master's or doctoral degree program, as specified, that is designed to qualify him/her for licensure, and who has completed no less than 12 semester units or 18 quarter units of coursework in any qualifying degree program. 1. Requires an MFT applicant for licensure to complete the following: A. A minimum of 3,000 hours completed during a period of at least 104 weeks; B. Not more than 40 hours in any seven consecutive days; C. Not less than 1,700 hours of supervised experience completed subsequent to the granting of the qualifying master's or doctoral degree; D. Not more than 1,300 hours of supervised experience obtained prior to completing a master's or doctoral degree, and the applicant cannot be credited with more than 750 hours of counseling and direct supervision contact prior to completing the master's or doctoral degree; E. No hours of supervised experience may be grained prior to completing either 12 semester units or 18 quarter units or graduate instruction and becoming a trainee except for personal psychotherapy; and F. No hours of experience may be gained more than six years prior to the date the application of examination eligibility was filed, except that up to 500 hours of clinical experience gained in the supervised practicum required as specified. 2. Provides for the licensure, registration and regulation of PCCs by BBS. CONTINUED SB 1012 Page 4 3. Requires, prior to applying for the licensure examination, applicants for licensure as a PCC to complete clinical mental health experience under the general supervision of an approved supervisor which shall include a minimum of 3,000 post-degree hours or supervised clinical mental health experience related to the practice of professional clinical counseling, performed over a period of not less than two years and includes: A. Not more than 40 hours in any seven consecutive days; B. Not less than 1,750 hours of direct counseling with individuals, groups, couples, or families in a specified setting using a variety of psychotherapeutic techniques and recognized counseling interventions within the scope of practice of licensed professional clinical counselors; C. Not more than 500 hours of experience providing group therapy or group counseling; D. Not more than 375 hours of experience providing personal psychotherapy, crisis counseling, or other counseling services via telehealth, as specified; E. Not less than 150 hours of clinical experience in a hospital or community mental health setting, as specified; F. Not more than a combined total of 1,250 hours of experience in the following related activities: (1) direct supervisor contact; (2) client centered advocacy; (3) not more than 250 hours of experience administering tests and evaluating psychological tests of clients, writing clinical reports, writing progress notes, or writing process notes; and (4) not more than 250 hours of verified attendance at workshops, seminars, training sessions, or conferences directly related to professional clinical counseling that are approved by the applicant's supervisor; and G. No hours of clinical mental health experience may be gained more than six years prior to the date the application for examination eligibility was filed. CONTINUED SB 1012 Page 5 1. Establishes certain criteria for the settings in which supervision hours may be credited to a trainee, including, among other things, a prohibition against settings that are private practices owned by a licensed MFT, a licensed psychologist, a licensed clinical social worker, a licensed physician and surgeon, or a professional corporation of any of those licensed professions. This bill: 1. Increases the number of hours, from five to six, which an MFT trainee or intern may count towards his/her weekly supervision requirements, and permits those supervision hours to be gained on or after January 1, 2009, rather than 2010 as existing law permits. 2. Prohibits an MFT trainee from getting credit for more than six hours of supervision, whether in an individual or group setting, towards his/her weekly supervision requirements. 3. Increases the number of hours, from five to six, which a PCC intern may count towards his/her weekly supervision requirements. 4. Includes a private practice owned by a PCC in the list of settings in which supervision hours may not be credited. Background MTFs . MFTs are employed in clinics, counseling centers and private practice. They use counseling or psychotherapeutic techniques to assist individuals, couples, families, and groups with a focus on marriage and family relationship issues. The minimum educational and experience requirements for MFTs include a master's degree in an area such as marriage, family, and child counseling, marriage and family therapy, couple and family therapy, psychology, clinical psychology, or counseling psychology from an accredited school. In addition, MFTs must complete supervised work experience of at least 3,000 hours within a period of two years. In order to accumulate supervised hours, a person must register with BBS as an intern or function as a trainee. Trainees are individuals CONTINUED SB 1012 Page 6 who have been enrolled in MFT graduate programs and who have completed at least 12 semester or 18 quarter units of coursework. Interns have earned the appropriate graduate degree and registered with BBS, but have not taken the examination. In 2013, there were over 32,000 MFTs and more than 15,000 MFT interns. This bill explicitly authorizes MFT trainees to accumulate the same number of direct supervision hours as interns. PCCs . PCCs apply 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. PCCs are required to meet specific educational standards including a master's degree in an approved subject, and are required to obtain supervised work experience as an intern amounting to at least 3,000 hours. Because PCCs are largely comparable to MFTs, SB 146 (Wyland, Chapter 381, Statutes of 2011) amended code sections so that the same substantive provisions and requirements apply to PCCs and MFTs. Supervision requirements for trainees and interns . Existing law requires both interns and trainees to obtain 3,000 hours of supervised work experience within a period of at least two years. Not more than 1,300 hours of supervised experience may be obtained prior to completing the master's or doctoral degree, and not less than 1,700 hours of experience may be completed subsequent to the granting of the qualifying degree. MFT interns are not permitted to receive more than 1,000 of the required hours of experience from direct supervisor contact. Direct supervisor contact is defined as one hour per week of face-to-face contact in individual supervision or two hours per week of face-to-face contact in a group supervision setting. Interns are permitted to receive an additional hour of direct supervision for every week in which more than 10 hours of client contact is gained in each setting and no more than five hours of supervision, whether individual or group, can be counted per week. Trainees must receive an average of one hour of direct supervisor contact for every five hours of clinical work with clients. Interns must receive at least one additional hour of direct supervisor contact for every week in which more than 10 hours of client counseling is gained. CONTINUED SB 1012 Page 7 This bill seeks to increase the number of hours, from five to six, that an MFT and PCC intern or MFT trainee can count towards his/her required hours of supervision. Because individuals have up to six years to obtain the required hours of direct supervision, this bill authorizes individuals who gained experience on or after January 1, 2009, to be able to count six hours of direct supervision towards the hour requirement. Because MFT and PCC applicants have six years to complete the supervised hour requirements, it is necessary to retroactively apply this bill to 2009, in order for any hours earned prior to 2015, to not be counted differently, which could slow down the evaluation process and create licensing delays. Comments According to the author: MFT trainees must receive an average of at least one hour of direct supervisor contact for every five hours of client counseling in each setting, and MFT interns must receive at least one additional hour of direct supervisor contact for every week in which more than 10 hours of client counseling is gained in each setting. Additionally, "one hour of direct supervisor contact" is defined as one hour per week of face-to-face contact on an individual basis with a supervisor or two hours per week of face-to-face contact in a group. There are many cases [in which] interns are acquiring more hours than they can count toward the requirement, as they work at multiple counseling sites. LMFTs must obtain 3,000 hours of experience in order to gain licensure, and no more than 1,000 of the required hours can be gained from direct supervisor contact. However, in a given week many trainees and interns accumulate more than the 5-hour cap on supervised hours. This bill will allow LMFT [and LPCC] trainees and interns to be able to count an additional supervised hour each week toward their licensure. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 8/15/14) CONTINUED SB 1012 Page 8 California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists California Council of Community Mental Health Agencies ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, "The purpose of this bill is to remove the arbitrary limitation on the number of supervisor contact hours [MFT] trainees and registered interns may be credited toward licensure during a single week. Increasing this limitation is to allow [MFT] trainees and registered interns to count more of the supervisor contact hours they actually obtain, which will result in many of these applicants being able to complete their hours of experience in a timelier fashion." The California Council of Community Mental Health Agencies states, "This bill would remove the five hour restriction it (sic) thus provides more opportunity for trainees to advance towards licensure. Since there is a shortage of licensed therapists this bill will help address an important healthcare need." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 08/14/14 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Perea, Vacancy MW:k 8/15/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED SB 1012 Page 9 CONTINUED