BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 620|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 620
Author: Block (D)
Amended: 5/7/15
Vote: 21
SENATE BUS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/13/15
AYES: Hill, Bates, Berryhill, Block, Galgiani, Hernandez,
Jackson, Mendoza, Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT: Board of Behavioral Sciences: licensure
requirements
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill streamlines the supervised experience hour
requirements for licensed marriage and family therapists and
licensed professional clinical counselors, and revises certain
experience hour requirements for licensed clinical social
workers for consistency.
Senate Floor Amendments of 5/7/15 make technical and
nonsubstantive changes.
ANALYSIS: Existing law:
1) Establishes the Board of Behavioral Sciences (Board) to
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employ its resources for each and all of the following
functions:
a) The licensure of marriage and family therapists,
clinical social workers, professional clinical counselors,
and educational psychologists.
b) The development and administration of licensure
examinations and examination procedures consistent with
prevailing standards for the validation and use of
licensing and certification tests.
c) Enforcement of laws designed to protect the public
from incompetent, unethical, or unprofessional
practitioners.
d) Consumer education.
(Business and Professions Code (BPC) §§ 4990 and 4990.18)
2) Establishes requirements for the licensure of marriage and
family therapists, clinical social workers, and professional
clinical counselors.
(BPC §§ 4980 - 4989, 4990.10 - 4998.7, 4999.10 - 4999.129)
This bill:
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT)
1) Expands the definition of "experience" by replacing
"professional enrichment activities" with "direct counseling
and nonclinical practice."
2) Prohibits a student from gaining experience hours through
personal psychotherapy prior to completing either 12 semester
units or 18 quarter units of graduate instruction.
3) Eliminates the ability for one hour of personal psychotherapy
to qualify for three experience hours.
4) Eliminates the ability for one hour of treating couples and
families in conjoint therapy to qualify for two experience
hours.
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5) Replaces specified hour restrictions with the requirement of
a minimum of 1,750 experience hours of direct counseling with
individuals, groups, couples, or families.
6) Replaces specified hour restrictions with the requirement of
a maximum of 1,250 experience hours be in nonclinical
practice, which may include direct supervisor contact,
administering and evaluating psychological tests, writing
clinical reports, writing progress or process notes,
client-centered advocacy, and workshops, seminars, training
sessions, or conferences directly related to marriage and
family therapy that have been approved by the applicant's
supervisor.
7) Permits an individual who submits an application for
examination eligibility between January 1, 2016, and December
31, 2020, to alternatively qualify under the LMFT experience
requirements that were in place on January 1, 2015.
Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW)
8) Permits a clinical social worker student to count direct
supervisor contact, workshops, seminars, training sessions,
and conferences directly related to clinical social work
towards the 1,200 experience hours requirement.
9) Permits an individual who submits an application for
examination eligibility between January 1, 2016, and December
31, 2020, to alternately qualify under the LCSW experience
requirements that were in place on January 1, 2015.
10)Increases from five to six the number of supervision hours,
whether individual or group, that may be credited to an
associate during any single week. This applies only to
supervision hours gained on or after January 1, 2010.
11)Requires supervision to include at least one hour of direct
supervisor contact during each week for which experience is
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gained in each work setting. Supervision is not required for
experience gained attending workshops, seminars, training
sessions, or conferences.
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (LPCC)
12)Replaces "clinical mental health experience related to the
practice of professional clinical counseling" with
"experience," relative to the type of training necessary to
achieve the minimum 3,000 post-degree supervised experience
hours.
13)Deletes specified hour restrictions and requires instead a
maximum of 1,250 hours of nonclinical practice, which may
include direct supervisor contact, administering and
evaluating psychological tests, writing clinical reports,
writing progress or process notes, client-centered advocacy,
and workshops, seminars, training sessions, or conferences
directly related to professional clinical counseling that
have been approved by the applicant's supervisor.
14)Permits an individual who submits an application for
examination eligibility between January 1, 2016, and December
31, 2020, to alternatively qualify under the experience
requirements that were in place on January 1, 2015.
Background
According to the author, SB 620 streamlines the supervised
experience hour requirements for LMFT and LPCC applicants by
requiring 3,000 total experience hours, 1,750 of which must
consist of direct counseling and the remaining 1,250 hours may
be non-clinical experience. For consistency, SB 620 also allows
LCSW applicants to apply direct supervisor contact, workshops,
seminars, training, and conferences toward their experience
hours. SB 620 will also provide a five year transition period
during which applicants can choose to apply under this
simplified process or current requirements.
The Board regulates the practice of LMFTs, LCSWs, and LPCCs.
These individuals have different training that focuses on
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particular aspects of human interaction.
LMFT. The practice of marriage and family therapy means a
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. This practice includes relationship
and pre-marriage counseling.
LCSW. The practice of clinical social work is defined as a
service in which a special knowledge of social resources,
human capabilities, and unconscious motivations is directed at
helping people to achieve more adequate, satisfying, and
productive social adjustments. The application of social work
principles and methods includes, but is not restricted to,
counseling and using applied psychotherapy of a nonmedical
nature with individuals, families, or groups; providing
information and referral services; providing or arranging for
the provision of social services; explaining or interpreting
the psychosocial aspects in the situations of individuals,
families, or groups; helping communities to organize, to
provide, or to improve social or health services; or doing
research related to social work.
LPCC. Professional clinical counseling is 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, and the use, application, and integration of the
required coursework and training. It also includes conducting
assessments for the purpose of establishing counseling goals
and objectives to empower individuals to deal adequately with
life situations, reduce stress, experience growth, change
behavior, and make well-informed and rational decisions.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified5/8/15)
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Board of Behavioral Sciences (source)
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, California
Division
California Association for Licensed Professional Clinical
Counselors
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/8/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The American Association for Marriage and
Family Therapy, California Division writes, "The current
required hours for becoming licensed as an MFT are broken into
no less than nine different categories with confusing and
arbitrary minimums and maximums, in stark contrast to similar
graduate level licenses issued by the [Board]?.
"The current structure has created unnecessary obstacles in the
path to licensure for hundreds of potential MFTs. The [Board]
reports that applications for exam eligibility are significantly
more difficult to evaluate than those for LCSW exam eligibility
due to the complexity created by so many different categories
with equally abstruse minimums, maximums, incentives, and
combinations. Even tracking these hours is so complex that it
has given rise to a successful for-profit business, whose
process is essentially a complicated spreadsheet that keeps
track of all the different requirements in all the different
categories.
"[SB 620] is a necessary and welcome simplification of existing
law."
Prepared by:Sarah Huchel / B., P. & E.D. / (916) 651-4104
5/14/15 11:49:18
**** END ****
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