BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 620
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Date of Hearing: June 23, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS
Susan Bonilla, Chair
SB 620(Block) - As Amended May 7, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 36-0
SUBJECT: Board of Behavioral Sciences: licensure requirements.
SUMMARY: Revises the supervised experience hour requirements
for licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs) and Licensed
Professional Clinical Counselors (LPCCs), and also revises
experience hour requirements for licensed clinical social
workers (LCSWs), as specified.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) within the
Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), to license and regulate
the practice of LMFTs, LPCCs, LCSWs, and Licensed educational
psychologists (LEPs). (Business and Professions Code (BPC)
Section 4990 et seq.)
2)States it is the intent of the Legislature that the BBS employ
its resources for all of the following functions: (BPC
Section 4989.18)
a) The licensure of marriage and family therapists,
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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, as specified;
c) Enforcement of laws designed to protect the public from
incompetent, unethical, or unprofessional practitioners;
and,
d) Consumer education.
3)Defines "experience" for LMFTs to mean experience in
interpersonal relationships, psychotherapy, marriage and
family therapy, and professional enrichment activities that
satisfies the requirement for licensure as a marriage and
family therapist, as specified. (BPC Section 4980.03(f))
4)Requires an applicant for licensure as a marriage and family
therapist to complete a minimum of 3,000 hours of specified
supervised experience. (BPC Section 4980.43)
5)Requires an applicant for the professional clinical counselor
licensure examination to complete clinical mental health
experience under the general supervision of an approved
supervisor, as specified, and requires the experience to
contain a minimum of 3,000 post-degree hours of supervised
clinical mental health experience related to the practice of
professional clinical counseling, performed over a period of
not less than two years. (BPC Section 4999.46(a),(b))
6)Requires an applicant for licensure as a clinical social
worker to obtain two-years of supervised post-master's degree
experience which must include at least 3,200 hours of
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post-master's degree supervised experience by providing
clinical social work services, as specified. (BPC Sections
4996.2(c), 4996.23)
THIS BILL:
1)Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists
a) Revises the definition of "experience" by replacing
"professional enrichment activities" with "direct
counseling and nonclinical practice.
b) Revises the supervised experience hour requirements by
replacing specified hour restrictions with the requirement
for a minimum of 1,750 supervised experience hours of
direct counseling with individuals, groups, couples, or
families, which includes not less than 500 total hours of
experience in diagnosing and treating couples, families,
and children.
c) Revises specified hour requirements by replacing
supervised hour restrictions with the requirement for a
maximum of 1,250 hours of nonclinical practice, consisting
of 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.
d) Eliminates the option for experience to be gained from
personal psychotherapy, as specified.
e) Permits an individual, who submits an application for
examination eligibility between January 1, 2016, and
December 31, 2020, to alternately qualify under the
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experience requirements that were in place on January 1,
2015.
1)Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors
a) Replaces the supervised experience requirement of
"clinical mental health" with "experience related to the
practice of professional clinical counseling under an
approved supervisor," as specified.
b) Revises specified hour requirements by replacing
specified hour restrictions with a maximum of 1,250 hours
of nonclinical practice, consisting of direct supervisor
contact administering and evaluating psychological tests,
writing clinical reports, writing progress or process
notes, client-centered advocacy, and workshops.
c) 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.
2)Licensed Clinical Social Workers
a) Revises the 1,200 hour requirement in client-centered
advocacy, consultation, evaluation and research to include
direct supervisor contact, and workshops, seminars,
training sessions, or conferences directly related to
clinical social work that have been approved by the
applicant's supervisor.
b) Permits an applicant who submits an application for
eligibility between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2020,
to alternatively qualify under the experience requirements
that were in place on January 1, 2015.
c) Requires "supervision" to include at least one hour of
direct supervisor contact during each week for which
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experience is gained in each work setting. Supervision is
not required for experience gained attending workshops,
seminars, training sessions, or conferences, as specified.
d) Increases from five to six, the hours of supervision,
whether individual or group, which can be credited during a
single week. This applies only to supervised hours gained
on or after January 1, 2010.
3)Makes numerous other technical and clarifying amendments.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the BBS . According to the
author, "Due to increasing application backlogs at the [BBS] and
increased difficulty for applicants seeking to satisfy
requirements, the board formed a special supervision committee
to conduct a review of the supervised work experience
requirements for applicants seeking LMFT, LPCC, or LCSW
licenses. The board held stakeholder meetings to analyze the
assortment of minimum and maximum number of hours in different
categories, also known as "buckets"?[This bill] streamlines
these requirements so that they are simple for applicants to
track and obtain, and more straightforward for board evaluators
to analyze. A total of 3,000 hours of supervised experience
will still be required. Under the new proposal, 1,750 hours
must consist of direct counseling with individuals, groups,
couples, or families. The remaining 1,250 hours may be
non-clinical experience including direct supervisor contact,
writing clinical reports, or attending workshops or conferences.
These hours are subject to approval from a supervisor. For
consistency, [this bill] also allows LCSW applicants to apply
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direct supervisor contact, workshops, seminars, training, and
conferences, toward their experience hours. [This bill] provides
a five year period where applicants can apply under this
simplified process or current requirements."
Background. The BBS regulates four categories of professionals
who perform counseling services including: LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs,
and LEPs. In addition to providing licensure to qualified
candidates, the BBS also registers marriage and family therapist
interns, associate clinical social workers, professional
clinical counselor interns and continuing education providers.
The BBS is tasked with developing and administering the written
examination for its licensure categories along with
administering the continuing education program to ensure
professional competency. Currently, the BBS regulates
approximately one-hundred thousand licensees, registrants, and
interns.
Under current law, the path to licensure for LMFTs and LPCCs is
complex. In order to qualify for licensure, applicants for both
license types must obtain at a minimum, a master's degree, and
two years of supervised work experience consisting of at least
3,000 hours. Within the 3,000 hour requirement for supervised
experience, there are limitations on the types of hours that can
be counted towards the supervision requirement.
The different types of supervised experience requirements
consist of an array of required minimum and maximum types of
experience in different categories, and have become more and
more complex, which potentially results in applicants facing
difficulty in accumulating the appropriate number of hours in
each category. In addition, in order to verify that an
applicant has met the supervised hour requirement for each
category, the verification process is both resource and time
consuming for the BBS licensing evaluators, leading to backlogs
at the BBS for processing licensing applications. This bill
aims to streamline this process by revising the supervised
experience hour requirements. Further, as some of the
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applicants for licensure may have already accumulated the
complex supervised experience in different categories, this bill
includes a provision to allow an applicant for LMFT, LPCC, or
LCSW to count supervised experience hours for licensure under
the existing requirements as of January 1, 2015.
Licensure Requirements: LMFTs.
LMFTs are employed at mental health agencies, counseling
centers, and private practice. In order to qualify for
licensure, LMFTs must possess a master's degree in a designated
field including marriage, family, and child counseling, marriage
and family therapy, couple and family therapy, psychology or
clinical psychology. In addition to meeting the specified
degree requirements, applicants for licensure must also obtain
3,000 hours of supervised work experience. Of those 3,000
supervised hours, not more than 1,300 may be obtained prior to
completing a master's or doctoral degree program and not less
than 1,700 hours of experience may be completed subsequent to
the granting of the qualified master's or doctoral degree.
Currently, the supervised experience requirements for LMFT
dictate what types of supervised experience an individual may
gain in each of the 1,300 and 1,700 hour requirements. For
example, BPC Section 4980.43 states that an individual may not
have more than 1,000 hours of supervised experience in specified
areas including "direct supervisor contact," workshops,
seminars, training sessions, or conferences (of which the
individual cannot count more than 250 hours), and "group
therapy or group counseling" (of which the individual cannot
count more than 500 hours). This bill aims to streamline the
supervised experience requirements for LMFTs by eliminating the
hour caps for certain types of supervised experience and instead
require an applicant for licensure as an LMFT to have a minimum
of 1,750 hours of direct counseling and a maximum of 1,250 hours
of nonclinical practice. This bill will also eliminate an
applicant counting personal psychotherapy hours as supervised
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experience.
Licensure Requirements: LPCCs
LPCCs are employed in a variety of settings including hospitals,
community-based mental health organizations, and private
practice. LPCCs apply 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. In order to be
licensed as an LPCC, a person must possess a master's degree in
psychotherapy or counseling and have at least 3,000 hours of
supervised work experience under a licensed mental health
professional. This bill makes similar supervised experience
requirements for LPCC applicants as for LMFT applicants. LPCC
applicants will be required to obtain a minimum of 1,750 hours
of direct counseling. Part of that 1,750 supervised experience
hour requirement must include the current 150 hours of clinical
experience in a hospital or community mental health setting. In
addition, an LPCC applicant may obtain a maximum of 1,250 hours
of nonclinical practice, as specified.
Licensure Requirements: LCSWs
LCSWs are employed in settings such as health facilities,
private practice, and state and county mental health agencies.
LCSWs use counseling and therapeutic techniques to assist
individuals, couples, families, and groups. In order to qualify
for licensure as an LCSW, an individual must obtain a master's
degree in social work and obtain 3,200 hours of supervised work
experience. 2,000 of those hours must be gained in direct
counseling, while the remaining 1,200 may obtained in
client-centered advocacy, consultation, evaluation, and
research. This bill will expand the types of supervised
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experience which can be counted towards the 1,200 hour maximum,
including workshops, seminars, training sessions or conferences
directly related to clinical social work.
Prior Related Legislation AB 2213 (Eggman) Chapter 387, Statutes
of 2014, revised the current education and curriculum
requirements for licensure as a marriage and family therapist
and professional clinical counselor for out-of-state applicants
who are applying for licensure on or after January 1, 2016.
SB 704 (Negrete McLeod), Chapter 387, Statutes of 2011, revised
and recasted examination requirements for persons seeking
licensure as a marriage and family therapist, clinical social
worker, or professional clinical counselor.
SB 33 (Correa), Chapter 26, Statutes of 2009, updated the
educational curriculum requirements for marriage and family
therapists to require persons who begin graduate study after
August 1, 2012, to meet increased total unit requirements and
practicum hours for face-to-face counseling. Additionally, it
added new elements to the curriculum, including public mental
health practices, revised the requirements for applicants
licensed or educated outside of California, and repeals the
current educational requirements on January 1, 2019.
SB 1218 (Correa) of 2008, attempted to update and recast the
educational curriculum requirements for marriage and family
therapists. NOTE: Vetoed by the Governor, stating that due to
the 2008-2009 State Budget delay, only bills of the highest
priority for California would be signed.
AB 234 (Eng), Chapter 586, Statutes of 2007, revised the LMFT
licensing law pertaining to the number of hours of experience
required for licensure.
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:
The BBS writes in support, "The [BBS] is pleased to sponsor
[this bill which would] streamline the hours of experience
required for licensure as LMFT and LPCC. Currently, LMFT and
LPCC applicants seeking licensure must complete 3,000 hours of
supervised experience. This required experience consists of a
complex assortment of maximum and minimum number of hours in
different categories. There has been an increasing concern that
the various categories of hours has grown too complex,
contributing to application backlogs?.[T]his bill also allows
LCSWs applicants to apply hours of direct supervisor contact ,
workshops, seminars, training and conferences toward their
experience hours, just as LMFT and LPCC applicants are permitted
to do."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION:
None on file.
REGISTERED SUPPORT:
Board of Behavioral Sciences (sponsor)
National Association of Social Workers-California Chapter
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, California
Division
California Association for Licensed Professional Clinical
Counselors
REGISTERED OPPOSITION:
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None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Elissa Silva / B. & P. / (916)
319-3301