BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 620|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 620
Author: Block (D)
Amended: 7/2/15
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
SENATE FLOOR: 36-0, 5/18/15
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Block, Cannella, De León,
Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill,
Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire,
Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen,
Nielsen, Pan, Roth, Runner, Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill, Hall, Pavley
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 7/16/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Board of Behavioral Sciences: licensure requirements
SOURCE: Board of Behavioral Sciences
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.
Assembly Amendments add double jointing language to incorporate
amendments proposed by both this bill and AB 250 (Obernolte).
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Page 2
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Board of Behavioral Sciences (Board) to employ
its resources for each and all of the following functions:
2)The licensure of marriage and family therapists, clinical
social workers, professional clinical counselors, and
educational psychologists.
3)The development and administration of licensure examinations
and examination procedures consistent with prevailing
standards for the validation and use of licensing and
certification tests.
4)Enforcement of laws designed to protect the public from
incompetent, unethical, or unprofessional practitioners.
5)Consumer education. (Business and Professions Code (BPC) §§
4990 and 4990.18)
6)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.
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4) Eliminates the ability for one hour of treating couples and
families in conjoint therapy to qualify for two experience
hours.
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 alternately 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 alternately qualify under the experience
requirements that were in place on January 1, 2015.
Background
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 with
individuals, groups, couples, or families, and the remaining
1,250 hours may be non-clinical experience including direct
supervisor contact, writing clinical reports, or attending
workshops or conferences. 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.
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These individuals have different training that focuses on
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
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SUPPORT: (Verified8/5/15)
California 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: (Verified8/5/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Supporters write that 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 and believe that the
current structure has created unnecessary obstacles in the path
to licensure for hundreds of potential MFTs. Supporters cite
information from the Board 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 and believe that this
bill is a necessary and welcome simplification of existing law.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 7/16/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gray,
Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
SB 620
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Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins]
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gordon
Prepared by:Sarah Huchel / B., P. & E.D. / (916) 651-4104
8/13/15 13:20:48
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