BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1527|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1527
Author: Negrete McLeod (D)
Amended: 8/22/12
Vote: 21
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEVELOP. COM. : 9-0,
04/16/12
AYES: Price, Emmerson, Corbett, Correa, Hernandez, Negrete
McLeod, Strickland, Vargas, Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR : 35-0, 5/3/12
AYES: Alquist, Berryhill, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett,
Correa, De Le�n, DeSaulnier, Dutton, Emmerson, Evans,
Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Harman, Hernandez, Huff, Kehoe,
La Malfa, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod,
Pavley, Price, Rubio, Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas,
Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson, Blakeslee, Padilla, Runner,
Simitian
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 8/27/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Social workers: licensing
SOURCE : Board of Behavioral Sciences
DIGEST : This bill revises a number of licensure and
registration requirements for licensees of the Board of
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Behavioral Sciences (BBS).
Assembly Amendments extend the effective date for a number
of licensure and registration requirements from January 1,
2013 to January 1, 2014, extend the requirement for the BBS
to accept a passing score for examination for a period of
seven years to licensed professional clinical counselors,
make other technical and clarifying changes, and add
double-jointing language with SB 1575 (Senate B. P. & E. D.
Cmte.).
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1.Provides for the licensure and regulation of social
workers by the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) per the
Clinical Social Worker Practice Act.
2.Requires an applicant for registration to satisfy certain
training and course work requirements.
3.Requires a person who wishes to be credited with
experience toward license requirements to register with
the BBS as an associate clinical social worker.
4.Grants all BBSs under the authority of the Department of
Consumer Affairs, by regulation, to develop guidelines to
prescribe components for mandatory continuing education
programs.
5.Specifies that any BBS administering a mandatory
continuing education program, when accepting hours for
credit which are obtained out of state, shall ensure that
the course for which credit is given is administered in
accordance with specific guidelines to ensure that
mandatory continuing education is used as a means to
create a more competent licensing population, thereby
enhancing public protection.
6.Requires the BBS to issue a clinical social worker
license to each applicant, outside of the state, who
satisfies specified educational requirements and passes
the licensure examinations administered by the BBS.
This bill:
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1.Requires the BBS to accept a passing score on the
marriage and family therapist (MFT), a licensed clinical
social worker (LCSW), or a licensed professional clinical
counselor (LPCC) clinical examination for a period of
seven years from the date the examination was taken.
2.Requires an MFT applicant who is licensed out-of-state,
and who applies after January 1, 2014, to pass the
California law and ethics examination and a
BBS-designated clinical examination.
3.Allows an MFT, LCSW, and LPCC applicant who is licensed
or registered out-of-state to apply for licensure without
taking the clinical examination if specified conditions
are met.
4.Restructures the examination process by requiring an LCSW
applicant, commencing January 1, 2014, to complete
specified training or coursework in California Law and
Professional Ethics in order for the BBS to issue a
clinical social worker license to an applicant from
out-of-state.
5.Requires an associate clinical social worker applicant to
have completed coursework in California law and
professional ethics for clinical social workers as
specified, commencing January 1, 2014.
6.Requires BBS, if BBS chooses to accept a national
examination or other examinations as specified, to accept
a passing score on the LPCC clinical examination for a
period of seven years from the date the examination was
taken, until January 1, 2014.
7.Delays for one year, until January 1, 2014, the
implementation date on provisions of SB 704 (Negrete
McLeod, Chapter 387 of the Statutes of 2011) relating to
licensure requirements for MFTs.
8.Adds double-jointing language with SB 1575 (Senate B. P.
& E. D. Cmte.).
9.Repeals obsolete provisions of law.
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Related Legislation
SB 704 (Negrete McLeod) Chapter 387, Statutes of 2011,
restructures the examination process for individuals
seeking a licensed clinical social worker license beginning
January 1, 2013. After this date, an associate social
worker registrant must do the following:
Take the California Law and Professional Ethics
examination within the first year of registration with
the Board.
If the Law and Professional Ethics examination is
not passed within the first renewal period, the
registrant must complete a 12-hour law and ethics
course in order to be eligible to take the examination
in the next renewal cycle. The exam must be re-taken
in each renewal cycle until passed. In addition, in
each year the examination is not passed, the 12-hour
law and ethics course must be taken to establish
examination eligibility.
SB 704 specifies that the Law and Professional Ethics
examination must be passed in order to obtain a license.
SB 704 also allows the BBS to consider using national if
they meet California standards. However, it did not place
a limit on when a passing score on the clinical examination
must have been obtained for licensed clinical social worker
and licensed marriage and family therapist applicants.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/28/12)
Board of Behavioral Sciences (source)
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
National Association of Social Workers
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 8/27/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
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Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth
Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Grove,
Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor,
Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly
JJA:n 8/28/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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