BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1012
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 17, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION
Susan A. Bonilla, Chair
SB 1012 (Wyland) - As Amended: June 11, 2014
SENATE VOTE : 37-0
SUBJECT : Healing arts: licensure requirements.
SUMMARY : Increases from five to six the number of hours which
a marriage and family therapist (MFT) trainee or intern, and a
professional clinical counselor (PCC) intern, may count towards
their weekly supervision requirement. Specifically, this bill :
1)Increases the number of hours from five to six which a MFT
trainee or intern may count towards his or 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 a MFT trainee from getting credit for more than six
hours of supervision, whether in an individual or group
setting, towards his or her weekly supervision requirements.
3)Increases the number of hours from five to six which a PCC
intern may count towards his or her weekly supervision
requirements.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Provides for the licensure, registration and regulation of
MFTs by the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS). (Business and
Professions Code (BPC) Section 4980 et seq)
2)Defines the 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." (BPC 4980.02)
3)Defines an MFT "intern" to mean "an unlicensed person who has
earned his or her master's or doctor's degree qualifying him
or her for licensure and is registered with BBS." (BPC
SB 1012
Page 2
4980.03(b))
4)Defines an 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 or her for
licensure, and who has completed no less than 12 semester
units or 18 quarter units of coursework in any qualifying
degree program." (BPC 4980.03(c))
5)Defines "experience" to mean "experience in interpersonal
relationships, psychotherapy, marriage and family therapy, and
professional enrichment activities that satisfies the
requirement for licensure, as specified." (BPC 4980.03(f))
6)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. (BPC 4980.43(a))
7)Defines "one hour of direct supervisor contact" to mean "one
hour per week of face-to-face contact on an individual basis
SB 1012
Page 3
or two hours per week of face-to-face contact in a group."
(BPC 4980.43 (c)(2))
8)Provides for the licensure, registration and regulation of
PCCs by BBS. (BPC 4999.10 et seq)
9)Defines "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 coursework and training, as specified."
(BPC 4999.20(a)(1))
10)Defines a PCC "intern" to mean "an unlicensed person, who
meets specified requirements, and is registered with the
board." (BPC 4999.12(f))
11)Defines "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
or her for licensure, and who has completed no less than 12
semester units or 18 quarter units of coursework in any
qualifying degree program." (BPC 4999.12(g))
12)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;
SB 1012
Page 4
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:
i) Direct supervisor contact;
ii) Client centered advocacy;
iii) 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,
iv) 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. (BPC
4999.46)
FISCAL EFFECT : None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the bill . This bill increases from five to six the
number of supervised hours that an applicant for licensure as
an MFT or PCC can count towards his or her weekly supervised
hour requirement, in an effort to accelerate the licensure
process and get more professionals into practice. This bill
also clarifies that both MFT trainees and interns are eligible
to accumulate the six hours of weekly direct supervisor
contact, and that this bill retroactively applies this number
to individuals who gained hours on or after January 1, 2009.
This bill is sponsored by the author.
SB 1012
Page 5
2)Author's statement . 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."
3)Marriage and Family Therapists . 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 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
SB 1012
Page 6
supervision hours as interns.
4)Professional Clinical Counselors . 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. LPCCs 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 LMFTs, SB 146 (Wyland),
Chapter 381, Statutes of 2011, amended code sections so that
the same substantive provisions and requirements would apply
to LPCCs and MFTs.
5)Supervision requirements for trainees and interns . Current
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.
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 or her required hours of supervision. Because
individuals have up to six years to obtain the required hours
SB 1012
Page 7
of direct supervision, this bill would authorize 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.
6)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."
7)Arguments in opposition . There is no opposition on file.
8)Previous legislation . SB 632 (Emmerson) Chapter 50, Statutes
of 2012, clarifies which MFT trainees are allowed to counsel
clients outside of a practicum course, and clarifies a limited
exemption for trainees who are not allowed to counsel clients
outside of a practicum course.
SB 363 (Emmerson) Chapter 384, Statutes of 2011, authorizes,
among other things, MFT trainees to counsel clients while not
enrolled in a practicum if the period of lapsed enrollment is
less than 90 calendar days and is immediately preceded and
immediately followed by enrollment in a practicum course.
AB 956 (Roger Hern�ndez) Chapter 166, Statutes of 2011,
requires a marriage and family therapist intern and a marriage
and family therapist trainee, prior to performing professional
services, to provide each client or patient with the name of
his or her employer and indicate that he or she is under the
supervision of a licensed person, as specified, and requires
any advertisement by or on behalf of an intern or trainee to
include specified information; requires an intern's
registration number to be disclosed to clients and patients
SB 1012
Page 8
and in advertisements.
SB 33 (Correa) Chapter 26, Statutes of 2009, updates and
recasts 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, increases practicum hours for face-to-face
counseling, integrates specified elements, including public
mental health practices, throughout the curriculum, repeals
current marriage and family therapist educational requirements
on January 1, 2019, revises requirements for applicants
licensed or educated outside of California, and makes
technical and conforming changes.
AB 2552 (Leno) Chapter 204, Statutes of 2004, makes various
changes to the body of law licensing MFTs, including
clarifying the circumstances under which an applicant for an
MFT license is obligated to take and pass a clinical vignette
written examination, and provides specificity as to how an MFT
intern working in a private practice can get supervision and
count hours when the private practice supervisor is
unavailable due to vacation or illness.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Elissa Silva / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301