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SPONSOR: |
Kidd |
DATE TYPED: |
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HB |
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SHORT TITLE: |
Revise Counseling & Therapy Practice Act |
SB |
773 |
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ANALYST: |
Geisler |
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APPROPRIATION
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
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FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
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NFI |
NFI |
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(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Relates to: SB 614 and HB 714 also propose to amend the
Counseling and Therapy Practice Act.
Regulation
and Licensing Department (RLD)
Human
Services Department (HSD)
SUMMARY
Synopsis
of Bill
Senate Bill 773 seeks to revise the Counseling
and Therapy Practice Act. SB 773 would
update and streamline the Act, and sets forth that persons must be licensed
and/or registered (as appropriate) to engage in the profession. SB 773 would strengthen the definition
section, and deletes superceded nomenclature.
The Counseling and Therapy Board is revised from
9 to 7 members, and the Board's duties are more fully defined and set forth.
SB 773 would reclassify all licensed
professional mental health counselors as licensed professional clinical mental
health counselors, and then amends the requirements for professional clinical
mental health counselors. SB 773 sets
requirements for other counselors and therapists.
Significant
Issues
RLD is concerned that the purpose of SB 773 is unclear. Although there have been ongoing discussions about reducing or consolidating the numbers of different kinds of licenses issued by the Board, SB 773 appears to strip the Act of most of its statutory authority.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
Per RLD, fiscal
implications are unclear. HSD provides
that the
clarification of definitions of some practitioner categories will result in
fewer people able to be licensed to practice, which might result in fewer
claims being submitted for Medicaid mental health services.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
RLD notes that replacing existing statutory authority with rules would require a significant investment of staff time and effort in scheduling rule hearings, and in drafting, filing, and implementing rules.
HSD points out its staff will be required to review and update Medicaid policies based on changes in this bill. This process could be completed within six months of enactment.
RELATIONSHIP
SB
773 relates to SB 614 and HB 714 in that all three bills propose to amend the
Counseling and Therapy Practice Act.
However, RLD believes that SB614 and HB714 take a more measured approach
to revising and streamlining the Act.
RLD has been meeting with bill sponsors and a substitute bill may be
introduced to supercede these bills.
AMENDMENTS
Provided by HSD:
In 61-9A-9, section A (3) of SB
773, the board may “establish the passing scores for examination”. HSD proposes that this should be amended to
include the phrase “with consultation from appropriate educational testing
agencies” or similar language.
GGG/yr