CALIFORNIA COALITION FOR COUNSELOR LICENSURE

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

June 8, 2009

SB 788 (Wyland/Steinberg) passes on the Senate Floor!

Thank you for contacting your Senator before the Floor Vote on SB 788. The bill received an "aye" vote from every Senator, except Senator Yee, who voted "no." Senators Ducheny and Padilla were absent, abstaining or not voting. It would be great if you would follow up with your Senator with a thank you note or call for allowing the bill to proceed to the Assembly.

The bill that was approved was not the full bill, but an announcement by Senator Wyland that agreement had been reached among the mental health professions early that morning and that the amendments were being drafted and would be presented in the Assembly. He asked that the Senate allow the bill to proceed to the Assembly and promised that it would come back to the Senate for concurrence. So, we have a lot of work ahead of us, but the bill is moving!

After six weeks of meetings with California Psychological Association and the California Chapter of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, an agreement was completed at 1:00 a.m. the morning of the Senate vote. The negotiations addressed the primary issue that professional clinical counseling is different from the professions already licensed, so it requires a separate license, and it is a clinical mental health profession, nothing less. New Scope of Practice language prevents LPCCs from practicing marriage and family therapy/counseling unless they have specified education and training. The other issue was the grandparenting of MFTs and LCSWs without examination, although completion of all the LPCC coursework was required. The agreement requires the Board of Behavioral Sciences and the Office of Examination Resources to compare the practice of the MFT and the LCSW to that of the LPCC and if a difference is found, that there will be an exam on those differences for the MFTs and LCSWs applying for grandparenting. CCCL appreciates the cooperation of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, represented throughout the negotiating meetings, whose willingness to compromise led to the agreement, which allows the bill to proceed.

The amended bill will be available in the next week or so, at which time we will send you a link to the bill and a sample letter of support for you to send to the Assembly Business and Professions Committee. While we do not have a hearing date yet, the bill will need to be out of this committee by July 10th.

Thank you for your continued support. We have come a long way, but still have a way to go!