Pending Legislation
For further information regarding pending legislation see California's Legislative Information website, which provides the bill's language, history, status, and analysis as provided by the California State Legislature. For further information regarding approved legislation, contact the Board office at (916) 574-7830 or see Approved Legislation for legislation that has been chaptered.
You can download the current version of the Board's Statutes and Regulations Relating to the Practice of Marriage and Family Therapy, Educational Psychology, and Clinical Social Work. The Board's Statutes and Regulations contain sections of the California Business and Professions Code and the California Code of Regulations. The publication also contains miscellaneous code sections from the California Health and Safety Code and the California Welfare and Institutions Code.
BOARD SUPPORTED LEGISLATION
The following Board-supported bills are pending in the Legislature:
AB 40 (Yamada) Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse: Reporting
This bill would require mandated reporters to report suspected instances of elder or dependent adult physical abuse that occurred in a long-term care facility via telephone to local law enforcement and a written report be made to both the local ombudsman and the local law enforcement agency. By requiring mandated reporters to report physical abuse to both entities, this bill protects victims by ensuring that both the local ombudsman and local law enforcement are aware of all reports of this type of criminal activity.
The Board has one suggested amendment that could increase the clarity of the reporting requirements for mandated reporters. The Board suggests that the proposed reporting requirement in the case of elder or dependent adult "physical abuse" be changed to reference "physical abuse and/or sexual abuse."
The Board is aware that the bill references a definition of physical abuse in Welfare and Institutions code section 15610.63, and that the referenced definition includes types of sexual abuse. However, the Board is concerned that a mandated reporter in the field will not have access to this definition, and that the term "physical and/or sexual abuse" will eliminate any confusion whether sexual abuse is to be included. This suggested amendment is consistent with other areas of law which reference physical and/or sexual abuse. The Board adopted a "Support" position on this legislation at its May 16, 2012 meeting.
Status: This bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Human Services.
AB 154 (Beall) Health Care Coverage: Mental Health Services
This bill would require a health care services plan to provide coverage for the diagnosis and medically necessary treatment of a mental illness under the same terms and conditions applied to other medical conditions. Current mental health parity laws only require coverage for severe mental illness and a child's severe emotional disturbance.
The Board adopted a "support" position on this legislation at its meeting on May 18, 2011.
Status: This bill is pending in the Senate Committee on Health
AB 171 (Beall) Pervasive Development Disorder or Autism
This bill would require a health care service plan that provides hospital, medical, or surgical coverage to provide coverage for the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of pervasive developmental disorder or autism. The Board believes this bill would help to close several loopholes that insurers currently use in order to deny coverage to those with pervasive developmental disorder or autism. The Board adopted a "support" position on this legislation at its meeting on May 16, 2012.
Status: This bill is currently in the Senate Health Committee.
AB 1785 (B. Lowenthal) Medi-Cal Reimbursement for Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics
This bill would add licensed marriage and family therapists to the list of health care professionals whose services are reimbursed through Medi-Cal on a per visit basis to federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics. The Board agrees that its licensed marriage and family therapists have the qualifications to be included in this group of professionals.
The Board adopted a "support" position on this legislation at its meeting on May 16, 2012.
Status: This bill is currently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 1904 (Block, Butler & Cook) Military Spouses: Temporary Licenses
This bill would allow the Board to issue a temporary license to an applicant who can prove that he or she is married to or in a domestic partnership or other legal union with an active duty member of the U.S. Armed Forces who is assigned to active military duty in California. This bill would also allow the Board to adopt regulations to administer this temporary license program. The Board is supportive of this bill because it allows the Board, through regulations, to maintain consumer protection by specifying standards that a temporary licensee must meet, while at the same time assisting military families by allowing them to obtain a professional license in this state more quickly.
The Board adopted a "support" position on this legislation at its meeting on May 16, 2012.
Status: This bill is currently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 2570 (Hill) Licensees: Settlement Agreements
This bill would close a loophole in current law that allows a Board licensee or registrant to prohibit a consumer who settles a civil suit with that licensee or registrant from filing a complaint with or cooperating in an investigation of the Board. This bill protects consumers by disallowing "gag clauses" that hamper the ability of a regulatory board to take disciplinary action against a negligent practitioner.
The Board adopted a "support" position on this legislation at its meeting on May 16, 2012.
Status: This bill is currently on third reading in the Assembly.
SB 1238 (Price) Professions: Board of Psychology: Board of Behavioral Sciences
This bill will extend the Board's sunset date until January 1, 2017. The Board adopted a "support" position on this legislation at its meeting on May 16, 2012.
Status: This bill is currently in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
THE BOARD IS MONITORING THE FOLLOWING LEGISLATION:
AB 367 (Smyth) Board of Behavioral Sciences: Reporting
This bill would add the Board of Behavioral Sciences to the list of boards that are required to report the name and license number of a person whose license has been revoked, suspended, surrendered, or made inactive, to the State Department of Health Care Services within ten working days.
The Board supports the intent of this legislation to prevent providers who are no longer licensed from submitting for and receiving Medi-Cal reimbursement. However, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) is in the process of implementing a new database system. As this change will require a costly change to the Board's database system, the Board requests a delayed implementation date to January 1, 2015. At this time, the new system will be fully implemented, and DCA staff will be able to make the required changes at a substantially reduced cost to the Board.
At its May 16, 2012 meeting, the Board adopted a "support if amended" position on this bill, requesting that it be amended to have a January 1, 2015 implementation date.
Status: This bill is currently in the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee.
AB 1588 (Atkins) Reservist Licensees: Fees and Continuing Education
This bill would require the Board to waive continuing education requirements and renewal fees for a licensee or registrant while he or she is called to active duty as a member of the United States Military Reserve or the California National Guard if he or she meets certain requirements.
The Board supports the intent of this bill to assist military members while they are actively serving. At its meeting on May 16, 2012, the Board took a "support if amended" position on this bill, requesting the following amendments:
- Time Limit To Pay Renewal Fee After Active Status Complete. The Board requests an amendment setting a time limit to clarify when the renewal fee must be paid once the licensee or registrant completes active service.
- Affidavit Substantiating Active Duty Service. Currently, this bill only requires the active duty reservist, or his or her spouse or domestic partner, to provide written notice to the Board substantiating the active duty service. The Board requests an amendment specifying that the term "written notice" be replaced by the term "affidavit."
Status: This bill is currently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 1932 (Gorell) United States Armed Services: Healing Arts Boards
AB 1932 would require the Board to annually issue a written report to the Department of Veterans Affairs and to the Legislature that details the Board's method of evaluating education, training, and experience obtained in military service. The report must also state whether the military education, training, and experience can be applied to the Board's licensing requirements.
The Board is supportive of allowing military education, training, and experience to be used toward licensing requirements if it is equivalent to the Board's current licensing requirements. The Board has very specific requirements for evaluating education and experience in its licensing laws. Currently, if an applicant for licensure or registration had military education and experience, the Board would conduct a review to determine if that experience is substantially equivalent to current licensing requirements.
The Board already has a procedure in place to evaluate an applicant's education, training and experience, and would perform such an evaluation and maintain records of such a military program if this type of application were received. In addition, it would be very time consuming for the Board's already limited staff to be required to seek out and evaluate scenarios where someone might gain military education or experience toward licensure, before the Board receives an application from such an individual. Therefore, at its May 16, 2012 meeting, the Board adopted an "oppose" position on this bill.
Status: This bill is currently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 1976 (Logue) Acceptance of Military Education and Experience Toward Licensing Requirements
AB 1976 would require the Board to accept education, training, and experience gained in the military toward licensing requirements unless the Board determines that this education, training, and experience is not substantially equivalent to licensing requirements. It would also require the Board, if it accredits or approves schools offering education course credits toward licensing requirements, to require schools seeking accreditation or approval to have procedures in place to fully accept an applicant's military education, training and experience toward an educational program which leads to licensure.
The Board believes it should be excluded from this bill, as it does not accredit or approve schools and it already has a procedure in place to evaluate an applicant's education, training and experience. Such an evaluation would be performed, and records of such a military program maintained for future use, if this type of application were received.
At its meeting on May 16, 2012, the Board took an "oppose" position on this legislation.
Status: This bill is currently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 1134 (Yee) Persons of Unsound Mind: Psychotherapist Duty to Protect
Current law allows no monetary liability or cause of action to arise against a psychotherapist who fails to warn of and protect from a patient's threatened violent behavior, or who fails to predict and warn of and protect from a patient's violent behavior, except where the patient has communicated to the psychotherapist a serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim or victims.
This bill would rename the duty of a psychotherapist, defined in Section 43.92 of the Civil Code, from "duty to warn and protect" to "duty to protect.". At its meeting on May 16, 2012, the Board opted to take no position on this bill.
Status: This bill has just completed first reading in the Assembly.
SB 1172 (Lieu) Sexual Orientation Change Efforts
This bill, as amended July 5, 2012, prohibits a mental health provider from engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with a patient under 18. The bill specifically defines the term "sexual orientation change efforts", and makes any such efforts on a patient under 18 unprofessional conduct, for which the mental health provider would be subject to disciplinary action by his or her licensing entity.
At its meeting on July 19, 2012, the Board adopted a "support" position on this legislation.
Status: This bill is currently on third reading in the Senate.
SB 1183 (Lieu) Board of Behavioral Sciences: Continuing Education
SB 1183 would remove the Board's authority to approve continuing education (CE) providers, and instead require that Board licensees obtain their required CE from an accredited educational institution, or a CE provider that is approved by an accrediting organization, such as a professional association, a licensed health facility, a governmental entity, or a continuing education unit of an accredited educational institution.
The Board is concerned that this bill removes its authority to set CE standards and requirements. The Board is the sole regulating entity for licensed marriage and family therapists, licensed educational psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, and licensed professional clinical counselors. Therefore, it possesses the experience and knowledge necessary to best set CE standards.
In addition, this bill does not specifically define "accrediting organizations" If standards for an accrediting organization remain unspecified, licensees may be permitted to obtain CE credit from any provider approved by an entity that calls itself an "accrediting organization."
The Board has identified a number of issues regarding its CE program, and has formed a CE committee to address these issues. The committee is in the process of working with stakeholders and interested parties to develop regulatory changes to address specified areas of concern. The first public meeting of the CE committee was held April 18, 2012. Additional public meetings of the CE committee are set for May 31, 2012, and July 19, 2012. For these reasons, at its meeting on May 16, 2012, the Board took an "oppose" position on this legislation.
Status: This bill is currently in the Assembly Business, Professions and Consumer Protection Committee.
