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Approved Legislation - 2007

For further information regarding 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.

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.

The following legislation became effective July 12, 2007:

AB 1525 (Cook) Bureau for Private, Postsecondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE)
This legislation temporarily extends school approvals formerly issued by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE) until July 1, 2008 for schools that had a valid approval to operate as of June 30, 2007. This legislation is intended to allow these schools to retain their approvals for the purpose of interpreting laws that require graduation from a BPPVE-approved school as a qualification for registration or licensure. This urgency bill became effective immediately on July 12, 2007 and applies retroactively to July 1, 2007.

The following legislation became effective January 1, 2007:

AB 1852 (Yee) Licensed Mental Health Service Provider Education Program
The board sponsored this bill, which allows marriage and family therapist interns and associate clinical social workers to be eligible for educational loan repayment from the Licensed Mental Health Service Provider Education Program (Program). This bill also provides technical cleanup of the Program’s statute. Loan reimbursement will not be available until regulations are implemented by the Health Professions Education Program.

AB 2283 (Oropeza) Physicians and Surgeons: Cultural Background and Foreign Language Proficiency
Physicians are currently permitted to report information regarding their cultural background and foreign language proficiency at the time of license renewal to the Medical Board of California (MBC). The board voted to support this bill, which requires the MBC to aggregate this information and report it on their website by October 1 of each year beginning in 2007, making this information more accessible to consumers.

AB 3013 (Koretz) Medical Information: Disclosures
The board voted to support this bill, which strengthens patient confidentiality laws by conforming California law to provisions of HIPAA which limit the release of patient information, provide the patient the opportunity to prohibit such a release, and permit the health care provider to make judgments regarding releases in emergency situations.

SB 1475 (Figueroa) Reorganization of LEP and Administration Statutes; Portability of Licensure for LCSWs
This bill reorganizes and revises the Board’s Administration statutes for clarity, removes obsolete provisions, and makes some minor refinements. This bill also reorganizes and revises the Licensed Educational Psychologist (LEP) statutes to remove obsolete provisions, modernize statutes relating to licensure, scope of practice, continuing education, and enforcement, and creates better consistency with the Board’s other practice acts. Additionally, this bill facilitates portability of licensure for clinical social workers licensed in another state and extends the Board’s sunset date by one year to July 1, 2009.

The following legislation of interest to the profession became effective January 1, 2007.

AB 525 (Chu) Child Abuse Reporting
The board voted to support this bill, sponsored by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT). Current law authorizes but does not require the reporting of instances where a child suffers or is at substantial risk of suffering serious emotional damage (“emotional abuse”). This bill:

• Clarifies that “emotional abuse” may be reported, but is not required to be reported.
• Clarifies that confidentiality protections for mandated reporters also apply to those who report “emotional abuse.”
• Permits those who report “emotional abuse” to receive the same feedback as they would when making a mandated report of child abuse upon a final disposition of a case.
• Conforms the procedures for reporting of “emotional abuse” to certain existing procedures applicable to mandated reporting.

AB 2257 (Committee on Business and Professions)
This bill requires a psychologist to retain patient records for a minimum of 7 years. This bill does NOT apply to Board of Behavioral Sciences licensees.

AB 2357 (Karnette)
This bill deletes the sunset of and extends until January 1, 2013, "Laura's Law," which provides an option for counties to require outpatient treatment for a seriously mentally ill person who is unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision, and has a history of not complying with treatment, and presents a serious risk of harm to self or others, among other factors.

Updated: January 28, 2008