Healing arts: licensees: Board of Behavioral Sciences.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of marriage and family therapists and marriage and family therapist interns and trainees by the Board of Behavioral Sciences. Existing law requires the issuance of a license to practice marriage and family therapy to qualified applicants, as defined, who pass a board-administered written or oral examination or, under specified circumstances, a clinical vignette written examination. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of social workers by the Board of Behavioral Sciences. Existing law requires each applicant to be examined by the board and, on and after January 1, 2014, upon a specified determination by the board, requires the issuance of a license to each applicant or registrant meeting specified requirements who successfully passes the Association of Social Work Boards Clinical Level Examination administered by the Association of Social Work Boards and a separate California jurisprudence and ethics examination incorporated or developed and administered by the board. Existing law, the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of professional clinical counselors and interns by the Board of Behavioral Sciences. Existing law authorizes the board to issue a license to any person meeting specified educational requirements, satisfying the supervised experience requirement, and providing evidence of a passing score on a national licensing examination, as determined by the board. This bill would repeal those provisions that would have become operative on January 1, 2014. The bill would instead, for the practice areas of marriage and family therapy, social work, and professional clinical counselors, revise and recast provisions related to examinations to require, on and after January 1, 2013, the passage of specified clinical examinations and a California law and ethics examination, subject to specified fees. The bill would require applicants for licensure to retake the law and ethics examination under certain circumstances, as specified. The bill would, on and after January 1, 2013, require marriage and family therapist interns, associate clinical social workers, and professional clinical counselor interns to take the law and ethics examination, subject to specified fees. The bill would authorize the board to adopt the Association of Social Work Boards Clinical Level Examination as the clinical examination for social workers, upon a specified determination. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 4999.120 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 146, to be operative only if SB 146 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2012, and this bill is chaptered last.