Behavioral health care licensees.

(1) Under existing law, the Board of Behavioral Sciences licenses and regulates marriage and family therapists and licensed professional clinical counselors. Existing law requires an applicant for either license to complete specified numbers of hours of supervised experience, and requires an applicant to register with the board as a marriage and family therapist intern or a licensed professional clinical counselor intern, respectively, in order to be credited for postdegree hours of supervised experience gained toward licensure. The board may issue a marriage and family therapist license to a person who holds a valid license in good standing issued by an out-of-state board of marriage counselor examiners, board of marriage and family therapists, or corresponding authority, who satisfies specified conditions applicable to a person applying on or after January 1, 2016. These conditions include that the applicant's education is substantially equivalent to that required of in-state applicants. Under existing law, education is deemed substantially equivalent if specified coursework requirements and practicum requirements are satisfied. Under existing law an applicant is required to satisfy these requirements through graduate level coursework, and remediate any deficiencies in these requirements prior to registering with the board as an intern. This bill would allow an out-of-state applicant to remediate specified coursework requirements through continuing education, and to remediate specified coursework while registered as an intern. The bill would specify hour or unit requirements for certain coursework requirements. The bill would allow an applicant to remediate the practicum requirements if the applicant holds a license as described above. (2) Existing law requires a marriage and family therapist applicant who begins his or her degree on or after August 1, 2012, to complete 60 semester units or 90 quarter units of instruction. This bill would allow those applicants to remediate up to 12 semester units or 18 quarter units while the applicant is registered as an intern. (3) Existing law requires an out-of-state marriage and family therapist applicant who began his or her degree prior to August 1, 2012, to complete 60 semester or 90 quarter units of instruction. This bill would allow those applicants to satisfy the degree requirement by completing 48 semester or 72 quarter units of instruction. (4) Under existing law the board may issue professional clinical counselor license to a person who holds a valid license as a professional clinical counselor, or other counseling license that allows the applicant to independently provide clinical mental health services out of state who satisfies specified conditions applicable to a person applying on or after January 1, 2016. Those conditions include that the applicant's education is substantially equivalent to that required of in-state applicants. Under existing law, education is deemed substantially equivalent if specified coursework requirements are satisfied. An applicant is required to satisfy these requirements through graduate level coursework, and remediate any deficiencies in these requirements prior to registering with the board as an intern. This bill would allow an out-of-state applicant to remediate specified coursework requirements through continuing education, and to remediate specified coursework while registered as an intern. The bill would specify hour or unit requirements for certain coursework requirements. The bill would allow an applicant to remediate the practicum requirements if the applicant holds a license as described above. (5) Existing law requires a professional clinical counselor applicant who began his or her degree on or after August 1, 2012, to complete 60 semester or 90 quarter units of instruction. This bill would allow those applicants to remediate up to 12 semester units or 18 quarter units while the applicant is registered as an intern. (6) Existing law requires an out-of-state professional clinical counselor applicant who began his or her degree prior to August 1, 2012, to complete 60 semester or 90 quarter units of instruction. This bill would require those out-of-state applicants to satisfy the degree requirement by completing 48 semester or 72 quarter units of instruction. The bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive and conforming changes. (7) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 4980.72, 4980.78, 4999.58, 4999.59, and 4999.60 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 1466, to be operative only if SB 1466 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last.