Healing arts: therapists and counselors: licensing.

Existing law provides for the licensure or registration and regulation of marriage and family therapists and interns and professional clinical counselors by the Board of Behavioral Sciences. Under existing law, the board may issue a license to an applicant who holds a valid license from another state if, among other requirements, his or her education and supervised experience requirements are substantially similar, as specified. Under existing law, for marriage and family therapist applicants who apply for licensure or professional clinical counselor applicants who apply for examination eligibility or registration, the board is required to accept education gained outside of California toward applicable requirements if it is substantially similar and the applicant completes certain coursework and training, and may accept education as substantially equivalent if it meets certain requirements, including the completion of at least 48 semester or 72 quarter units of instruction, as specified. These provisions apply to marriage and family therapist applicants who apply between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2013, and to professional clinical counselor applicants who apply between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2013, and are operative until January 1, 2014. This bill would extend the application of those provisions to December 31, 2015, and extend the operative date of those provisions to January 1, 2016. Under existing law, for a marriage and family therapist applicant who holds a valid license from another state and who applies for licensure on or after January 1, 2014, and a professional clinical counselor applicant who holds a valid license from another state and who applies for examination eligibility on or after January 1, 2014, the board may issue a license to that person if, among other requirements, his or her supervised experience is substantially equivalent. For an applicant who does not hold a license, the board is required to accept experience and education gained outside of California toward the licensure or registration requirements if it is substantially equivalent. Under existing law, education is substantially equivalent if it meets certain requirements, including the completion of credit level coursework from a degree-granting institution that provides specified instruction and an 18-hour course in California law and professional ethics. This bill would delay the application of those provisions to January 1, 2016.