AB 2566: Healing arts: counseling.

Existing law, the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act, generally governs the provision of professional clinical counseling services in the state and prohibits a person from engaging in the practice of professional clinical counseling, as defined, without a license granted by the Board of Behavioral Sciences. Existing law authorizes a person who holds a license in another jurisdiction of the United States as a professional clinical counselor to provide professional clinical counseling services in this state for a period not to exceed 30 consecutive days in any calendar year, if specified conditions are met.

This bill would enact the Interstate Counseling Compact (the Compact), the purpose of which is to facilitate interstate practice of licensed professional counselors, as specified. The Compact would come into effect on the date on which the Compact statute is enacted into law in the 10th Member State, defined as a state, commonwealth, district, or territory of the United States of America that has enacted the Compact. Under the Compact, a professional counselor licensed in a Member State would be authorized to practice professional counseling in any other Member State, as specified. The Compact would establish a joint public agency known as the Counseling Compact Commission, as a instrumentality of the Member States to administer the provisions of the Compact, as specified. The Compact would require the commission to provide for the development, maintenance, operation, and utilization of a coordinated database and reporting system containing licensure, adverse action, and investigative information on all licensed individuals in Member States. The Compact would impose certain requirements on Member States, including requiring licensees to pass a nationally recognized exam approved by the Commission, and submitting certain information regarding licensees to the data system. The bill would specify that the compact shall not become operative until the Director of Consumer Affairs certifies that a majority of the board has voted in favor of joining the compact, and would require the director to notify the Secretary of State and the Legislative Counsel Bureau of the date of that certification.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.