Legislature(1999 - 2000)
05/06/1999 02:20 PM Senate L&C
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
CHAIRMAN MACKIE announced HB 208 to be up for consideration.
REPRESENTATIVE LISA MURKOWSKI, sponsor, said HB 208 is a
housekeeping bill that was requested by the Board of Licensed
Professional Counselors and the Counseling Association. HB 208
defines the authority of the Board created in SB 331 last year. It
extends by six months the deadline for an individual to qualify to
become an eligible professional counselor. She noted that Ms.
Reardon would address some amendments.
Number 100
MS. CATHERINE REARDON, Division of Occupational Licensing, said the
first amendment adds to page 2, line 30, the language:
"has not had a license related to the practice of counseling,
psychology, marital and family therapy, or social work in this
or another jurisdiction suspended, revoked, limited or
surrendered in lieu of discipline unless the license has been
fully reinstated in that jurisdiction:".
Under the original bill an individual could not qualify if his/her
counseling license was suspended or revoked elsewhere. MS. REARDON
said, "Since we have a lot of allied mental health professions, we
didn't think we'd want someone who had their psychology license
revoked turning around and becoming a professional counselor any
more than we wanted to have someone with their professional
counselor license revoked coming to Alaska." The issue is that a
professional with a particular license could have his/her license
revoked in one profession and apply for a license in a very similar
profession.
MS. REARDON continued. New language was added to page 3 that
establishes the grounds for discipline or denial. It provides that
disciplinary action for other types of mental health licenses is
grounds for denial or discipline of a counseling license.
The last change is not substantive. The reference to licensed
psychiatrists was removed because they are not licensed separately
from physicians therefore the reference is redundant.
Number 222
SENATOR KELLY expressed concern that if a person's license was
suspended elsewhere and then cleared, but that person chose to move
to Alaska and get licensed, they could not under these terms
because they didn't get relicensed in the former state.
MS. REARDON said that is true, but there is a more frequent
situation where someone gets into trouble in another state and then
decides to move to Alaska to avoid a bad reputation.
SENATOR KELLY asked why "licensed psychiatrist" was deleted.
MS. REARDON explained that licensed psychiatrists were removed from
the list of professionals who can supervise the training of a
professional counselor. Both licensed physicians and licensed
psychiatrists were listed which is redundant because all
psychiatrists are physicians. She suggested removing the word
"limited" from the list of things that automatically disqualify an
applicant from getting a license. Denial of a license would then
be an option, not automatic.
REPRESENTATIVE MURKOWSKI said she had no problem taking it out.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to adopt SCSHB 208(L&C) as the working document
of the committee. There being no objection, it was so ordered.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to insert on page 3, line 11 "or nationally"
after "regionally." He explained some institutions have national
accreditation but not regional accreditation. The Alaska Commission
on Postsecondary Education treats them equally in regard to student
loans. He noted that would be consistent with previous legislative
action. There being no objection, it was so ordered.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to pass SCSHB 208(L&C) from committee with
individual recommendations. There were no objections and it was so
ordered.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|