Legislature(2001 - 2002)
02/01/2002 03:20 PM House L&C
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 343-EXTEND BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS CHAIR MURKOWSKI announced that the first order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 343, "An Act extending the termination date of the Board of Professional Counselors." CHAIR MURKOWSKI, speaking on behalf of the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee, sponsor of HB 343, announced that a letter of intent was drafted by her staff in conjunction with Pat Davidson from the Legislative Audit Division. The letter suggests that the Board of [Professional Counselors] (BPC), Board of Marital and Family Therapy (BMFT), Board of Social Work Examiners, and Board of Psychologist and Psychological Associate Examiners be merged. The letter also states that in the interim before the next "sunset audit," as the boards are being reviewed by the Legislative Audit Division, that there be a report on their progress towards the merger. The letter is urging the cooperation from all four boards to begin working towards a consolidated merger. CHAIR MURKOWSKI pointed out that there is an amendment that relates to the number of hours that is required in the accreditation process for professional counselors. Number 0290 ANNE HENRY, Chair, Board of Professional Counselors; and Special Projects Coordinator, Division of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, Department of Community & Economic Development, said the BPC met telephonically on Wednesday, January 30, 2002, and developed an amendment similar to the one the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee drafted. Ms. Henry said the BPC deleted from the amendment the 48-hour requirement for the graduate program, which was limiting some people's ability to get licensure in Alaska. The amendment still maintains the 60-hour requirement overall, which keeps up the standard the BPC would like to see. Number 0343 CHAIR MURKOWSKI asked Ms. Henry to explain what the specific problem was regarding the recognition of accredited hours. MS. HENRY said the BPC recognizes graduate programs from regionally and nationally accredited universities. Some of the accrediting bodies allow a various number of semester hours for graduate programs. Some people graduated with as low as 35 hours of graduate work in their program, and were not allowed to be licensed in Alaska. She said that removing the requirement that a graduate program be a minimum of 48 hours will allow those people to still apply. She explained that one will still need to have 60 total graduate hours. REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD asked Ms. Henry about a situation when a person attains a graduate degree through "advanced standing," whereby one can complete his/her graduate degree in one year instead of two, and asked if the advanced-standing students will be ruled out because they did their graduate work in one year. Number 0478 MS. HENRY said these people will be allowed to apply if they have the total of 60 semester hours of graduate work during or after their graduate program. She added that "there is a standard of 60 hours that some of the national accrediting agencies are recommending that people adhere to; they haven't all achieved that at this point." REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD asked if those people who got advanced standing, and did their graduate work in one year, would have to go and get another year of work done, even though they already have their master's degree. MS. HENRY said that she isn't sure what "advanced standing" means, but the 60-hour requirement applies to everyone, including those who completed their master's degree in one year. REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD reported, to the best of his knowledge, that people who graduated summa cum laude and magna cum laude were able to skip some courses and finish their master's work with fewer hours. Number 0581 MS. HENRY said this statute would not recognize those who do not have the minimum of 60 semester hours completed, regardless of the length of their graduate program. She stated that Alaska Pacific University requires 60 semester hours for a graduate degree in counseling. For a master's in science and clinical psychology, the University of Alaska's requirement is "48 or 45 hours." The University of Alaska Fairbanks requires 48 hours for its graduate programs. She said the Council for Accreditation Counseling (indisc.) and related educational programs, which is the national organization, is recommending that everyone go to 60 [hours]. Number 0634 REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD asked if those people who already practice in Alaska, and only have 30 graduate hours, would have to go back to school to get an additional 30 hours to continue their license. MS. HENRY said that if these people were "grandparented" in, then they already have their license. If someone has graduated from a program and has 48 or fewer hours, he or she would have to take additional hours to meet the 60-hour requirement. CHAIR MURKOWSKI said the statutes currently provide that these people still have to have a total of at least 60 hours. Previously, she indicated, someone could get 48 hours in his/her respective program and pick up 12 additional credits in another area. MS. HENRY specified that the requirement was 48 hours within the graduate program, and after graduation some people had to pick up 12 additional hours [in order to meet Alaska's license requirements]. She said that the BPC has found through dealing with a lot of applications that some people have attended programs that are not 48 semester hours within the graduate program itself. She said that because of the "rigid" way the statute was written before, if they did not have 48 hours, they could not be licensed in Alaska. Ms. Henry offered that HB 343 would allow those people who do not have the required 60 hours to take additional hours to meet the requirement and obtain a license. Number 0765 REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG moved to adopt Amendment 1, 22- LS1275\C.1, Lauterbach, 2/1/02, which read: Page 1, line 1, following "Counselors": Insert "; and relating to licensing of professional counselors" Page 1, following line 5: Insert a new bill section to read: "* Sec. 2. AS 08.29.110(a) is amended to read: (a) The board shall issue a professional counselor license to a person who applies for the license, submits the required fee, submits two letters of recommendation from professional counselors who are familiar with the applicant's practice of professional counseling, and presents evidence satisfactory to the board that the person (1) is at least 18 years of age; (2) is not under investigation in this or another jurisdiction for an act that would constitute a violation of this chapter; (3) 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, or surrendered in lieu of discipline unless the license has been fully reinstated in that jurisdiction; (4) has passed a written examination as required by the board; the board may provide that passing a nationally recognized examination for professional counselors is sufficient to meet the examination requirement of this paragraph; (5) has successfully completed either (A) an earned doctoral degree in counseling or a related professional field from a regionally accredited institution of higher education approved by the board; or (B) an earned master's degree in counseling or a related professional field, from a regionally or nationally accredited institution of higher education approved by the board, and [CONSISTING OF] at least 60 [48 SEMESTER HOURS AND AT LEAST 12 OTHER] graduate semester hours in counseling during or after earning the master's degree [, FOR A TOTAL OF AT LEAST 60 HOURS]; and (6) has, after completing the requirement of either (5)(A) or (B) of this subsection, had at least 3,000 hours of supervised experience in the practice of professional counseling performed over a period of at least two years under the supervision of a supervisor approved under AS 08.29.210, with at least 1,000 hours of direct counseling with individuals, couples, families, or groups and at least 100 hours of face-to-face supervision by a supervisor approved under AS 08.29.210 unless, under regulations of the board, the board allows the supervision to be by telephonic or electronic means because of the remote location of the counselor." There being no objection, Amendment 1 was adopted. Number 0802 CHAIR MURKOWSKI asked if anyone had comments regarding the letter of intent. REPRESENTATIVE MEYER said he was thankful that the letter of intent was drafted as he had suggested. CHAIR MURKOWSKI said the letter of intent sends a strong message as to what the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee is looking for in HB 343. Number 0850 REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG moved to report HB 343, as amended, out of committee with individual recommendations, the accompanying fiscal notes, and the letter of intent. There being no objection, CSHB 343(L&C) moved from the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.
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