Legislature(2021 - 2022)BARNES 124
04/11/2022 03:15 PM House LABOR & COMMERCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB174 | |
| HB176 | |
| HB276 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 176 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 174 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 276 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 276-PSYCHOLOGISTS: LICENSING AND PRACTICE
3:53:27 PM
CO-CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ announced that the final order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 276, "An Act relating to licensing of
psychologists and psychological associates; and relating to the
practice of psychology."
CO-CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ explained that HB 276 is a House Labor and
Commerce Standing Committee bill that is being carried by
Representative Fields. She explained that work was done with
stakeholders to draft a committee substitute (CS), and today's
hearing will get the working document into the public sphere and
will allow Legislative Legal Services to draft amendments.
3:54:04 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SNYDER moved to adopt the proposed CS for HB 276,
version 32-LS0963\I, Ambrose, 3/30/22 ("Version I"), as the
working document.
3:54:21 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SNYDER objected for the discussion purpose.
[REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN objected.]
3:54:26 PM
GRACE KUBITZ, Staff, Representative Zack Fields, Alaska State
Legislature, introduced the proposed CS for HB 276, Version I,
on behalf of the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee,
sponsor. She deferred to Mr. Marvo Reguindin and Dr. Erin
Johnson to address the changes that have been made.
3:55:23 PM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
3:55:51 PM
CO-CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ invited Mr. Reguindin and Dr. Johnson to
provide testimony as representatives of the two leading
stakeholder groups working on the proposed CS for HB 276.
3:57:07 PM
MARVO REGUINDIN, Executive Director, Alaska Psychological
Association (APA), as the representative of a stakeholder group,
provided testimony regarding the proposed CS for HB 276, Version
I. He related that the APA committee working on HB 276 came to
agreement on dropping several sections. Subsequently, the
association met with the state licensing board to review Section
2, where there was concern that public trust could be violated,
and it was agreed to drop Section 2. Part-time licensing was
also dropped, he continued, because the time to process a part-
time license would be the same as a full-time license and there
would not be a reduction of fees. Further, monitoring the
number of part-time hours would not be possible. He said
Sections 10 and 11 were dropped as well, which included tribal
health organizations under a description of what is not included
in psychology plus the aspect of what a tribal health
organization is. There wasn't enough agreement or reaching out
to the tribal health organizations for APA to get clear concise
agreement of whether they would be agreeable to that.
3:59:45 PM
ERIN JOHNSON, PhD, Chair, Alaska Board of Psychologist and
Psychological Associate Examiners, as the representative of a
stakeholder group, provided testimony regarding the proposed CS
for HB 276, Version I. She stated that all board members met
with Mr. Reguindin on 3/18/[2022] and voted to approve the bill
with edits. She said [Version I] appears to have all the edits
included.
4:00:29 PM
MS. KUBITZ reviewed the changes from the original bill [Version
A] to Version I. She explained that in Section 2 [page 2, lines
18-20 of the original bill] language was deleted which stated,
"completed at least 3,000 hours of supervised professional
experience gained through practicum, internship, or postdoctoral
experience approved by the board, or organized through a
combination of those". Also deleted on page 2 of the original
bill was the language on lines 25-27 which stated, "has
submitted an application on a form approved by the board that
includes a brief written account of the person's education,
qualifications, and work history and proof of the person's
competence to practice psychology".
MS. KUBITZ explained that in Section 3 [on page 3, lines 10-11,]
of the original bill the words "three" and "recommendation" were
deleted and words added so that in Version I [on page 3, lines
4-6], the language reads, "letters of reference, as established
in regulations adopted by the board, from professional sources
in the field of behavioral health familiar with the applicant's
clinical level work of the previous five years."
MS. KUBITZ said Section 4 of the original bill was eliminated,
which would have amended the statute by adding a new section
that outlined the qualifications required for the board to issue
a part-time psychologist license. She further noted that
removed from the list of fees under Section 5 of the original
bill were "initial part-time license" and "part-time license
renewal" since these were deleted in the rest of the bill.
MS. KUBITZ explained that in Section 6 of the original bill [on
page 4, line 9], the words "without unreasonable delay" were
deleted. In Section 7 of the original bill [on line 17], the
words "or part-time" were deleted to conform with the rest of
the bill. She said Section 8 of the original bill was deleted,
which would have amended AS 08.86 by adding a new section that
outlined the board's ability to issue a part-time psychological
associate license and the requirements to obtain such a license.
Additionally, she continued, in Section 9 of the original bill
[on page 5, line 13], the words "or part-time" were deleted to
conform with the rest of the bill. Ms. Kubitz stated that
Section 10 of the original bill was deleted, which would have
amended AS 08.86.180(b) to add a "contractor" of "a tribal
organization who is licensed to practice psychology in another
state" to the list of psychologists to whom this section would
not apply. Further, Section 11 of the original bill was deleted
which would have added a new subsection that defined "tribal
organization".
4:03:36 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY inquired about Section 7, subsection (a).
MS. KUBITZ replied that she is referring to Version A, Section
7, subsection (a), where the words "or part-time" were deleted.
4:04:47 PM
The committee took an at-ease from 4:04 p.m. to 4:06 p.m.
4:06:51 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY pointed out that in the original bill the
words "or part-time" appear in Section 7(a), [on page 4], lines
17 and 23, and those words are deleted in Version I.
MS. KUBITZ concurred and said this error would be corrected in
the summary of changes and the summary would be redistributed to
the committee.
4:07:49 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY expressed his appreciation for the effort
involved in making these changes because he was not interested
in moving the original version of the bill. He observed that
Version I, page 1, line 10, would add the words "and a code of
ethics" [to AS 08.86.070]. He submitted that in this profession
there is already a code of ethics. He further observed that
Version I, page 2, lines 5-6, would add the words "maintain an
active membership with a national association of psychology
boards." He asked whether "and a code of ethics" is referring
to a national code of ethics.
DR. JOHNSON responded that the most widely used code of ethics
is the American Psychological Association's (APA's) code of
ethics that is adopted in [the Alaska board's] regulations, and
[Version I] specifically outlines it in the statutes. She said
the "national association of psychology board" is a member
organization. Currently, she continued, [the Alaska board] is a
member of [the Association of State and Provincial Psychology
Boards (ASPPB)], which oversees and supports boards in Canada
and all the United States.
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY concurred that Alaska should have a code
of ethics. He expressed his concern that sometimes a national
group of individuals creates a code of ethics that doesn't fit
for Alaska. For example, he said, the state was using the code
of ethics of an association he was part of, but the association
changed its code of ethics to talk about not having any kind of
relationship with a patient, which is appropriate. However, the
association also applied this to any extended family members,
which eliminates a lot of Alaska. A psychologist in a remote
area may find himself or herself romantically infatuated with
someone who is not his or her patient but who is an extended
family member of a patient.
DR. JOHNSON answered that this gives [the Alaska board] the
leeway to change the code of ethics to which it would adhere.
At this point, she continued, [the Alaska board] believes that
APA is appropriate for Alaska as it does not put such a narrow
focus on the topic mentioned by Representative McCarty; also
[the board] can change the regulation if needed.
4:11:25 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN drew attention to [Version I], page 2,
line 22, which read: "provides the documents specified in (c)
of this section." He requested confirmation that the reference
is correct.
CO-CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ responded that subsection (c) is located
under Section 3.
REPRESENTATIVE KAFUFMAN asked whether, to provide clarity, the
reference should state "in (c) of Section 3".
MS. KUBITZ agreed that that is correct and said it would be a
good clarification.
4:12:49 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SNYDER removed her objection to adopting the
proposed CS, Version I, as the working document.
REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN removed his objection to adopting the
proposed CS, Version I, as the working document. There being no
further objection, Version I was before the committee.
4:13:12 PM
DR. JOHNSON, responding to Co-Chair Spohnholz, said she had
nothing more to add regarding HB 276.
MR. REGUINDIN, responding to Co-Chair Spohnholz, said he had
nothing more to add regarding HB 276.
4:14:02 PM
CO-CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ opened public testimony on HB 276, then
closed it after ascertaining that no one wished to testify.
[HB 276 was held over.]
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 174 Sectional Analysis v. W 2.28.2022.pdf |
HL&C 4/11/2022 3:15:00 PM |
SB 174 |
| SB 174 Support Letters Received as of 2.27.22.pdf |
HL&C 4/11/2022 3:15:00 PM SL&C 2/28/2022 1:30:00 PM |
SB 174 |
| SB 174 Sponsor Statement v. G 2.10.2022.pdf |
HL&C 4/11/2022 3:15:00 PM SEDC 2/16/2022 9:00:00 AM SEDC 2/23/2022 9:00:00 AM |
SB 174 |
| CS HB 176 (L&C) v. B.pdf |
HL&C 4/11/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 176 |
| CS HB 176 (L&C) v. B Summary of Changes.pdf |
HL&C 4/11/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 176 |
| SB 174 Letter 2.18.22.pdf |
HL&C 4/11/2022 3:15:00 PM |
SB 174 |
| SB 174 Fiscal Note_DOLWD.pdf |
HL&C 4/11/2022 3:15:00 PM |
SB 174 |
| SB 174 Fiscal Note_DEED.pdf |
HL&C 4/11/2022 3:15:00 PM |
SB 174 |
| HB 276 ver. I 4.5.22.pdf |
HL&C 4/11/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 276 |
| HB 276 Sectional Analysis ver. I 4.11.22.pdf |
HL&C 4/11/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 276 |
| CS HB 176 (L&C) v. B Summary of Changes_corrected 4.12.22.pdf |
HL&C 4/11/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 176 |