House Status:
Senate Status:
Senate Status:
Minutes for SB386 - Committee on Health and Human Services
Short Title
Adding related educational degrees to professional counselor licensure criteria.
Minutes Content for Wed, Mar 7, 2018
Eileen Ma, Assistant Revisor, Office of Revisor of Statutes, explained that the bill would amend the Professional Counselors Licensure Act and would allow licensure for an applicant to become a professional counselor if they earned a graduate degree in a counseling-related field as long as all the remaining qualifications set forth in the statute are met. She said it would be applicable to individuals applying for initial licensure or individuals licensed to practice counseling in another jurisdiction.
Proponent:
Max Foster, Executive Director, Behavorial Sciences Regulatory Board, supports SB386 because it does not change the content of the educational subject matter that is currently required in order to be licensed as a Professional Counselor with the Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board, but if passed, will allow individuals who meet the educational subject matter areas that are currently required, but have a degree in a field related to Counseling, to be licensed by the Regulatory Board (Attachment 1).
Opponents:
No opponents stood before the committee.
Neutral:
No neutral parties stood before the committee.
Proponent written:
Adrew Secor, President Elect, Kansas Counseling Association, KCA Mental Health Legislative and Advocacy Chair (Attachment 2).
Opponent and Neutral written:
No opponent or neutral parties submitted written testimony.
After a short question and answer period, the Chairperson closed the hearing on SB386.
