Existing law, the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act, the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act, and the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act, generally govern the provision of marriage and family therapy services, clinical social work services, and professional clinical counseling services, respectively, in the state and prohibit a person from practicing those healing arts without a license granted pursuant to the respective provisions of each act.
This bill, until January 1, 2026, would, under all of the acts described above, authorize a person who holds a license in another jurisdiction of the United States as a marriage and family therapist, clinical social worker, or professional clinical counselor to provide services in the state for a period not to exceed 30 consecutive days in any calendar year if certain conditions are met, including the license from another jurisdiction is at the highest level for independent clinical practice in the jurisdiction in which the license was granted, the client is located in California during the time the person seeks to provide care in California, and the client is a current client of the person and had an established, ongoing client-provider relationship with the person at the time the client became located in California. The bill would require a person who intends to provide services pursuant to those provisions to provide the Board of Behavioral Sciences with certain information before providing services, including the jurisdiction in which the person is licensed, the type of license held, and the license number. The bill would also make various nonsubstantive and conforming changes.

Statutes affected:
03/08/23 - Amended Assembly: 4980 BPC, 4980.30 BPC, 4991.2 BPC
05/31/23 - Amended Senate: 4980 BPC, 4980.30 BPC, 4991.2 BPC
06/07/23 - Amended Senate: 4980 BPC, 4980.30 BPC, 4991.2 BPC
06/19/23 - Amended Senate: 4980 BPC, 4980.30 BPC, 4991.2 BPC
09/11/23 - Enrolled: 4980 BPC, 4980.30 BPC, 4991.2 BPC
10/10/23 - Chaptered: 4980 BPC, 4980.30 BPC, 4991.2 BPC