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Legislative Update

September 23, 2008

Regrettably, AB 1486, the counselor licensure bill, has died.

With last Friday night's agreement on a state budget, all hope of the legislature hearing our bill has vanished. The bill only needed one more vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee, and that committee agreed to reconsider the bill. The fiscal analysis clearly indicated that the measure would not require any new state dollars. We worked very hard to explain our complicated bill to the Senators and might have had that needed vote, but time ran out. The Senate Rules Committee did not rule on our request for the bill to be heard again in committee, and so it never reached the Senate Floor.

The opposition

The California Psychological Association and the California Chapter of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy worked very hard to defeat the bill. Their interpretation of the bill put enough doubt into the Senators' minds that it was easier for them to vote no than yes. Since the Senators are not mental health professionals, they rely on those in the established professions to advise them. We did have the support of the California Psychiatric Association and the Board of Behavioral Sciences and the neutrality of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, so the support and opposition was split, leading to the confusion. We did try to meet the opposition's concerns, taking many amendments, but in the end, they were more interested in protecting their turf than allowing professional counselors to be licensed in California.

Thanks to all who supported the bill

Hundreds of counselors wrote letters, contacted their legislators, and sent contributions to support the expenses of sponsoring legislation. This support was phenomenal! Our author's office, our lobbyists and our witnesses in the committee hearings did an amazing job. Counselors in the CCCL Advocacy Network, who were assigned to each Senator and Assembly Member, deserve everyone's thanks for their persistent advocacy. Counselors on the CCCL board deserve special thanks for contributing their time and expertise on a monthly basis over the past six years. We could not have come as far as we have without the support from state and national counseling associations, especially the American Counseling Association and the National Board for Certified Counselors. It is very disappointing that all these efforts did not produce the results that we needed.

Looking forward

Once we get through the denial, the anger, the bargaining, the depression and come to acceptance, we will most likely introduce a bill in the next legislative session, beginning January 2009. This is how other states have finally gotten their bills passed. It is unfortunate that counselors, who are waiting for this license in order to practice their profession in California, volunteer their expertise in a disaster, or work with veterans returning to California, will have to wait another year.

The efforts and financial contributions of counselors in California have brought us so close to the goal this year. We hope that we can count on that support to continue next year, for we will need help in getting to know 25% of the legislature, that will be elected this November, and we will need the financial resources to mount our campaign for a new bill in 2009.

It would be very encouraging to receive contributions to CCCL at P.O. Box 6493, Ventura, CA 93006-6493. Paypal isavailable on the website www.caccl.org.

Counselors, who would like to help with next year's effort to get a counselor licensure bill passed, can let us know how they can help at info@caccl.org.

California Coalition for Counselor Licensure

email: info@caccl.org