Senate Bill 1374 Summary

• Restructures the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners from a credentialing committee system to a unified board with eight professional members (two each from social work, counseling, marriage and family therapy, and substance abuse counseling) plus four public members.

• Establishes an Executive Director position to handle administrative duties and personnel management, including hiring investigators who must complete nationally recognized training within one year of hire.

• Creates Academic Review Committees (replacing Professional Credentialing Committees) to review applications with non-approved curricula, assess educational and work experience requirements, and make recommendations to the board.

• Modifies licensure requirements by replacing references to credentialing committee approvals with board rule requirements, changes licensure terminology from "reciprocity" to "endorsement," and reduces the experience requirement for licensure by endorsement from five years to three years with 3,600 hours of work experience.

• Adds specific hour requirements for clinical supervision and direct client contact (1,600+ hours) versus indirect client service (maximum 1,600 hours) across all behavioral health professions, and allows recognition of up to 400 hours of psychoeducation toward work experience requirements.