HB 5197 Summary

• Enacts the Social Work Licensure Compact effective from passage, allowing Connecticut to participate in interstate social work practice agreements with other member states.

• Establishes a multistate license system enabling licensed social workers (bachelor's, master's, and clinical levels) to practice across member states under a single home state license rather than obtaining separate licenses in each state.

• Creates the Social Work Licensure Compact Commission as an interstate governing body with representatives from each member state to oversee implementation, maintain a data system tracking licensees, and enforce compliance.

• Requires applicants for multistate licenses to hold active unencumbered home state licenses, pass qualifying national exams, submit to criminal background checks via fingerprints, and meet education standards (accredited bachelor's, master's, or master's degree programs).

• Preserves state regulatory authority allowing remote states to take adverse action against licensees operating in their jurisdiction, with the home state retaining exclusive power to take action against the multistate license itself.