The Counselor licensure bill is still alive!

AB 1486 will be heard by the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee on June 9, 2008

Although this committee voted down our bill last July 9th, it also voted to give the bill reconsideration.  During the past several months CCCL has crafted several amendments, which will strengthen the bill, and it is this version that the committee will vote on.

If the bill passes this committee, it will proceed to the Senate Public Safety Committee, the Fiscal Committee, to the Senate floor for a vote by all the State Senators, back to the Assembly for a concurrence vote, because there have been amendments, and finally to the Governor's desk for his signature.  If the bill proceeds successfully through all of these steps, it would go into effect January 2009.  We will need support from counselors at each of these steps, but right now we need to get the bill through the Senate Business and Professions Committee.

If the bill does not pass this committee, it will "die" and a new bill will have to be introduced in the next legislative session beginning January 2009.  The bill would have to again be approved by the Assembly and the Senate and all of the committees. 

Let's keep up the momentum and get the bill passed this year!  The bill has already passed the State Assembly and it has the support of the Board of Behavioral Sciences, the California Psychiatric Association, the neutrality of the 30,000-strong California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT), the support of national counseling associations and thousands of California counselors, like you.  Objective readers of the bill agree that it is a good bill.  The requirements are on par with the currently licensed MFTs and LCSWs and would license professional counselors, who could help meet the shortage of mental health workers in California.

Opposition:  CCCL has been working with the California Psychological Association (CPA) in a series of meetings and correspondence over the last several months.  Although CCCL has accepted several amendments from the CPA, it cannot agree to its most recent amendments, because they would weaken the bill and compromise the training of counselors.

The American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy – California Chapter continues to oppose and is telling its members that the LPC license would diminish the status of the MFT license and might even edge MFTs out of their licensed status in the future.  This has never been the intent in California and, in fact, this has not happened in the 47 states where both disciplines are licensed. 

This is how you can help now:  Because the bill has been amended since the July 2007 hearing, CCCL will again make its case and the opposition will make its case in the June 9, 2008 hearing.  You can help by sending a letter of support for the bill to the nine committee members before the hearing.  Research shows that legislators and their staff are influenced much more by voters than by lobbyists.  Well thought out letters are much more influential than form letters.

Please "personalize" the following sample letter and address it to each of the nine Senate Committee members.  If you can only send one letter, send it to the Chair.  The letter to the Chair will be included in the Committee Analysis, so please send it by May 20.  Post mail is preferred, but fax numbers are included below, if you prefer.

Mailing address for all correspondence:
Legislator's Name
Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

Chair:  Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas (Democrat from the Los Angeles area) fax: 916-445-8899
Vice Chair:  Senator Sam Aanestad (Republican from Nevada City area) fax: 916-445-7750

Committee Members:
Senator Ellen Corbett (Democrat from the San Leandro area) fax: 916-327-2433
Senator Jeff Denham (Republican from the Modesto area)  fax: 916-445-0773
Senator Dean Florez (Democrat from the Bakersfield area) fax: 916-327-5989
Senator Tom Harman (Republican from the Costa Mesa area) fax: 916-445-9263
Senator S. Joseph Simitian (Democrat from the Palo Alto area) fax: 916-323-4529
Senator Leland Yee (Democrat from the San Francisco area) fax: 916-327-2186
Senator Ron Calderon (Democrat from Montebello area, our author's brother who voted "yes") fax: 916-327-8755

If you happen to be a constituent of one of the committee members, be sure to say so in the opening sentence of your letter and include your address that indicates that you are a constituent.

Copy our author, Assembly Member Charles Calderon, State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814 (fax: 916-319-2158) (Send one copy and indicate others to whom you have sent your letter)

Copy our lobbying firm, Sacramento Advocacy, 2220 Capitol Ave., Sacramento, CA 95816 (fax: 916-448-3848) (Send one copy and indicate others to whom you have sent your letter)