Posted: | January 30, 2017 02:37 PM |
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From: | Senator Thomas H. Killion and Sen. John P. Blake |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Updating Licensure Requirements and Scope of Practice for Clinical Social Work |
Please join us in co-sponsoring legislation that would update Act 136 of 1998, the Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors Act (“Act”). This Act licenses clinical social workers, social workers, marriage and family therapists and professional counselors and creates a licensing board to regulate the professions. It has been nearly two decades since the Act was passed, and much has changed in the delivery of health care services, including social work services. The goal of our bill is to update the licensure requirements and scope of practice for clinical social work by reflecting and incorporating the changes that have taken place since the law was originally enacted; and are now in place in a large majority of states. The primary revisions proposed to the Act are:
This initiative is a priority of the Pennsylvania Chapter of National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Pennsylvania Society of Clinical Social Workers. This legislation will be identical to Senate Bill 1078 (Blake) and the amended form of House Bill 1415 (Miccarelli) from the 2015-2016 Legislative Session. House Bill 1415, PN 3450, was approved by the House of Representatives on June 13, 2016 by a vote of 186-5, and was unanimously approved by the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee on October 18, 2016. |
Introduced as SB530