STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1799

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1300

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1300, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a framework for granting provisional, associate-level marriage and family therapist, mental health counselor, and psychologist licensure.

More specifically, this measure:

(1) Requires the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to grant provisional associate marriage and family therapist, associate mental health counselor, and associate psychologist licensure to eligible individuals;

(2) Establishes requirements for, and restrictions on, provisional associate marriage and family therapist, associate mental health counselor, and associate psychologist licenses;

(3) Authorizes insurance reimbursements for certain services provided by supervised licensed associate marriage and family therapists, supervised licensed associate mental health counselors, supervised associate psychologists, and supervised social work interns;

(4) Requires each applicant for a psychologist license to possess a doctoral degree and complete one year of post‑doctoral supervised experience in health service in psychology before sitting for the psychologist licensing examination;

(5) Authorizes the Board of Psychology to grant waivers of state-employed clinical psychologist licensure requirements in certain circumstances; and

(6) Appropriates moneys to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to establish, recruit, and hire one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) office assistance V position and update the Department's Professional and Vocational Licensing Division's internal databases.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Council on Mental Health;

AlohaCare; Catholic Charities Hawaii; Elemental Guidance, LLC; Erik E. Acuna, LCSW, LLC; Hawaii Psychological Association; National Association of Social Workers; Spill The Tea Cafe; The Hawaiian Islands Association for Marriage and Family Therapy;

Xplor Counseling; and numerous individuals.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Board of Psychology, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Hawaii Chapter of The National Association of Social Workers, Hawaii Psychological Association, and The Hawaiian Islands Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Your Committee finds that granting provisional, associate-level marriage and family therapist, mental health counselor, and psychologist licenses will help to satisfy the critical need for high-quality mental health practitioners in the State.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1300, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair