STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3337

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1830

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Health and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 1830, H.D. 2, entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish provisional or associate level licensure requirements for marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, and psychologists;

(2) Authorize insurance reimbursements for these individuals, and certain supervised social worker interns, in certain circumstances;

(3) Require psychologist license applicants to possess a doctoral degree and complete certain supervised experience requirements before sitting for the licensing examination; and

(4) Make an appropriation for an unspecified number of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions to process provisional license applications and for the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to update their internal database for the new license types and associated requirements.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Board of Psychology, State Council on Mental Health, Disability and Communication Access Board, Department of Health, Office of Wellness and Resilience, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, Mental Health America of Hawaiʻi, Present Mind Institute of Hawaii, Parents and Children Together, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Hawaiʻi Counselors Association, Brighter Bound, Fujimoto Counseling Services LLC, Pukalani Family Practice and Urgent Care, Hawaiʻi Psychological Association, National Association of Social Workers – Hawaiʻi Chapter, Hawaiian Islands Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, AlohaCare, and forty-eight individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Hawaii Medical Service Association.

Your Committees find that there is a critical shortage of mental health professionals in Hawaii. To help alleviate the high demand for mental health services, and for clinical training purposes, associate-level practitioners that have completed rigorous educational and professional development requirements should be authorized to render certain professional mental health treatment services, so long as they are practicing under licensed clinical supervision. Your Committees find that while these important and necessary services provided by associate-level practitioners do in fact allow them to fulfill certain post-degree, pre-license clinical hours required for full licensure status, almost all of these mental health professionals otherwise go unpaid for the valuable services that they perform. This has caused many talented professionals who would have otherwise stayed in Hawaii to permanently move to one of the many other states where insurance reimbursements are allowed for associate level professionals. Therefore, this measure provides a framework to authorize insurance reimbursements for certain mental health practitioners in training to enable and encourage these future mental health professionals to remain in the State. Further, this measure clarifies certain licensing examination requirements for psychologist license applicants.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying the educational requirements necessary to obtain a provisional license as an associate marriage and family therapist;

(2) Clarifying the educational requirements necessary to obtain a provisional license as an associate mental health counselor;

(3) Clarifying that the exemption from the state psychologists licensing law shall apply to any person who is a student of psychology or enrolled in a professional psychology training program defined under chapter 465, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to prevent students of other professions related to psychology from qualifying under the exemption;

(4) Authorizing psychologist license applicants that possess an associate psychologist provisional license to sit for their licensing examination before, rather than after, completing certain post-doctoral license experience requirements;

(5) Inserting language to limit the waiver period to a maximum of one year for any waiver granted by the Board of Psychology to a psychologist that is not able to obtain licensure within the statutory two-year period if the psychologist can demonstrate that the delay was caused by circumstances beyond the psychologist's control;

(6) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

(7) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1830, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1830, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Health and Human Services,

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair

________________________________ JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair