SB 657

Under this bill, an advanced practice social worker or independent social

worker may treat substance use disorder as a specialty without obtaining a

certification from the Department of Safety and Professional Services or satisfying

educational and supervised training requirements established by the Marriage and

Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work Examining Board.

Under current law, to treat substance use disorder as a specialty, an advanced

practice social worker or independent social worker is required to obtain a

certification from DSPS or satisfy educational and supervised training requirements

established by the board.

The bill also allows an advanced practice social worker or independent social

worker to represent himself or herself as a substance abuse counselor without

obtaining a substance abuse counselor certification from DSPS. Current law

requires an advanced practice social worker or independent social worker to obtain

a substance abuse counselor certification in order to represent himself or herself as

a substance abuse counselor.