AB 1053

Current law prohibits a person from using the title “social worker” without

holding a social worker certificate, and similarly prohibits the use of other titles

corresponding to higher levels of social work practice without a corresponding

credential for that level of social work practice. Those higher levels of social work

practice include advanced practice social work, independent social work, and clinical

social work. Current law further prohibits the practice of clinical social work without

a clinical social worker license. Current law specifies requirements for obtaining

these social worker credentials, all of which include a requirement of passage of an

examination.

This bill provides for an alternative pathway to obtain a social work credential

without passage of a national examination. Under the bill, an individual who has

taken the examination corresponding to a particular category of social work

credential and has not passed the examination, but who otherwise satisfies the

requirements for the credential, may obtain a provisional credential. With the

provisional credential, the individual is allowed to practice the corresponding level

of social work, may use the corresponding title, and is considered to be that level of

social worker, but the individual must obtain at least three hours of supervision

during every 160 hours of practice, in accordance with the bill and rules promulgated

by the Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work

Examining Board and subject to periodic evaluation. Upon successful completion of

the supervised practice requirement, the individual must receive a final evaluation

and may obtain a corresponding nonprovisional social worker credential without

passage of the examination.