SB1635 amends Hawaii’s professional licensing statutes for marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, psychologists, and clinical social workers. The bill adds domestic violence-related coursework to initial licensure education requirements for each of these professions and requires domestic violence continuing education as part of license renewal. It also updates several education, practicum, supervision, and renewal provisions across the affected licensing chapters.
For marriage and family therapists, the bill increases the required graduate coursework from 33 to 36 semester hours and adds a domestic violence course requirement. For mental health counselors, it adds domestic violence coursework to the graduate curriculum and requires that some supervised experience may be completed electronically through videoconference under privacy and confidentiality rules. For psychologists and social workers, the bill adds domestic violence coursework to licensure requirements and, for renewals, requires domestic violence continuing education hours in addition to existing ethics and general continuing education requirements.
Impact
The bill would amend multiple sections of the Hawaii Revised Statutes governing licensure and renewal for marriage and family therapists (chapter 451J), mental health counselors (chapter 453D), psychologists (chapter 465), and social workers (chapter 467E). It would impose new domestic violence education requirements at both the entry and renewal stages, modestly increase the educational threshold for marriage and family therapist licensure, and clarify that some supervision may be conducted electronically if privacy and confidentiality standards are met. These changes would affect applicants, current licensees, licensing boards, and educational programs that prepare professionals for these licenses.
Sentiment
The available context suggests the bill is largely administrative and policy-oriented, with no recorded floor or committee votes and no transcript excerpts showing opposition or support. The bill’s stated purpose and report title indicate a straightforward effort to strengthen professional training on domestic violence across several behavioral health professions. Because it was referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection (CPN) and no further action is shown, the public record provided here does not reveal a strong contested debate, but the measure appears to have been framed as a consumer and public-safety enhancement.
Contention
The main policy point that could draw attention is the added training burden on license applicants and renewing professionals, especially the new domestic violence coursework and continuing education requirements. Another possible issue is the bill’s expansion of acceptable supervision methods to include electronic videoconference supervision, which may raise questions about oversight, licensure portability, and compliance with privacy laws. No specific opponents or supporters are identified in the provided materials, so any contention is inferred from the substance of the requirements rather than from recorded debate.