Revision of Psychology Licensing Law
2010 General Assembly
The KPA Board voted to endorse Senate Bill (SB) 12/ House Bill (HB) 488 during the 2010 legislative session. SB 12/HB 488 addressed the Revision of the Psychology Licensing Law to follow the recommendations made by the APA Council of Representatives with regard to the Sequence of Training and to make other changes in the law. KPA had introduced similar legislation during the 2008 session and then again in the 2009 session as SB 175.
After unanimous passage by both the House and the Senate, HB 488 was signed into law by Governor Beshear on March 30, 2010!
What happens next: The bill will not actually become law until July 15, 2010 (90 days after the end of the legislative session). The new CE requirements (39/3-year renewal cycle, rather than 30/3-year renewal cycle) will go into effect with license renewals occurring after June 30, 2013. The sequence of training change allowing full licensure after two full years of supervised experience, not necessarily including a post-doctoral year, will become available with the promulgation of regulations by KBEP defining and fully implementing the sequence of training changes.
NEW! KPA Legislative Agent, Dr. Sheila Schuster, has put together a "Frequently-Asked Questions about Implementation of HB 488 (2010 GA) Revision of the Psychology Licensing Law (KRS 319)" reference sheet. Click here to view the document.
Psychologists have been recognized in Kentucky statute since 1948, the third-oldest psychology licensing law in the nation! Proposed changes in the current law (KRS 319):
- The primary change is in moving forward the point at which doctoral-level psychologists can be fully licensed, while maintaining the same high level of requirements for education and supervised experience. This change will make it easier for agencies like the Community Mental Health Centers and the Departments of Corrections and Juvenile Justice to hire doctoral-level psychologists, addressing the shortage of professional psychologists in the public sector.
- This change also allows students who have completed their education and clinical internship to be hired and to have the capacity to earn money to pay back student loans at an earlier point in time. This revision is responsive to action taken by the American Psychological Association (APA) in formally recommending that states make this change in the sequence of licensure.
- The bill clarifies that psychologists who do not provide direct psychological services to clients may teach, do research and provide consultation to organizations and may call themselves “psychologists” without being licensed.
- The scope of practice of psychologists will include the term “psychological testing”, while the definition in statute remains unchanged. The practice of school psychologists and school guidance counselors remains unchanged. These professionals will continue to be under the jurisdiction of the Board of Education, not the Board of Psychology. There is clarification of the exemption of other professions in using symptomatic and behavioral assessments and interpretations of testing.
- The continuing education (CE) requirement is raised – from the current requirement of 30 CEs per 3-year renewal period – to a requirement of 39 CEs per 3-year period. This is the first increase since the CE requirement was set in 1986. This increase is less than was proposed in the 2008 legislation as a result of input from KPA members who supported an increase with additional flexibility. The new level is more consistent with requirements for other mental health professions in Kentucky (average CE requirement: 16.1 hrs/yr). CE is a requirement of licensure for psychologists in 48 of 60 states and provinces. Of these, 42 have a higher requirement than ours (average CE requirement: 19.94 hrs/yr). The increased requirement will not go into effect until July 1, 2013, to give licensees ample notification and to give the licensure board time to implement regulations allowing greater flexibility in earning CE’s through distance learning and home study.
- The “Health Service Provider (HSP)” designation will be awarded to those doctorally-trained psychologists who have an internship in a health services delivery field and who have an additional year of supervision beyond that required for licensure. The HSP designation will be required for the psychologist to be a Board-approved supervisor. Work under supervision during the period of temporary licensure may be counted as part of this required supervised experience.
- The use of the Interjurisdictional Practice Certificate (IPC) developed by the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Board (ASPPB) is authorized, giving greater uniformity to credentialing of psychologists temporarily practicing in Kentucky.
- The bill also puts more specificity into the content of the examination for licensure and allows the Board to define in regulation how the examination will be conducted for both doctorally-trained psychologists and Master’s-trained psychological practitioners.
Psychology Licensing Bill Update
March 30, 2010 - House Bill 488 is signed into law by Governor Steve Beshear. Throughout the preceding legislative process, Dr. Schuster stayed in communication with all of the mental health and health professional groups who have had an interest in this legislation. The law received no opposition from any of these groups. The new law makes KRS 319 consistent with the APA-recommended change in the sequence of training by moving forward the point at which doctoral-level psychologists can be fully licensed. The legislation also slightly increases the CE requirement (from 30 to 39 hours per three year cycle), includes the term “psychological testing” in our scope of practice, and makes some other technical changes in the licensing law.
HB 488 Description
Full text of HB 488
Bill Tracking
www.lrc.ky.gov HB 488
Modernizing KRS 319
The review process (more); Nov 2008 CE Survey and recommendations (more)
2009 General Assembly Wrap-Up
Read about what happened with SB 175 in the 2009 General Assembly (more)
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