The Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board (BSRB) Social Work Advisory Committee debated whether to rescind an amendment that changed the statutory wording for clinical social work licensure hours, and took a preliminary vote to pursue reversing the change. The committee did not complete formal action because it lost quorum and agreed to return the item to the next meeting.

The discussion centered on a 2025 amendment to the clinical licensure language that inserted the phrase "including but not limited to conducting psychotherapy and assessment" into the clause describing the required 1,500 hours of direct client contact within a 3,000-hour postgraduate supervised experience. Committee members said the new phrasing could allow applicants to meet the 1,500-hour requirement without a specified minimum of psychotherapy/assessment experience.

"If we allow this to stand, it makes social work less than. It means that our standard is less than any of the other clinical licenses," Cynthia Shundel, cochair of the social work advisory committee, said during the meeting, arguing the change reduces parity with other professions that require clinical hours. David Fye, executive director for the BSRB, read and compared the two statutory passages for committee members and noted that the amended language does not specify the minimum amount of the 1,500 hours that must be devoted to psychotherapy and assessment.

Committee members discussed practical consequences: an applicant could plausibly log only brief direct-contact psychotherapy hours and count the remainder toward the required 1,500 hours, the committee said. Members stressed that the clinical examination would remain in place but warned that identical exam passage and lower clinical experience could yield licensed practitioners with markedly different preparation.

A motion to request that the legislator who sponsored the amendment (State Representative Susan Ruiz) consider removing the phrase and restoring the prior text was made during the meeting. A member called for a second and the motion received a second; the chair asked for a voice vote and several members indicated support. However, later in the meeting staff reported the committee was one member short of a quorum, and the chair directed that the item be carried forward to the next meeting for formal action.

The committee agreed to pursue a meeting with Representative Susan Ruiz and stakeholders (including NASW representatives) to discuss rescinding the phrase and to bring a formal recommendation back at the next convening. No statutory change was enacted by the advisory committee at this meeting.

Next steps: the committee will continue the discussion and seek explicit direction and a possible formal recommendation for the full BSRB or legislators at its next meeting.