Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Health Care topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee advances bill to let counseling board schedule and remove certain discipline records after 3 or 5 years
Summary
House Bill 2016A directs the Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists to create a schedule of violations and to remove certain disciplinary information from public-facing sources after three or five years depending on violation level; the committee moved the bill to the floor after limited debate over transparency.
Senator Patterson opened a work session on House Bill 2016A, which directs the Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists to establish a schedule of violations and to remove information related to disciplinary actions from the board's website and other public-facing publications after three or five years depending on the violation level.
A committee member voiced transparency concerns, saying the bill "goes a little too far" by allowing the board to remove descriptions of disciplinary actions at stages short of a permanent denial of license. "There's a lot of steps before permanent denial of a license that it would allow the board to not disclose in a forward facing thing," the senator said, and explained this was the reason for a no vote.
The chair replied that the information would remain available in a searchable electronic database, noting the bill does not erase records but moves some information off public-facing pages. Staff posted a minimal fiscal impact statement and no revenue impact for the measure; no amendments were proposed at the work session.
Vice Chair Hayden moved the bill to the floor with a due pass recommendation. The motion passed on a roll call; the chair asked whether a senator would carry the bill to the floor and indicated willingness to do so if no one else volunteered.
The record shows the committee advanced HB 2016A despite a member's objection grounded in transparency concerns, and the committee noted the board would still maintain searchable records.
