The Policy & Advocacy Committee discussed whether the Board of Behavioral Sciences should sponsor legislation to expand its membership from 13 to 15 members by adding one Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) seat and an additional public member.

Roseanne Helms outlined the board’s current composition, past changes tied to creation of the LPCC license and staff research comparing board sizes across other Department of Consumer Affairs agencies. Staff noted rapid growth in the LPCC population (a noted percentage increase of approximately 250–275% over several years) and that about 35 percent of LPCC licensees also hold another Board license (dual registration), most commonly as LMFTs.

Committee members, including Wendy Strack and others, said they could not find a clear, objective threshold in statute or practice that would justify a new seat today. Concerns included the lack of a consistent pattern across other boards linking licensee counts to board membership numbers, the board currently operating with two vacancies, and the fiscal/administrative trade‑offs of adding members. Ben Caldwell and other attendees urged staff to consider member workload and whether adding seats would address an identifiable service or oversight gap.

Several members recommended delaying any legislative effort and treating the question as part of the board’s regular sunset review, which will occur in four years. Staff said it could also reach out to stakeholder groups (e.g., LPCC representative organizations) to solicit whether LPCC practitioners feel underrepresented and to gather any examples of concrete issues the extra seat would resolve.

No formal motion to sponsor legislation was made at the Oct. 24 meeting; the committee recommended revisiting the question as part of the sunset process and directed staff to collect further stakeholder input.