Nevada committee advances bill to consolidate behavioral health licensing, create state health workforce office

Senate Bill 425, which would create a State Office of Health Care Workforce and Licensing and consolidate several behavioral health licensing boards into a single Board of Behavioral Health Professionals, was advanced unanimously by the Nevada Senate Committee on Health and Human Services on deadline day.

Senator Fabian Donato, chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, presented the bill, saying it “establishes the state office of healthcare workforce and licensing within the division of public and behavioral health of the Department of HHS” and transfers a range of oversight duties — including data collection on providers, oversight of the physician visa waiver program, and management of the advisory council on graduate medical education — to the new office.

The bill would eliminate existing independent licensing boards for psychologists, marriage and family therapists and clinical professional counselors, social workers, alcohol, drug and gambling counselors, and applied behavior analysts and would create a single Board of Behavioral Health Professionals to assume those licensing and regulatory duties. “Section 63 now creates the Board of Behavioral Health Professionals within the state office of healthcare workforce and licensing to replace the licensing boards eliminated by section 146,” Donato said while walking the committee through the bill’s sections.

Eric Robbins, legal counsel for the Legislative Counsel Bureau, described the board’s membership requirements on the record, noting that section 63 prescribes the board composition to include licensed practitioners from psychology, marriage and family therapy, clinical professional counseling, clinical social work, alcohol and drug counseling or behavior analysis, plus additional seats for other stakeholders.

Victoria Erickson, testifying on behalf of the Nevada Board of Examiners for Social Workers, opposed the bill. Erickson said SB 425 “would fundamentally disrupt the integrity of our board’s mission and decision making process and may lead to the termination of its leadership and subject matter experts,” and argued the Department of Public and Behavioral Health (DPBH) had not engaged in prior consultation. She said the bill “threatens the very independence that allows the occupational board to serve the public interest and ensure public safety without undue political influence.”

Senators asked for clarifications about which professions would be consolidated and how representation would be ensured on the new board. Donato told the committee that the bill is modeled on a consolidation implemented in Utah and that the measure is intended to reduce duplicate infrastructure and licensing delays by centralizing shared resources and application processing. He noted the bill is an interim proposal and would still need to go through the finance process and additional committee steps before becoming law.

After public testimony and committee questions, Senator Lang moved to “do pass” SB 425; Senator Stone seconded. The motion carried unanimously. The committee assigned the floor statement to the chair and the bill will proceed to the next steps in the legislative process.

The bill text includes a multi-step transition plan (DPBH must develop a plan to transfer duties and notify the governor and legislature at least 90 days before the transition date), establishes three advisory committees for the board (qualifications and professional development; background and investigations; probation and compliance), and exempts the consolidated board from certain financial-record and audit provisions because the director of the office will manage finances on behalf of the board.

Implementation details — including the timing of transfers, rulemaking, and any further statutory edits if related bills advance — remain subject to later committee and finance review. Donato invited affected boards and stakeholders to work with him offline on outstanding concerns before the bill proceeds further.