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House approves licensing standard for professional counseling with non‑professional exemptions
Summary
House Bill 90, which creates licensing standards for professional counselors and clarifies exemptions for noncommercial advice (friends, clergy, home‑teaching), passed the House after an amendment tightened definitions tying 'professional counseling' to mental‑health treatment; the measure moves to the Senate.
The Utah House passed House Bill 90 as amended, adopting clarifying language on exemptions and tightening the statutory definition of professional counseling to focus on mental‑health therapy and treatment.
Representative Stevens proposed an amendment to clarify that unpaid advice given in a friend or family context is not licensure‑triggering; Representative Birmingham, the bill sponsor, and others said the amendment makes existing intent clearer. "Stephen Covey isn't practicing mental health therapy," Birmingham said while explaining the bill narrows licensure to activities involving diagnosis and treatment.
Several representatives probed where commercial coaching, self‑help instruction or classroom training would fall; sponsors pointed to the statutory definition linking 'professional counseling' to 'mental health therapy' and to specific diagnostic criteria in later sections of the bill. The amendment was adopted and the House recorded a 67‑6 vote to pass HB90 and refer it to the Senate.
