Senate adopts amendment and passes mental‑health licensure changes to shorten licensing timeline

The Utah Senate adopted an amendment and passed an amended package of mental‑health professional licensing changes on Feb. 22.

Senator Mikel, presenting Amendment Number 2 to the fourth substitute House Bill 166, said the floor amendment excludes interstate‑compact matters to avoid affecting ongoing compact obligations and reflects stakeholder concerns. He described the broader bill as aligning supervision hours with a prior reduction in required training hours: "The first part of this bill cleans up what we did last year in HB 283 to reduce the amount of licensing hours by 25%. But the number of supervision hours remained the same. The bill also reduced the supervision hours by 25% to match. It also removes the arbitrary 2 year requirement, being able to obtain licensure. If you can complete it in 18 months, you should be able to get your license instead of sitting around for 6 months." He said stakeholders had weighed in and that the amendment addressed their concerns.

The chamber unanimously adopted Amendment 2 by voice vote and then passed the amended bill by roll call; the clerk recorded 24 yeas, 0 nays and 5 absent. Proponents said the measure would streamline pathways to licensure and address language or testing barriers cited by stakeholders, while ensuring higher‑level clinical licensing requirements remain intact.

Next steps: The amended bill will be sent to the House for further consideration and any administrative adjustments will be handled by the appropriate licensing board or department.

Provenance: Senate floor presentation and roll‑call tally read during Feb. 22 session.