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Kansas advisory committee hears steps to implement counseling compact and background-check requirement
Summary
The advisory committee was briefed on BSRB plans to require background checks for new applicants to meet Counseling Compact rules and described a near-term goal of beginning checks Jan. 1 pending agency approvals and technical markers in the licensing system.
The Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board’s Professional Counselor Advisory Committee was briefed Dec. 4 on staff work to implement a Counseling Compact enrollment process and a new criminal-background-check requirement for incoming applicants.
Executive Director David Fye told the committee the board has decided to require background checks for new applicants and is consulting with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and licensing-host vendors to draft emergency regulation language and build markers in the licensure system to record who has completed a check. He said the board hopes to begin the requirement Jan. 1 but that timing depends on interagency approvals and the emergency-regulation process.
Fye said the background-check requirement is being added in part to make Kansas applicants eligible for the Counseling Compact, which differs from earlier compacts by requiring a background check before a provider may practice under compact privileges. He described the compact’s implementation approach as “a little bit of an odd process” because it requires states to transmit a list of eligible licensees to the compact commission rather than issuing privileges on an on-demand e-passport model.
On fees, Fye said Kansas will not charge licensees for compact membership. Instead, the compact commission is collecting administrative privilege fees from applicants when they apply for out-of-state privileges; any state membership fees would be reconsidered only if the compact changes its funding model.
Committee members asked how the BSRB will track eligibility and how the new markers will appear in the licensing system. Fye said staff are working with their licensing host to add fields that indicate degree types and background-check dates so the agency can generate the list of eligible practitioners to send to the compact commission.
The committee did not take formal regulatory action at the meeting; staff said draft emergency-regulation language will move through appropriate review channels and be posted for public comment once approved.
The advisory committee plans to monitor the KBI rule language and licensing-host work and expects follow-up updates at upcoming meetings.
