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HB-4905, As Passed House, June 25, 2026
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SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 4905
A bill to amend 1978 PA 368, entitled
"Public health code,"
by amending section 16909 (MCL 333.16909), as amended by 1997 PA
188.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 16909. (1) The board shall grant To be granted a license 1
as a marriage and family therapist, to an individual who meets must 2
meet all of the following requirements: 3
(a) Provides The individual provides satisfactory evidence to 4
the board department of meeting either of the following educational 5
qualifications: 6
(i) Has a master's or higher graduate degree from an accredited 7
training program in marriage and family therapy approved by the 8
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board. 1
(ii) Has a master's or higher graduate degree from an 2
accredited college or university approved by the board and has 3
completed all of the following graduate-level courses at an 4
accredited college or university approved by the board: 5
(A) Three courses in family studies that total at least 6 6
semester or 9 quarter hours. 7
(B) Three courses in family therapy methodology that total at 8
least 6 semester or 9 quarter hours. 9
(C) Three courses in human development, personality theory, or 10
psychopathology that total at least 6 semester or 9 quarter hours. 11
(D) At least 2 semester or 3 quarter hours in ethics, law, and 12
standards of professional practice. 13
(E) At least 2 semester or 3 quarter hours in research. 14
(b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2), the 15
individual provides satisfactory evidence to the board department 16
of having completed supervised clinical marriage and family therapy 17
experience in conjunction with the applicant's educational program. 18
The clinical marriage and family therapy experience described in 19
this subdivision shall must meet all of the following requirements: 20
(i) Be obtained either in a clinical practicum during graduate 21
education or in a postgraduate marriage and family institute 22
training program acceptable to the board. 23
(ii) Be obtained over not less than 8 consecutive months. 24
(iii) Be verified by a supervisor who has a master's or higher 25
graduate degree from an accredited college or university approved 26
by the board and meets 1 of the following: 27
(A) Is a marriage and family therapist. 28
(B) Is a certified licensed master's social worker or a social 29
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worker registered under article 16 of the occupational code, 1980 1
PA 299, MCL 339.1601 to 339.1610.as that term is defined in section 2
18501. 3
(C) Is a licensed professional counselor as that term is 4
defined in section 18101. 5
(D) Is a physician as that term is defined in section 17001 or 6
17501 and is practicing in a mental health setting. 7
(E) Is a fully licensed psychologist as defined in section 8
18201. under part 182. 9
(F) Is an approved supervisor or supervisor-in-training 10
through a program that is conducted by the American association 11
Association for marriage Marriage and family therapy Family Therapy 12
and is approved by the board. 13
(iv) Include not less than 300 direct client contact hours in 14
supervised clinical marriage and family therapy experience, at 15
least 1/2 of which were completed in a setting in which families, 16
couples, or subsystems of families were physically present in the 17
therapy room.same location or a setting in which families, couples, 18
or subsystems of families met by way of 2-way real-time secure 19
technology that allowed direct, contemporaneous interaction by 20
sight or sound. 21
(v) Be supervised in a ratio of at least 1 hour of supervision 22
for each 5 hours of direct client contact, for a total of not less 23
than 60 hours of supervision concurrent with the 300 hours of 24
supervised direct client contact. 25
(c) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2), the 26
individual provides satisfactory evidence to the board department 27
of having completed a minimum of 1,000 direct client contact hours 28
in supervised marriage and family therapy experience, at least 1/2 29
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of which was were completed with in a setting in which families, 1
couples, or subsystems of families physically were present in the 2
therapy room, that meets same location or a setting in which 3
families, couples, or subsystems of families met by way of 2-way 4
real-time secure technology that allowed direct, contemporaneous 5
interaction by sight or sound. The marriage and family therapy 6
experience described in this subdivision must meet all of the 7
following conditions: 8
(i) Is Be verified by the supervising licensed marriage and 9
family therapist. 10
(ii) Is Be obtained following the completion of the degree 11
required by subdivision (a)(i), is be obtained following the 12
completion of the degree required by subdivision (a)(ii) and 13
concurrent with or following the course work specified in 14
subdivision (a)(ii)(A), (B), (C), (D), and (E), or is be obtained as 15
part of a doctoral program in marriage and family therapy from an 16
accredited college or university approved by the board, which 17
experience may include experience obtained under subdivision (b)(i). 18
(iii) Is Be supervised in a ratio of at least 1 hour of 19
supervision for each 5 hours of experience, for a total of not less 20
than 200 hours of supervision concurrent with the 1,000 hours of 21
supervised experience. Not less than 100 hours of supervision under 22
this subparagraph shall must be individual supervision with no more 23
than 1 other supervisee present. The remaining supervision under 24
this subparagraph may be group supervision involving no more than 6 25
supervisees with 1 supervisor. The supervision shall may be given 26
in face-to-face contact with the individual obtaining marriage and 27
family therapy experience or by using 2-way real-time secure 28
technology that allows direct, contemporaneous interaction by sight 29
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Final Page
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or sound. 1
(2) The board shall waive the requirements of subsection 2
(1)(b) and (c) for if an applicant who provides satisfactory 3
evidence to the board of having obtained a doctoral degree from an 4
accredited doctoral training program in marriage and family therapy 5
approved by the board. 6