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EXPLANATION-Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in this bill is not enacted
and is intended to be omitted in the law.
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 1308
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR TRENT.
5001S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To repeal section 337.510, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to
professional counselors.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 337.510, RSMo, is repealed and one new 1
section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 337.510, 2
to read as follows:3
337.510. 1. As used in this section, the following 1
terms mean: 2
(1) "License", a license, certificate, registration, 3
permit, accreditation, or military occupational specialty 4
that enables a person to legally practice an occupation or 5
profession in a particular jurisdiction; 6
(2) "Military", the Armed Forces of the United States, 7
including the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, 8
Navy, Space Force, National Guard and any other military 9
branch that is designated by Congress as part of the Armed 10
Forces of the United States, and all reserve components and 11
auxiliaries. Such term also includes the military reserves 12
and militia of any United States territory or state; 13
(3) "Nonresident military spouse", a nonresident 14
spouse of an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the 15
United States who has been transferred or is scheduled to be 16
transferred to the state of Missouri, or who has been 17
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transferred or is scheduled to be transferred to an adjacent 18
state and is or will be domiciled in the state of Missouri, 19
or has moved to the state of Missouri on a permanent change- 20
of-station basis; 21
(4) "Resident military spouse", a spouse of an active 22
duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States who has 23
been transferred or is scheduled to be transferred to the 24
state of Missouri or an adjacent state and who is a 25
permanent resident of the state of Missouri, who is 26
domiciled in the state of Missouri, or who has Missouri as 27
his or her home of record. 28
2. Each applicant for licensure as a professional 29
counselor shall furnish evidence to the committee that the 30
applicant is at least eighteen years of age, is a United 31
States citizen or is legally present in the United States; 32
and 33
(1) The applicant has completed a course of study as 34
defined by the board rule leading to a master's, 35
specialist's, or doctoral degree with a major in counseling, 36
except any applicant who has held a license as a 37
professional counselor in this state or currently holds a 38
license as a professional counselor in another state shall 39
not be required to have completed any courses related to 40
career development; and 41
(2) The applicant has completed acceptable supervised 42
counseling as defined by board rule. If the applicant has a 43
master's degree with a major in counseling as defined by 44
board rule, the applicant shall complete at least two years 45
of acceptable supervised counseling experience subsequent to 46
the receipt of the master's degree. The composition and 47
number of hours comprising the acceptable supervised 48
counseling experience shall be defined by board rule. An 49
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applicant may substitute thirty semester hours of post 50
master's graduate study for one of the two required years of 51
acceptable supervised counseling experience if such hours 52
are clearly related to counseling; 53
(3) After August 28, 2007, each applicant shall have 54
completed a minimum of three hours of graduate level 55
coursework in diagnostic systems either in the curriculum 56
leading to a degree or as post master's graduate level 57
course work; 58
(4) Upon examination, the applicant is possessed of 59
requisite knowledge of the profession, including techniques 60
and applications, research and its interpretation, and 61
professional affairs and ethics. 62
3. (1) Any person who holds a valid current 63
professional counselor license issued by another state, a 64
branch or unit of the military, a territory of the United 65
States, or the District of Columbia, and who has been 66
licensed for at least one year in such other jurisdiction, 67
may submit an application for a professional counselor 68
license in Missouri along with proof of current licensure 69
and proof of licensure for at least one year in the other 70
jurisdiction, to the committee. 71
(2) The committee shall: 72
(a) Within six months of receiving an application 73
described in subdivision (1) of this subsection, waive any 74
examination, educational, or experience requirements for 75
licensure in this state for the applicant if it determines 76
that there were minimum education requirements and, if 77
applicable, work experience and clinical supervision 78
requirements in effect and the other state and jurisdiction 79
verifies that the person met those requirements in order to 80
be licensed or certified in that state and jurisdiction. 81
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The committee may require an applicant to take and pass an 82
examination specific to the laws of this state; or 83
(b) Within thirty days of receiving an application 84
described in subdivision (1) of this subsection from a 85
nonresident military spouse or a resident military spouse, 86
waive any examination, educational, or experience 87
requirements for licensure in this state for the applicant 88
and issue such applicant a license under this subsection if 89
such applicant otherwise meets the requirements of this 90
subsection [and section]. 91
(3) (a) The committee shall not waive any 92
examination, educational, or experience requirements for any 93
applicant who has had his or her license revoked by a 94
committee outside the state; who is currently under 95
investigation, who has a complaint pending, or who is 96
currently under disciplinary action, except as provided in 97
paragraph (b) of this subdivision, with a committee outside 98
the state; who does not hold a license in good standing with 99
a committee outside the state; who has a criminal record 100
that would disqualify him or her for licensure in Missouri; 101
or who does not hold a valid current license in the other 102
jurisdiction on the date the committee receives his or her 103
application under this subsection [and section]. 104
(b) If another jurisdiction has taken disciplinary 105
action against an applicant, the committee shall determine 106
if the cause for the action was corrected and the matter 107
resolved. If the matter has not been resolved by that 108
jurisdiction, the committee may deny a license until the 109
matter is resolved. 110
(4) Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the 111
committee from denying a license to an applicant under this 112
subsection for any reason described in section 337.525. 113
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(5) Any person who is licensed under the provisions of 114
this subsection shall be subject to the committee's 115
jurisdiction and all rules and regulations pertaining to the 116
practice as a licensed professional counselor in this state. 117
(6) This subsection shall not be construed to waive 118
any requirement for an applicant to pay any fees. 119
4. (1) The executive director of the committee shall 120
issue a license to each person who files an application and 121
fee and who furnishes satisfactory evidence [satisfactory to 122
the committee] that the applicant has complied with the 123
provisions of [this act and] sections 337.500 to 337.540, 124
has taken and passed a written, open-book examination on 125
Missouri laws and regulations governing the practice of 126
professional counseling as defined in section 337.500, has 127
no criminal record that would disqualify the applicant from 128
licensure in this state, has no discipline of a license 129
outside the state, is not currently under investigation 130
outside the state, has no complaint pending outside the 131
state, and is not currently under disciplinary action 132
outside the state. 133
(2) The committee shall review and approve or deny all 134
applications for licensure for which licenses are not 135
authorized to be issued by the executive director under 136
subdivision (1) of this subsection unless otherwise 137
delegated to the executive director by the committee. 138
(3) The division shall issue a provisional 139
professional counselor license to any applicant who meets 140
all requirements of this section, but who has not completed 141
the required acceptable supervised counseling experience and 142
such applicant may reapply for licensure as a professional 143
counselor upon completion of such acceptable supervised 144
counseling experience. 145
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5. All persons licensed to practice professional 146
counseling in this state shall pay on or before the license 147
renewal date a renewal license fee and shall furnish to the 148
committee satisfactory evidence of the completion of the 149
requisite number of hours of continuing education as 150
required by rule, including two hours of suicide assessment, 151
referral, treatment, and management training, which shall be 152
no more than forty hours biennially. The continuing 153
education requirements may be waived by the committee upon 154
presentation to the committee of satisfactory evidence of 155
the illness of the licensee or for other good cause. 156
6. The committee shall display, or cause to have 157
displayed, the names, addresses, license numbers, and 158
license status for all license holders of all license types 159
on the division's searchable listing of licensees. A 160
license holder may request the redaction of his or her 161
address from the division's searchable listing of licensees 162
and the division shall redact such address unless the 163
committee or other person has good cause to deny the 164
redaction. 165
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