Senate Commerce Committee Statement to Assembly, No. 4246 (State of New Jersey, January 21, 2021)

Summary

A Senate Commerce Committee statement to [First Reprint] Assembly, No. 4246 with committee amendments, State of New Jersey, dated January 21, 2021. The committee reports Assembly Bill No. 4246 (1R) favorably. As amended, the bill allows, with the approval of the Attorney General, a professional licensing board regulating a mental health profession or the director of the Division of Consumer Affairs to expedite a temporary license, certificate of registration or certification for a recent graduate who earned a master's degree or higher. The statement says the individual is granted a temporary credential pending a criminal history background record check, with requirements such as fees and examinations temporarily waived. It states that the bill as amended is identical to Senate Bill No. 3175.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

     SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE

                    STATEMENT TO

                        [First Reprint]
               ASSEMBLY, No. 4246
                   with committee amendments



 STATE OF NEW JERSEY
                    DATED: JANUARY 21, 2021

   The Senate Commerce Committee reports favorably and with
committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 4246 (1R).
   As amended, this bill allows, with the approval of the Attorney
General, a professional licensing board regulating a mental health
profession or, in the case of certain mental health professions, the
director of the Division of Consumer Affairs to expedite the
issuance of a temporary license, certificate of registration or
certification to practice a mental health profession to a recent
graduate in New Jersey or another state who earned a master’s
degree or higher from a program in New Jersey or another state that
is intended to lead to a career in a mental health profession and is
not yet licensed, registered or certified to practice the mental health
profession in any jurisdiction. The individual is granted a temporary
credential pending the results of a criminal history background
record check. Additionally, requirements such as fees and
examinations are temporarily waived for these individuals. The
temporary license, certificate of registration or certification is to
include an expiration date posted clearly and conspicuously.
Moreover, the individual with the temporary credential is to be
supervised by someone licensed in New Jersey in the same
profession that the out-of-State individual is temporarily practicing.
   Once the Governor has lifted the state of emergency or public
health emergency under which a temporary license, certificate of
registration or certification was issued to an individual to practice a
mental health profession, or when the temporary license, certificate
of registration or certification expires, whichever is sooner, and the
individual intends to remain in New Jersey and practice the mental
health profession for which the individual was a issued a temporary
license, certificate of registration or certification, the individual is
to apply for a full license, certificate of registration or certification
to the requisite professional board or, for certain mental health
professions regulated by the Division of Consumer Affairs, the
director. If an individual applies for a full license, certificate of
registration or certification and there is a requirement on the
                                 2

application to demonstrate experience, the individual, at the
discretion of the board or director of the Division of Consumer
Affairs, may use the experience gained in providing services during
the state of emergency or public health emergency on the
application. The Division of Consumer Affairs is authorized, under
the bill, to impose program requirements that are not inconsistent
with the rest of the bill. Lastly, the exercise of the authority in the
bill to grant a temporary credential on an expedited basis or to
protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare is not required to
comply with the requirements of the “Administrative Procedures
Act.”
    As amended and reported, this bill is identical to Senate Bill No.
3175, as amended and reported by the Senate Commerce Committee
on January 21, 2021.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:
    The committee amended the bill to:
    1) make the provisions of the bill applicable to graduates of New
Jersey;
    2) grant the director of the Division of Consumer Affairs (the
“director”) the sole authority allowed to take additional action if
necessary to protect the public’s health, safety and welfare;
    3) make waiving an examination required to receive a credential
as an item the director may waive temporarily to protect the public’s
health, safety and welfare;
    4) give licensing boards and the director the discretion to allow
individuals temporarily credentialed under this act to apply experience
gained with the temporary credential towards an experience
requirements to attain a full credential;
    5) allow the Division of Consumer Affairs to impose other
program requirements not inconsistent with the provisions of the bill;
and
    6) state that the exercise of authority provided in the bill to grant
temporary credentials does not require compliance with the
“Administrative Procedures Act.”


File and source

File

2021-01-21_SCM_A4246_S2.pdf

Size

119,982 bytes

SHA-256

df9d12c091b97062b0ea2f49aa54f99f3f799d12e550863008e64662fadf95f5

Our copy

2021-01-21_SCM_A4246_S2.pdf

Original

No public link identified.