Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 63.

ON APRIL 14, 2021, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1027, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 rewrites this bill and enacts the Interstate Compact for License Portability Act for professional counseling services. One of the stated purposes of the compact is to increase public access to professional counseling services by providing for the mutual recognition of other member state licenses. The compact defines "professional counseling" as the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of behavioral health conditions by a licensed professional counselor and defines "licensed professional counselor" as a counselor licensed by a member state, regardless of the title used by that state, to independently assess, diagnose, and treat behavioral health conditions. To participate in the compact, a state must currently, among other things: (1) License and regulate licensed professional counselors; (2) Require licensees to pass a nationally recognized exam approved by the counseling compact commission; (3) Require licensees to have certain training, as specified in the compact; and (4) Have a mechanism in place for receiving and investigating complaints about licensees. The compact requires member states to, among other things: (1) Participate fully in the commission's data system; (2) Notify the commission of any adverse action or the availability of investigative information regarding a licensee; (3) Implement or utilize procedures for considering the criminal history records of applicants for an initial privilege to practice, including the submission of fingerprints. The compact sets out in detail other requirements for criminal history records checks; (4) Comply with the rules of the commission; (5) Require an applicant to obtain or retain a license in the home state and meet the home state's qualifications for licensure or renewal of licensure, as well as all other applicable state laws; and (6) Grant the privilege to practice to a licensee holding a valid unencumbered license in another member state in accordance with the terms of the compact and rules. Member states may charge a fee for granting the privilege to practice. A license issued to a licensed professional counselor by a home state to a resident in that state will be recognized by each member state as authorizing a licensed professional counselor to practice professional counseling, under a privilege to practice, in each member state. The compact sets out in detail other components of the compact, including: (1) The requirements for a licensee to practice under the compact (privilege to practice); (2) Obtaining a new home state license based on a privilege to practice under the compact; (3) Compact privilege to practice telehealth; (4) Authority of a remote state (which is a state that is a member of the compact, other than the licensee's home state, where a licensee is exercising or seeking to exercise the privilege to practice) to take adverse action against a licensee's privilege to practice in that member state; (5) Establishment of the counseling compact commission, along with the powers and duties of the commission. The compact authorizes the commission to levy an annual assessment on each member state; (6) The data system to be maintained by the commission; (7) Rulemaking by the commission; (8) Oversight, dispute resolution, and enforcement; (9) Date of implementation and process for withdrawing. The compact provides that it will come into effect on the date on which it is enacted into law by the tenth member state. At that time, the commission's rulemaking authority will be triggered. ON APRIL 27, 2022, THE HOUSE SUBSTITUTED SENATE BILL 1027 FOR HOUSE BILL 959, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2, AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1027, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #2 adds a requirement that the board for professional counselors, marital and family therapists, and clinical pastoral therapists notify the chair of the government operations committees of the senate and the house of representatives in writing when the tenth compact state enacts the compact into law.