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An Act To Remove Barriers to Workforce Development in Alcohol and Drug Counseling
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  22 MRSA §3174-L, sub-§3  is enacted to read:
 
3.  Licensed clinical professional counselors.     A licensed clinical professional counselor, as defined in Title 32, section 13851, subsection 2, must be eligible to receive MaineCare reimbursement for counseling services at the same rate as a licensed clinical social worker, as defined in Title 32, section 7001-A, subsection 6.
Sec. 2.  32 MRSA §6207-B  is enacted to read:
§ 6207-B. Confidential information
The nonbusiness address of a person licensed or certified under this chapter is confidential, not open to the public and not a public record as defined in Title 1, section 402, subsection 3.
Sec. 3. 32 MRSA §6214-D, sub-§1, ¶D, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 347, §16 and affected by §25, is amended to read:
 
D. Meet one of the following educational requirements:
 
(1) A high school diploma or its equivalent, course work as defined by board rule and a minimum of 6,000 hours of documented supervised practice in alcohol and drug counseling orComplete 2,000 hours if the applicant holds a validof documented supervised practice in alcohol and drug counseling as a certified alcohol and drug counselor certification;
 
(2) AnPossess an associate or bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in clinically based behavioral sciences or addiction counseling or a related field as defined by board rule, course work as defined by board rule and complete a minimum of 4,000 hours of documented supervised practice in alcohol and drug counseling, except that an applicant who holds a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university that meets the requirements of this subparagraph and who has completed at least 18 credit hours of course work in addiction counseling need only complete a minimum of 2,000 hours of documented supervised practice in alcohol and drug counseling; or
 
(3)  A Possess a master's degree from an accredited college or university in clinically based behavioral sciences or addiction counseling or a related field as defined by board rule, course work as defined by board rule and a minimum of 2,000 hours of documented supervised practice in alcohol and drug counseling, except that an applicant who holds a master's degree from an accredited college or university that meets the requirements of this subparagraph and who has completed at least 12 credit hours of course work in addiction counseling need only complete a minimum of 1,500 hours of documented supervised practice in alcohol and drug counseling.
Sec. 4. State Board of Alcohol and Drug Counselors to amend rules. No later than January 1, 2018, the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, State Board of Alcohol and Drug Counselors shall amend its rules regarding continuing professional education for alcohol and drug counselors as follows.
1. Reduce the hours for continuing professional education for certified alcohol and drug counselors from 24 contact hours every 2 years to 18 contact hours every 2 years.
2. Reduce the hours for continuing professional education for licensed alcohol and drug counselors from 36 contact hours every 2 years to 25 contact hours every 2 years.
3. Reduce the hours for continuing professional education for licensed alcohol and drug counselors who are also certified clinical supervisors from a total of 48 contact hours every 2 years to a total of 37 contact hours every 2 years.
4. Increase the maximum hours allowed for distance learning as a permissible continuing education activity from 10 hours to 20 hours.
Rules adopted pursuant to this section are routine technical rules as defined in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
 
Effective 90 days following adjournment of the 128th Legislature, First Regular Session, unless otherwise indicated.