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LEGISLATION AND ADVOCACY -
VIRGINIA
Chris Spanos
The Virginia General Assembly adjourned its regular session on Saturday, March
11, 2006. Then on Monday, March 13, 2006, it entered into Special Session 1 to
deal with the adoption of a state budget and to work on the unmet needs of
Virginia’s transportation infrastructure.
During the regular session of the General Assembly the key issue for the Greater
Washington and Virginia clinical societies was House Bill 1146, introduced by
Delegate Orrock, at the request of NASW-Virginia. The summary of this bill, as
originally introduced, read as follows:
Provides that, effective July 1, 2009, no person may use the title "professional social worker" or be designated as a “professional social worker” unless he holds a license issued by the Board of Social Work. This bill increases the membership of the Board of Social Work from seven to nine members, authorizes the Board to establish specialties within the profession and to issue licenses accordingly to qualified persons. The bill also permits the Board, until July 1, 2009, to issue a license without examination to a person who has been continuously employed as a social worker, and directs the Board to promulgate emergency regulations to conform its existing regulations to the new law.
The clinical societies strongly
opposed House Bill 1146 in its introduced form. Although ostensibly the purpose
was to give title protection to social workers, as written the bill would have
created a confusing, undefined new entity called “professional social worker”,
and permitted grandfathering for the next three years - without examination - to
a huge pool of social service workers lacking social work training.
The Virginia society took the lead, with Greater Washington collaborating, and
Laura Groshong, from the Clinical Social Work Federation’s Government Relations
Committee, advising on advocacy strategy. Members contacted legislators, wrote
position papers, met with NASW; GWSCSW was represented at the hearing by Dolores
Paulson, Alice Kassabian, and Karen Welscher-Enlow. Ultimately, after much work,
the bill in its introduced form was defeated.
As amended in committee, the bill (as before) increases the membership of the
Board of Social Work from seven to nine members, to be appointed by the
Governor. Also, an enactment clause provides that the Board of Social Work
“shall consult with relevant stakeholders, including educators, professionals,
and appropriate agencies and organizations, to determine (i) if current
education and training requirements for social works are adequate to assure the
public of professional competency and (ii) whether current exemptions from the
requirements for licensure best serve the citizens of the Commonwealth.” The
Board thus has the authority to review the current licensure structure and, over
the next two years, propose changes as appropriate.
Signed by the Governor, the statute will take effect on July 1, 2006.
Government and Public Affairs Counselor Christopher J. Spanos is the Virginia
lobbyist for GWSCSW and the Virginia Society for Clinical Social Work.
For GSCSW Legislative
Information contact:
GWSCSW
PO Box 3235
Oakton VA 22124
202-537-0007
Fax: 703-938-8389
email: gwscsw@gmail.com
Website http://www.gwscsw.org