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2021 California Legislative Session The 2021 legislative session keeps plowing forward. May 7, 2021 is the deadline for all bills that were required to pass a policy committee hearing in order to move forward in the legislative process. The next major hurdle that legislation must clear is the Appropriations Committee, where bills with high implementation costs are held and do not move forward. Below is a brief update on CAMFT sponsored legislation and other bills of interest to CAMFT members.
CAMFT encourages all members to visit CAMFT's Legislative Action Page to learn about all of the bills CAMFT follows, including in-depth descriptions, legislative analyses, and up-to-date status reports. You can also subscribe here to CAMFT's Action E-Lerts for CAMFT emails on key pieces of legislation.
AB 723 (Low) – MFT Scope of Practice- This bill, sponsored by CAMFT, clarifies the existing scope of practice for MFTs. The current MFT practice statute contains an oversimplified short description and refers to other statutes rather than specifying what MFTs actually do. With the help of Assemblymember Low, our bill addresses this by accurately portraying the clinical skill set possessed by MFTs in California. This modernization does not expand the MFT scope but will help to demonstrate the work that MFTs do on a day-to-day basis. This bill was passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is now on the Assembly floor.
AB 1162 (Villapudua) Healthcare Coverage: Claims Payments - This bill will require health plans to shorten the time requirement for a health plan or insurer to pay or contest a claim for emergency or nonemergency services from 30 to 20 working days. CAMFT supports this bill.
CAMFT PAC A Political Action Committee (PAC) is an organization that raises and distributes campaign funds to candidates seeking political office. CAMFT’s State and Federal PACs allow us to support candidates who are behavioral health champions. CAMFT’s PACs are important tools for our government affairs efforts, helping to build relationships with policy makers.
For more information about how to support CAMFT’s PACs please click here.
BBS UPDATE The Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) Policy and Advocacy Committee (P&A) met on April 16, 2021. The meeting material can be viewed here. The P&A conducted a review of several bills and adopted position recommendations for the BBS Board to review and vote on at their next meeting on May 7, 2021. All CAMFT members are encouraged to participate in BBS meetings. Due to COVID 19, all BBS Board and Committee meetings are being conducted virtually.
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