Article archive / July 1, 2012
Originally published: . Volume 3, No. 11. Source pages: 1, 3.
The “Behavior Analysts Licensure and Regulation Study Commission,” a group recently created by a Senate Resolution, is scheduled to meet this Friday, July 6. Ms. Tasha Bergeron, MSPH, RN, at the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) is coordinating the first meeting, with the help of Senator J.P. Morrell’s office. Sen. Morrell authored the resolution.
The Commission is to study the issues for regulation of behavior analysts and report to the Senate. The Study Commission was initially formed by Senate Resolution 110, authored by Senator Morrell, who emerged as a leading opponent of the LSBEP effort to develop regulations for Behavior Analysts under the state psychology board.
Two other resolutions amended SR 110, SR 142 and SR 159, approved on June 4. Changes included adding and additional seven members to the original ten, and changing the time period allowed for the work’s efforts. Another change from the initial version is to have the Chair and Vice Chair to be parents of a child receiving applied behavior analysis. SR 159 notes that the appointee of the president of the Senate shall be the chairman of the commission, and the appointee of the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare shall be the vice-chairman of the commission.
The composition of the commission now stands at 17 invited members. According to the texts of the resolutions these are:
1) Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, or designee;
2) State Superintendent of Education, or designee;
3) Executive Director of the LSBEP, or designee;
4) Executive Director of the Louisiana Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners, or designee;
5) Executive Director of the Louisiana Behavior analysis Association, or designee;
6) Executive Director of the Louisiana Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, or designee;
7) Dean of the College of Education, Nicholls State University, or designee;
8) the President of the Louisiana Psychological Association, or designee;
9) Chair of the Louisiana State Board of Social Work Examiners, or designee; and
10) Executive Director of the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, or designee.
The next seven were added:
11) A representative of the Developmental Disability Council;
12) the parent or guardian of a child who currently receives or has received applied behavior analysis (ABA) services appointed by the president of the Louisiana Senate;
13) the parent or guardian of a child who currently receives or has received ABA services appointed by the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare;
14) Paul M Hebert Law Center’s full-time health law professor who has direct experience in the field of behavior analysis, or his designee;
15) the head of the Psychology Department at McNeese University, or his designee;
16) the director of the Autism Center at Children’s Hospital, or his designee; and
17) the director of the St. Mary’s Residential Training School, or his designee.
According to the latest resolution, the first meeting is to occur by June 30 and the report is due by February 1, 2013.
The Times spoke with Ms. Cathy Wells at the Senate Judiciary office who indicated that DHH has sent letters to those named inviting them to the July 6 meeting but she did not believe the group had been finalized, because letters went out only on June 28, 2012.
Another group was requested by a Legislative Resolution and met in 2010 and 2011, the Behavioral Health Professionals Working Group” (BHPWG). The BHPWG reported they made progress in clarifying standards for mental health professionals, and also in building better collaboration, but were not able to achieve the main goal of the group.
Members of the “Behavioral Health Professional Working Group,” in 2010, a group composed of psychologists, counselors, and advisory members from social work and medicine was formed at the suggestion of a legislative resolution. The group met in 2010 and 2011. The final report to the Senate noted that the group had made progress but were not able to meet the goals set out for them by the Resolution. (Lto R) Drs. Joe Comaty, Darla Burnett, Jessica Brown, and Jacqueline Shellington.
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