Marriage and family therapist licensing reciprocity expanded, advanced

A bill that would allow marriage and family therapists from other jurisdictions to more easily obtain a Nebraska license was expanded and given second-round approval April 23.

Under LB257, sponsored by Grand Island Sen. Dan Quick, the state Department of Health and Human Services would be required to issue a license to a marriage and family therapist based on licensure in another jurisdiction if that individual:
• has a valid, independent and unrestricted license in another state or territory;
• completes an application and pays all applicable fees; and
• has passed the Nebraska jurisprudence examination.

Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt offered an amendment on select file to add the amended provisions of her LB274. Those provisions would require that entities licensed under the Child Care Licensing Act in Nebraska maintain the required level of liability insurance for any time period during which a child is in the licensee’s care.

Hunt said the bill stemmed from an incident in which a constituent’s 6-month-old son was accidentally dropped at a licensed child care provider whose liability insurance had lapsed. As a result, she said, the family was unable to obtain compensation for the more than $120,000 in medical bills they faced.

Licensed providers are required to provide proof of liability insurance when they apply for licensure, Hunt said, but nothing in current state law requires them to maintain it.

“It’s a commonsense bill for good government oversight to ensure that families of young children have peace of mind when they’re sending their babies off to day care,” she said.

Current law provides for unannounced inspections of licensed child care facilities at least once a year for programs licensed to provide care for fewer than 30 children and twice a year for programs licensed for more than 30 children.

Under the amendment, inspectors would be required to verify current proof of liability insurance at each of those inspections.

Providers who are unable to provide such proof, or whose policy has lapsed, would have three business days to provide the required proof or have their license suspended until such proof is provided.

After adopting Hunt’s amendment on a 31-6 vote, lawmakers advanced LB257 to final reading by voice vote.