This bill amends RCW 18.225.090 to change licensing qualifications and procedures for several behavioral health license types. It is a regulatory/procedural amendment (not a criminal or penalty change) that directs the secretary to issue a license when an applicant demonstrates the required education and supervised experience and requires continuing education rules to be adopted in consultation with the committee. The amendment spells out education, supervised experience, supervision format, and minimum hour requirements for four license categories. For licensed advanced social workers it requires graduation from a CSWE‑accredited MSW or approved social work doctorate, a minimum of 3,000 supervised hours (including at least 90 hours of direct supervision with 40 hours one‑to‑one and 800 hours of direct client contact) and continuing education; the provision indicating an approved examination is bracketed/deleted. For licensed independent clinical social workers it requires the same degree, a minimum of 3,000 hours over at least two years with at least 1,000 hours of direct client contact and specified distributions of supervisor hours (including minimums by a licensed mental health practitioner and by a LICSW), continuing education, and either successful completion of an approved examination or, in lieu of examination, completion of enhanced supervision with an attestation of skill and safety from an approved supervisor (enhanced supervision may satisfy the 3,000‑hour requirement). For licensed mental health counselors it requires a counseling or approved related graduate program with at least 60 semester hours (including specified topic areas when from a related program), passage of an approved exam, and either 36 months of full‑time counseling or 3,000 postgraduate supervised hours (including at least 100 hours of immediate supervision and 1,200 hours of direct counseling). For licensed marriage and family therapists it requires an MFT or approved equivalent degree, passage of an approved exam, 3,000 hours of supervised MFT experience (including at least 1,000 direct client contact with 500 hours in couples/families and specified supervision hour minimums), and continuing education. The department must adopt rules about what counts as adequate proof, and only rules in effect on the date a completed associate application is submitted may be applied to deny the application. Applicants remain subject to grounds for denial or conditional licensure under chapter 18.130 RCW, and the counseling compact in chapter 18.17 RCW is referenced. The excerpt does not identify the specific "secretary," "department," or "committee," does not include full statutory definitions for terms such as "approved supervisor," "approved setting," or "equally qualified licensed mental health practitioner," and does not provide broader legislative context beyond the amendment to RCW 18.225.090.

If enacted, people seeking social work and mental health licenses will face clearer, specific hour and supervision mix requirements to qualify: each license type (advanced social worker, LICSW, mental health counselor, and marriage and family therapist) must meet detailed totals of supervised hours, minimum amounts of direct client contact, and minimum one-to-one supervision hours, and continuing education will require minimum ethics hours. For LICSW applicants, the bill creates a concrete option to substitute “enhanced supervision” plus a supervisor attestation for the usual exam, which could reduce exam costs and change how candidates plan their route to licensure; the advanced social worker section shows deletion of an exam phrase, which suggests the exam requirement may be removed but that point is not fully clear from the excerpt. Supervisors and clinics will likely need to accommodate more documented one-to-one supervision time and to meet qualifications (for example, supervisors must themselves be licensed for specified periods), which can increase supervision workload or compensation costs and narrow who can provide qualifying supervision. The department and the named executive (the “secretary”) must write rules about proof and continuing education, and applicants are protected from mid-process rule changes because only rules effective on application submission can be applied; however, the excerpt leaves important details unclear, including which specific agency offices are meant by “secretary” and “department,” and formal definitions for terms like “approved supervisor” and “approved setting” are not provided.