This bill creates a new regulatory framework for social workers by adding chapter 18.320 RCW and establishing a Washington state board of governors for licensed social workers. The board is a governor‑appointed seven‑member body with specified member qualifications, staggered five‑year terms, rulemaking authority, and responsibility for setting education, supervised experience, examination, continuing competency, and ethics requirements for multiple social work license levels. The bill makes the board the disciplining authority for licensed social workers under the Uniform Disciplinary Act (chapter 18.130 RCW) and shifts regulatory authority from the secretary of health to the new board on a defined timeline, while preserving the secretary’s temporary authority until the board assumes full functions. The bill also amends and adds licensing procedures across related mental health professions. It requires the board to schedule and regulate examinations, set rules for reexamination, and establish endorsement/reciprocity standards at least as stringent as Washington’s. It creates associate license categories for social workers, mental health counselor associates, and marriage and family therapist associates, permits limited supervised practice for associates (including a 120‑day supervised practice window after application), mandates client disclosure forms, and sets continuing education and renewal rules (including required ethics hours beginning with the second renewal). The legislation reenacts and amends RCW 18.130.040 to list disciplining authorities and makes procedural changes to complaint, subpoena, and disciplinary processes; it also creates or amends advisory committees for mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists. The bill makes a range of other legal and programmatic changes: it authorizes a co‑occurring disorder specialist enhancement with defined training and supervised experience, directs the department to approve programs and exams for that enhancement, and specifies who may provide services with the enhancement; it authorizes a University of Washington psilocybin therapy services pilot (subject to appropriation) with specified facilitator types; it revises suicide assessment/treatment/management training requirements and a model list of approved trainings for many Title 18 professions; it clarifies and narrows certain confidentiality and privileged‑communication rules (including for domestic violence advocates, peer supporters, and union representation), and it amends juvenile court procedures and supervision/treatment conditions related to a special sex offender disposition alternative. Sections 2–18 take effect July 1, 2026; sections 19–47 take effect July 1, 2027 or later only after the social work board adopts rules and assumes regulatory authority. Important specifics are not provided in the extracted text (for example, fee amounts, the full text of many amended sections, definitions in section 9, and some truncated provisions), so those details and any cross‑references to omitted sections are uncertain from the material available.

If enacted, the bill will create a new governor-appointed Board of Governors for Licensed Social Workers that gradually takes over licensing, exams, rulemaking, and discipline from the Department of Health. Practically, social workers will be governed by a new regulator with authority to set education and exam standards, approve supervised experience, require continuing education and ethics training, adopt a code of ethics, and by rule require professional liability insurance; the department will continue to provide administrative support, issue associate licenses in the short term, and must report annually on program finances during the transition. New associate license categories allow graduates to practice only under approved supervision (with a 120-day supervised practice window after applying), require client disclosure at first contact, and introduce renewal and ethics-hour requirements that will start to affect day-to-day practice and supervision. The people most affected are licensed social workers and applicants (who will have new supervisory, disclosure, education, and possible insurance obligations), approved supervisors and employers (who will absorb supervision time and compliance tasks), and the Department of Health (which will shift regulatory duties and manage the transition). Certain professionals (psychologists, independent clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, and mental health counselors) also face potential fee increases to support a new co‑occurring disorder specialist enhancement, and the University of Washington is directed to run a psilocybin therapy pilot with specified facilitator roles. Many implementation details that determine actual costs and timelines—exact fee amounts, specific exam and program criteria, definitions of approved supervisors, and the full scope of rules—are left to future rulemaking, so how much fees, supervision burdens, or service changes will rise is uncertain.