March 21, 2025 - Introduced by Senators Tomczyk, James, Dassler-Alfheim and Wall, cosponsored by Representatives Dittrich, Knodl, Murphy, Mursau, Novak, O'Connor, Tusler, Johnson, Miresse, Moore Omokunde, Palmeri and Vining. Referred to Committee on Licensing, Regulatory Reform, State and Federal Affairs.
SB140,1,3
1An Act to amend 440.08 (2) (a) (intro.), 457.08 (1) (intro.), 457.08 (2) (intro.), 2457.08 (3) (intro.) and 457.08 (4) (intro.); to create 457.08 (6) and 457.085 of 3the statutes; relating to: provisional social worker certificates and licenses. Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Current law prohibits a person from using the title “social worker” without holding a social worker certificate, and similarly prohibits the use of other titles corresponding to higher levels of social work practice without a corresponding credential for that level of social work practice. Those higher levels of social work practice include advanced practice social work, independent social work, and clinical social work. Current law further prohibits the practice of clinical social work without a clinical social worker license. Current law specifies requirements for obtaining these social worker credentials, all of which include a requirement of passage of an examination.
This bill provides for an alternative pathway to obtain a social work credential without passage of a national examination. Under the bill, an individual who has taken the examination corresponding to a particular category of social work credential and has not passed the examination, but who otherwise satisfies the requirements for the credential, may obtain a provisional credential. With the provisional credential, the individual is allowed to practice the corresponding level of social work, may use the corresponding title, and is considered to be that level of social worker, but the individual must obtain at least three hours of supervision during every 160 hours of practice, in accordance with the bill and rules promulgated by the Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work Examining Board and subject to periodic evaluation. Upon successful completion of the supervised practice requirement, the individual must receive a final evaluation and may obtain a corresponding nonprovisional social worker credential without passage of the examination.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
SB140,1
1Section 1. 440.08 (2) (a) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read: SB140,2,52440.08 (2) (a) (intro.) Except as provided in par. (b) and in ss. 440.51, 442.04, 3444.03, 444.11, 447.04 (2) (c) 2., 447.05 (1) (b), 449.17 (1m) (d), 449.18 (2) (e), 455.06 4(1) (b), 457.085 (3), 463.10, 463.12, and 463.25 and subch. II of ch. 448, the renewal 5dates for credentials are as follows: SB140,26Section 2. 457.08 (1) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read: SB140,2,97457.08 (1) Social worker certificate. (intro.) The social worker section 8shall grant a social worker certificate to an individual who qualifies under sub. (6) 9(a) or s. 457.09 (5) (d) or to any individual who does all of the following: SB140,310Section 3. 457.08 (2) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read: SB140,2,1411457.08 (2) Advanced practice social worker certificate. (intro.) The 12social worker section shall grant an advanced practice social worker certificate to 13any an individual who qualifies under sub. (6) (b) or to an individual who is certified 14under sub. (1) and does all of the following: SB140,415Section 4. 457.08 (3) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read: SB140,3,216457.08 (3) Independent social worker certificate. (intro.) The social 17worker section shall grant an independent social worker certificate to any an
1individual who qualifies under sub. (6) (c) or to an individual who is certified under 2sub. (1) and does all of the following: SB140,53Section 5. 457.08 (4) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read: SB140,3,74457.08 (4) Clinical social worker license. (intro.) The social worker 5section shall grant a clinical social worker license to any an individual who qualifies 6under sub. (6) (d) or to an individual who is certified under sub. (1) and does all of 7the following: SB140,68Section 6. 457.08 (6) of the statutes is created to read: SB140,3,139457.08 (6) Certificate or license based on provisional certificate or 10license. (a) Upon satisfaction of the requirements in s. 457.06, the social worker 11section shall grant a social worker certificate to an individual who has held a 12provisional social worker certificate and whose completion of supervised practice 13has been verified under s. 457.085 (4) (e) 2. SB140,3,1714(b) Upon satisfaction of the requirements in s. 457.06, the social worker 15section shall grant an advanced practice social worker certificate to an individual 16who has held a provisional advanced practice social worker certificate and whose 17completion of supervised practice has been verified under s. 457.085 (4) (e) 2. SB140,3,2118(c) Upon satisfaction of the requirements in s. 457.06, the social worker 19section shall grant an independent social worker certificate to an individual who 20has held a provisional independent social worker certificate and whose completion 21of supervised practice has been verified under s. 457.085 (4) (e) 2. SB140,4,222(d) Upon satisfaction of the requirements in s. 457.06, the social worker 23section shall grant a clinical social worker license to an individual who has held a
1provisional clinical social worker license and whose completion of supervised 2practice has been verified under s. 457.085 (4) (e) 2. SB140,73Section 7. 457.085 of the statutes is created to read: SB140,4,84457.085 Provisional social worker certificates and licenses. (1) The 5social worker section shall grant a provisional social worker certificate, provisional 6advanced practice social worker certificate, provisional independent social worker 7certificate, or provisional clinical social worker license, as applicable, to any 8individual who does all of the following: SB140,4,109(a) Submits an application for the provisional certificate or license to the 10department on a form provided by the department. SB140,4,1111(b) Pays the fee specified in s. 440.05 (6). SB140,4,1312(c) Has taken the applicable national social work examination required under 13s. 457.08 (1) (c), (2) (c), (3) (d), or (4) (d) and not passed the examination. SB140,4,1614(d) Otherwise satisfies the requirements under s. 457.08 (1), (2), (3), or (4), 15whichever is applicable with respect to the category of social work certificate or 16license for which the applicant is applying. SB140,4,1917(e) Has taken and passed an examination approved by the social worker 18section that tests knowledge of state law relating to social work, if required under s. 19457.08 (1) (c), (2) (c), (3) (d), or (4) (d). SB140,4,2220(2) (a) 1. Notwithstanding s. 457.04 (1), a provisional social worker certificate 21authorizes the holder to use the title specified in s. 457.04 (1) during the period in 22which the certificate is valid. SB140,5,2232. A provisional social worker certificate holder is a social worker certified
1under this chapter for purposes of any law governing social workers certified under 2this chapter. SB140,5,53(b) 1. Notwithstanding s. 457.04 (2), a provisional advanced practice social 4worker certificate authorizes the holder to use the title specified in s. 457.04 (2) 5during the period in which the certificate is valid. SB140,5,862. A provisional advanced practice social worker certificate holder is an 7advanced practice social worker certified under this chapter for purposes of any law 8governing advanced practice social workers certified under this chapter. SB140,5,119(c) 1. Notwithstanding s. 457.04 (3), a provisional independent social worker 10certificate authorizes the holder to use the title specified in s. 457.04 (3) during the 11period in which the certificate is valid. SB140,5,14122. A provisional independent social worker certificate holder is an 13independent social worker certified under this chapter for purposes of any law 14governing independent social workers certified under this chapter. SB140,5,1715(d) Notwithstanding s. 457.04 (4), a provisional clinical social worker license 16authorizes the holder to practice clinical social work and use the title specified in s. 17457.04 (4) during the period in which the license is valid. SB140,5,2118(3) (a) A provisional certificate or license is valid for 36 months unless a 19nonprovisional certificate or license is granted under s. 457.08 (6) before expiration 20of the provisional certificate or license or unless the provisional certificate or 21license is revoked before expiration. SB140,5,2222(b) A provisional certificate or license may not be renewed. SB140,6,323(4) (a) During the period during which a provisional certificate or license is
1valid, the certificate or license holder shall work to obtain at least 37.5 hours of 2supervision according to the requirements of this subsection and the rules 3promulgated under sub. (6). SB140,6,54(b) 1. Twenty-five hours of supervision required by par. (a) must consist of 5one-on-one in-person supervision. SB140,6,762. Twelve and one-half hours of supervision required by par. (a) must consist 7of one or more of the following types of supervision: SB140,6,88a. In-person, one-on-one supervision. SB140,6,109b. In-person group supervision. To qualify as in-person group supervision, 10the group must not exceed 7 members including the supervisor. SB140,6,1511(c) The supervision required by par. (a) must be obtained during the first 122,000 hours of social work practice after the date the provisional certificate or 13license is granted. At least 3 hours of supervision must be obtained during every 14160 hours of practice under a provisional certificate or license until a 15nonprovisional certificate or license is granted under s. 457.08 (6). SB140,6,2016(d) An individual granted a provisional certificate or license shall prepare and 17submit, on a form provided by the department, a proposed supervision plan for 18meeting the supervision requirements under this subsection. The social worker 19section shall review the proposed supervision plan and shall, if the social worker 20section is satisfied with the plan, approve the supervisor and the supervision plan. SB140,7,321(e) 1. After being granted a provisional certificate or license under sub. (1), 22the provisional certificate or license holder’s supervisor shall submit to the social 23worker section an evaluation every 6 months during the provisional certificate or
1license holder’s first 2,000 hours of social work practice under the provisional 2certificate or license. The evaluation must meet the requirements established by 3the examining board under sub. (6). SB140,7,842. a. After completion of 2,000 hours of supervised social work practice, the 5provisional certificate or license holder’s supervisor shall submit to the social 6worker section a final evaluation in accordance with rules promulgated under sub. 7(6) and attest to the provisional certificate or license holder’s ability to engage in 8the applicable level of practice of social work competently and ethically. SB140,7,129b. Notwithstanding subd. 2. a., the social worker section may accept 10alternative verification of supervised practice if a provisional certificate or license 11holder demonstrates that he or she is unable to arrange for a former supervisor to 12provide the required information. SB140,7,2013(5) In addition to the grounds for discipline enumerated under s. 457.26 (2), 14the social worker section may take any action specified under s. 457.26 (2) (intro.) if 15the provisional certificate or license holder does not submit a supervision plan as 16required under sub. (4) (d), if the social worker section does not approve a 17supervisor and supervision plan as provided under sub. (4) (d), if the provisional 18certificate or license holder fails to comply with the supervision plan under sub. (4) 19(d), or if the provisional certificate or license holder otherwise fails to comply with 20the requirements under this section. SB140,7,2221(6) The examining board shall, upon the advice of the social worker section, 22promulgate rules establishing all of the following: SB140,8,2
1(a) Requirements for supervision and qualifications for supervisors under 2sub. (4) (a) to (c). SB140,8,53(b) Requirements and procedures for supervision plans under sub. (4) (d), 4including requirements and procedures for the preparation and approval of revised 5supervision plans when necessary. SB140,8,66(c) Requirements for evaluations under sub. (4) (e).
