Texas Register, Volume 47, Number 7, Pages 715-820, February 18, 2022 Page: 772
717-820 p. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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professionally. LPC-Associates are still prohibited from employ-
ing their supervisor, but the LPC-Associate may compensate
the supervisor (e.g. contract for supervision) if the supervi-
sion is not a part of the supervisor's responsibilities as a paid
employee of an agency, institution, clinic, or other business
entity. LPC-Associates and LPC-Supervisors are free to enter
into any type of supervision agreement so long as it does not
conflict with any applicable law. What these rule amendments
do is allow for an LPC-Associate to create and run their own
business and then contract for the required supervision with a
willing LPC-Supervisor. If a supervisor does not want to enter
into such an arrangement then they are not required to do so;
for example, supervisors can choose to only offer supervision
to direct employees if they so choose. The Council finds that
any alleged harm to the public, clients, or licensees that the
commenters allege these rule changes will cause are purely
speculative, and there is no evidence to suggest the misconduct
or harm described in the comments will in fact occur because
of these rule changes. LPC-Supervisors are required to provide
supervision as it relates to the practice of professional counsel-
ing by the LPC-Associate, if a matter is outside of this scope a
supervisor would not be subject to a disciplinary action by the
Council. For example, if an LPC-Associate decides to create
a legal entity, such as a limited liability company, in Texas but
fails to timely or properly file a required form or fee with Texas
Comptroller of Public Accounts, the Texas Workforce Com-
mission, or any other applicable government agency, then the
LPC-Supervisor would not be subject to disciplinary action by
the Council for this failure by the LPC-Associate. Rule 681.92(e)
requires a minimum of four hours of supervision per month
for an LPC-Associate, but this is only the minimum standard
- supervisors can provide or require more than this minimum
standard if a supervisor finds more supervision is necessary
for a particular LPC-Associate. Rule 681.41(s) currently states
that if records are created by a licensee during the scope of
employment by an agency or institution (e.g. hospital) then the
licensee does not have to maintain the records because the
hospital should have them. Part of the reasoning behind this
rule is that clients will naturally return to a hospital to request
a copy of their records and not seek out each provider they
received services from during their hospital stay. A similar
reason exits for clarifying in these rules that if an LPC-Associate
is self employed (e.g. creates their own business) then the
client will naturally return to the business where they received
services to request a copy of their records. Therefore, in such
a situation, a supervisor would not be required to maintain the
client's records but the supervisor can and should inspect the
records created and maintained by the LPC-Associate. If an
LPC-Associate is not property creating and maintaining client
records then, per 681.93(e), a supervisor should develop and
implement a written plan for remediation of the LPC-Associate.
If an LPC-Associate refuses to provide the supervisor access to
such records then the supervisor can terminate the supervisory
relationship.
The 3,000 hours of supervised experience needed for licensure
is required by statute, see 503.302(a)(4) of the Occupations
Code, therefore this agency declines to reconsider this require-
ment or shorten it. The Council declines to amend the licens-
ing requirements for an LPC or LPC-Associate, the Texas State
Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors has not articu-
lated a need to amend the licensure requirements because of
these rule amendments.Regarding the comment pertaining to the definition of art therapy,
current 681.49(i) states:
A licensee is required to hold the art therapy specialty designa-
tion in order to use the title "art therapist" or the initials "AT." A
licensee who does not hold the designation may use art therapy
as a counseling method butmay not use the title or initials.
Therefore this agency declines to amend or withdraw the defini-
tion of art therapy in this rule because licensees without this spe-
cialty designation can use art therapy as a counseling method
but they cannot represent themselves as a specialist until the
designation has been achieved. The definition regarding dance
therapy was not previously proposed to be amended so this
agency declines to make any changes as requested.
Statutory Authority.
The rule is adopted under Tex. Occ. Code, Title 3, Subtitle I,
Chapter 507, which provides the Texas Behavioral Health Exec-
utive Council with the authority to make all rules, not inconsistent
with the Constitution and Laws of this State, which are reason-
ably necessary for the proper performance of its duties and reg-
ulations of proceedings before it.
Additionally,the Executive Council adopts this rule pursuant to
the authority found in 507.152 of the Tex. 0cc. Code which
vests the Executive Council with the authority to adopt rules nec-
essary to perform its duties and implement Chapter 507 of the
Tex. Occ. Code.
In accordance with 503.2015 of the Tex. Occ. Code the Texas
State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors previously
voted and, by a majority, approved to propose the adoption this
rule to the Executive Council. The rule is specifically authorized
by 503.2015 of the Tex. Occ. Code which states the Board
shall propose to the Executive Council rules regarding the qual-
ifications necessary to obtain a license; the scope of practice,
standards of care, and ethical practice; continuing education re-
quirements for license holders; and a schedule of sanctions for
violations of this chapter or rules adopted under this chapter.
The Executive Council also adopts this rule in compliance with
507.153 of the Tex. Occ. Code. The Executive Council may
not propose and adopt a rule regarding the qualifications neces-
sary to obtain a license; the scope of practice, standards of care,
and ethical practice for a profession; continuing education re-
quirements; or a schedule of sanctions unless the rule has been
proposed by the applicable board for the profession. In this in-
stance, the underlying board has proposed this rule to the Ex-
ecutive Council. Therefore, the Executive Council has complied
with Chapters 503 and 507 of the Texas Occupations Code and
may adopt this rule.
Lastly, the Executive Council also adopts this rule under the au-
thority found in 2001.004 of the Tex. Gov't Code which requires
state agencies to adopt rules of practice stating the nature and
requirements of all available formal and informal procedures.
The agency certifies that legal counsel has reviewed the adop-
tion and found it to be a valid exercise of the agency's legal au-
thority.
Filed with the Office of the Secretary of State on February 7,
2022.
TRD-20220040647 TexReg 772 February 18, 2022
Texas Register
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Texas. Secretary of State. Texas Register, Volume 47, Number 7, Pages 715-820, February 18, 2022, periodical, February 18, 2022; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1462843/m1/58/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.