STAND. COM. REP. NO. 430-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: H.B. No. 1906
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No.
1906 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LICENSING OF PSYCHOLOGISTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committee, is
to increase the pool of licensed psychologists in Hawaii by:

     (1)  Accepting state-approved schools as satisfying the
          educational requirements; and

     (2)  Changing the post-doctoral experience requirements.

     Hale Na'au Pono and an individual testified in support of
this measure.  The Board of Psychology (Board) opposed this
measure.  The Department of Health submitted comments.

     Current law and rules require that the applicant's course
work in a Ph.D. program and the applicant's  internship
experience be scrutinized and checked for specific content areas.
This has been a tedious process not only for the Board, but also
for applicants.  The Board testified that it supports eliminating
the scrutiny and checking of specific course content areas for
Ph.D. graduates of regionally accredited institutions which also
have had the clinical psychology program accredited by the
American Psychology Association (APA).  Furthermore, the Board
supports eliminating the scrutiny and checking of the internship,
if such internship is accredited by the APA.


 
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     The Board is very comfortable with endorsing APA accredited
programs, considering that APA standards for the doctoral degree
and internship are comprehensive, and represent the highest level
of training for a psychologist.

     After careful consideration, your Committee has amended this
measure by deleting its substance and inserting language
providing that if the requirements for the Ph.D. program or
internship are APA accredited, there will be no internal review
or scrutiny.  These amendments will allow fast tracking of an
application through the process.  As there are 178 clinical
psychology Ph.D. programs accredited by the APA and 426
internship programs accredited by the APA nationwide, this will
have a broad impact.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
1906, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second
Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1906, H.D. 1, and
be referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Health,



                                   ______________________________
                                   ALEXANDER C. SANTIAGO, Chair