June Testimony for the Licensure Modernization Act and What Is Next

The Michigan State legislature has been on break, but before they went on break the House Subcommittee for Behavioral Health Policy heard testimony related to the Social Work Licensure Modernization Act, HB 5184 and 5185. The full language of the bills as they currently read can be viewed at HB 5184 and HB 5185 . In summary, these bills will do three things:

• Remove the ASWB exam as a requirement for all tiers of licensing 
• Decrease the required supervision hours for a clinical license to 3,000 (more in line with other states as Michigan’s current 4,000 hour requirement is the highest requirement in the country)
• Add a requirement of passing an open-book and more affordable Jurisprudence Exam. For more information on what a jurisprudence exam is, review the previous article. 

The full testimony can be viewed here. We also cut it down into shorter bits of each piece of testimony and questions at our YouTube Channel.

Duane Breijak, LMSW-Macro and Executive Director of NASW-Michigan shared his unique experience of hearing daily from social workers across the state who are finding themselves in truly impossible and heartbreaking positions when they run out of time to pass the exam, after often years and hundreds or even thousands of dollars in test prep and exam fees. The stories are heartbreaking and our communities are losing experienced, educated professionals who either have to change careers or move out of the state in order to find alternative pathways to continuing their career. 

Another part of Duane’s testimony was acknowledgment of the importance of the Social Work Compact and his hope that we will be able to join this compact as a next stage in modernization of licensure in Michigan. At the time of the testimony, 18 states had passed the compact and now, as of the writing of this article, 22 states have passed it. In fact, social work has broken a record in the number of states to pass a compact in one legislative session! For anyone who is unfamiliar with the compact, you can learn more here. It’s important to remember that, as the current compact stands, the requirement for the ASWB exam is part of the package.

With more states introducing and passing licensure modernization and having alternative pathways to licensure, it will be important for the compact to consider the obstacle of the ASWB exam and inclusion of states who have removed this requirement. With what we know now about the compact and about other compacts for other professions, the changes proposed in these bills will not bar us from joining the compact in the future. If the ASWB exam does not get removed from the compact then it will only be a continued requirement for licensed social workers looking to have compact licensure - Michigan’s proposed new requirements will still be protected for social workers interested in Michigan’s licensure alone. It does not have to be an “either or” for Michigan - it can and we plan for it to be a “both and” if we are mindful of timing.

Representative Noah Arbit posed a question regarding how the proposed restructuring would impact currently licensed social workers and how it may impact billing and reimbursement. Duane explained that the “LCSW” which will replace the “LMSW-Clinical” will actually bring Michigan’s clinical social workers more in line with the rest of the country. This will only simplify billing. For social workers who hold the “LMSW-Macro” currently, they will continue to use LMSW as their credentials. The biggest impact will be on the current “LLMSWs” and future graduates who will instead hold their general credential of “LMSW” as they work towards supervision and pass the jurisprudence exam to become LCSWs.
 

Representative Schmaltz questioned how the ASWB exam is biased. Representative Rheingans was able to provide a particularly good explanation. Her example was related to how culture can impact a client’s motivation. For example, most white people are raised to be individually motivated. She shared that many cultures, conversely, are motivated by family motivation. When the exam is questioning how a social worker should work with a client who needs to change a specific behavior, the choices listed range from motivating them as an individual to engaging their family. She explained that the answer the exam is looking for is related to individual motivation, which is not always the right answer depending on a client’s background. This is a perfect example of how the questions on the ASWB exam do not truly measure competency but instead are measuring a social worker’s ability to pick which good answer is the “correct” and in most cases aligned with white culture. 
 

Representative Thomson, who can relate as a nurse by profession, questioned some of the policies around the ASWB exam, for example, why social workers have to wait until they’ve gained their supervision hours to take the test versus taking it right after school. This is an important point because many people do not realize that it is ASWB that mandates that the exam is taken after supervision hours are completed - it is not up to the discretion of the states administering the exams. While it makes logical sense to most professionals that a way to help social workers pass it would be to encourage them to take it sooner - this is not an option. 
 

Representative Hoadley related to the notion of wanting to become more aligned with other states and questioned how we match up to other states on quality of care and success. Representative Brabec eloquently responded explaining that when social workers have to leave the profession as a result of being unable to pass the exam “It is a loss to me, to our communities, to our profession when they aren’t able to continue to practice because the passage of the exam is not connected to safe, competent practice.” Duane also responded, sharing that according to Michigan data over the most recent 3 years from 2018-2021, “Michigan lost more than 300 social workers over age 50 and over 600 Black social workers.” He went on to say, “Are our communities safer because there's a thousand less social workers able to assist at our schools? In our community mental health agencies, who are struggling for workforce folx that are off because there are fewer people in the pool? We still want to maintain that there is public protection and that's where we have a board of social work, we have disciplinary review and the more folx who are in the licensure process, the more people who ultimately can be held publicly accountable if they do something wrong. If they are unlicensed, then it's a whole different ball of wax when you have to either go through the legal process or there's no recourse for people who may be practicing in an unethical or unlicensed manner.” 
 

After this initial period of questions from the committee, they offered time for public comment and the Licensure Modernization Act had support from many experts in the profession who are passionate about the need for this change. 
 

Barb Hiltz, LMSW-Clinical and Macro and Clinical Associate Professor and MSW Program Director at the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work was first. Barb spoke in regard to, despite the unique advantage that graduates from the University of Michigan theoretically have, there is still a concerning discrepancy in pass rates for Black and older adults.  
 

Next, the committee heard from Dr. Catherine Macomber, PhD and LMSW-Clinical and Macro, who is the BSW Program Director and Assistant Dean of the College of Health and Human Services at Saginaw Valley State University. She spoke related to the impact that her graduates uniquely have on rural communities and the disservice the current shortage has on the community and the agencies who are struggling to keep positions filled with licensed social workers. She also acknowledged the disconnect between the core ethical values of social work with our continued requirement for an inequitable means of entry into our profession. 
 

Jen Hirsh, PhD Candidate at Michigan State’s School of Social Work and LMSW-Clinical shared her unique expertise as a researcher related to jurisprudence exams and equitable strategies for measuring ethical and safe practice. She was able to explain how the ASWB exam as a competency exam is a replication of the competency standards that schools are measuring while students are in their coursework. She made the connection that instead, a jurisprudence exam would measure social workers' knowledge of relevant law in Michigan and the board of social work would continue to be the governing body to oversee that social workers in Michigan practice in a safe and ethical manner. 
 

Next, via Zoom was Dr. Chandra Carr, PhD and MSW, Director of Practicum Education at Wayne State University’s School of Social Work. She shared her personal experience with the exam and her unwavering support of modernization. She has been a social worker for over 20 years and has experience in a variety of fields within the profession, but she shared that she did not pass the ASWB exam. She shared how this has impacted her career and that she has had to hold multiple roles because, without a license, her options are limited as is her compensation.
 

Trische Duckworth, MSW and Community Advocate, also joined via Zoom to share her sadness over having to find a path forward without licensure as she, too, has been unable to pass the exam after testing three times. Trische was vulnerable enough to share that she has testing anxiety which has made it particularly difficult for her, something that many social workers can relate to. Language is so important when we are talking about the current licensure process and the ASWB exam and Trische was intentional with her language when she identified the bias exam as being oppressive - something social workers fight against every day for our clients and our communities and that most people can agree has no place in the processes that are in place for social work professionals. 
 

Three people who are all associated with ASWB in some way came forward to provide testimony in opposition of the bill. Brian Philson, Michigan social work licensee who was grandfathered in as he has been licensed and working in the field for 39 years, went first. Brian shared hopes for Michigan and the Social Work Compact. Representative Pohutsky clarified much of Brian’s commentary related to the compact as it is not what we are discussing in these bills. Brian did not self-identify as being a board member of ASWB, but Representative Edwards questioned him, and he confirmed that he was. Representative Edwards also questioned what ASWB’s profit has been and, while he was unable to identify it at the time, their profit was posted and, according to their annual report for 2021, was $17,659,247 in exam revenue. Dale Atkinson from Atkinson Law, who represents ASWB, also joined and reiterated much of Brian’s opposition. Finally, Stacey Hardy Chandler who is the CEO of ASWB provided her opposition. She provided a defense largely related to her own ability as a Black woman to pass the exam for her own license. When these professionals had the opportunity to oppose the bills, they were unable to identify any specific steps ASWB has taken in the past two years to correct or buffer the disproportionate pass rates found in their report from 2022. It’s important to keep that in mind when listening to their feedback - for example, they mention scholarships but have yet to put these things into practice. 
 

While the committee ran out of time to vote on the bill on June 13, we have the opportunity between now and early fall to reach out to our representatives, whether they are on the committee or not, to share your support and help them understand the facts of why the exam is not the best way to assess for competency and safety and how our communities will benefit from the changes outlined in HB 5184 and HB 5185. Click here to find your representative and for help with how to reach out to them, click here.
 

NASW-Michigan will be working with and sharing stories from social workers across the state who have been directly impacted by our current licensure process and the barriers in place. Whether you are a social worker who has had to make a career change, consider moving out of Michigan, a social worker who is struggling to pass the exam, or even a licensed social worker impacted by the labor shortage in your agency and are interested in sharing your story in an op-ed, you can reach out to Jordan Freeman at jfreeman.naswmi@socialworkers.org for assistance.