The state House has adopted a bill to settle a controversy on what licensed mental health counselors are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do.
Cheers erupted from a packed gallery to celebrate the House action. The bill would circumvent proposed rule changes. Licensed counselors say the proposed changes would put thousands of them out of business. And they say it would rupture a mental health system that relies on them, in part because there’s a shortage of psychiatrists and psychologists.
Republican state Representative Aaron Miller says there’s no reason to change the system that’s been in place for three decades.
“Let’s just keep doing what we’re doing because there has been no problem.”
The bill now goes to the state Senate. If it is approved there, it would go to Governor Gretchen Whitmer to be signed or vetoed.