All Roll Calls
Yes: 58 • No: 1
NevadaSB16583rd Regular Session (2025)SenateWALLET
AN ACT relating to behavioral health; providing for the licensure and regulation of behavioral health and wellness practitioners; requiring the establishment of a Behavioral Health and Wellness Practitioner Advisory Group; authorizing the Board of Psychological Examiners to investigate and impose discipline on a behavioral health and wellness practitioner; prohibiting the unlicensed practice of behavioral health promotion and prevention; establishing a privilege for certain confidential communications between a patient and a behavioral health and wellness practitioner under certain circumstances; requiring Medicaid to cover behavioral health promotion and prevention services provided by a behavioral health and wellness practitioner; providing penalties; requiring certain allocations and transfers of money and authorizing certain expenditures; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Sponsored By: Rochelle T. Nguyen (Democratic)
Signed by Governor
BDR 54-145
Your PRIA Score
Score Hidden
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
18 provisions identified: 11 benefits, 2 costs, 5 mixed.
Medicaid covers prevention services
Medicaid covers behavioral health promotion and prevention services when a licensed practitioner provides them and federal matching funds are available. The state must apply for any needed federal waivers or State Plan changes and work with federal officials. Coverage depends on federal approval and funding.
Safety and reporting rules add practitioners
These practitioners count as mental health professionals for duty‑to‑warn rules and crisis holds when there is imminent danger. They are added to state mandatory‑reporter lists for certain violations. Music therapy and prevention services are kept as separate practices. These practitioners are exempt from dietetics rules when sharing brief nutrition tips within their scope. The law bans conversion therapy for anyone under 18 by psychotherapists, which includes these practitioners.
New license for prevention services
The law creates a new license called behavioral health and wellness practitioner. It treats psychology and prevention work as learned professions that need regulation. It defines what prevention services are and what they are not, like no diagnosing certain disorders, no psychological testing, and no prescribing. It also updates legal terms so these practitioners and their patients are clearly covered.
Faster reporting to protect seniors
Behavioral health and wellness practitioners must report suspected abuse, neglect, exploitation, isolation, or abandonment of older or vulnerable people. They must report as soon as reasonably possible and no later than 24 hours. Willful failure to report is a misdemeanor.
Tough penalties for unlicensed practice
You cannot use the practitioner title or provide prevention services without a license. The Board can fine you $500 for a first offense, $1,000 for a second, and $1,500 after that; you may request a hearing within 30 days. Calling yourself a practitioner or practicing without a license is a gross misdemeanor. The Board or Attorney General can also ask a court to order you to stop, without proving actual damage.
Stronger oversight and discipline for providers
Licensees and trainees must take a Board‑ordered mental, physical, or competency exam; refusal can mean immediate suspension. If an exam is ordered during a suspension, it must be finished and results received within 60 days. The Board can require a competency test when it has documented reasons, and certified court or licensing records count as conclusive proof; a nolo plea counts as a conviction. You can ask a court to review a Board order, but limits stay in effect during review. After one year, you may apply for reinstatement or to end limits, subject to safety. The Board must notify a supervisor’s licensing board about certain complaints and keep all complaints for at least 10 years.
New license and supervision for prevention workers
The law creates a license to provide behavioral health promotion and prevention. To qualify, you must be 18 or older, have a related bachelor’s degree, finish a Board‑approved program, name a qualified supervising provider, and pass an exam or Board‑approved alternative. Fingerprints are required before the Board will process your application. The Board sets training, exam, supervision, and practice standards, and allows remote or electronic supervision at approved sites. Advanced practice psychiatric nurses can serve as supervisors, and these practitioners are now recognized as health care providers under Nevada law.
Patient privacy and training recording rules
Patient talks with these practitioners and their supervised teams are confidential, like talks with the supervising clinician. Schools and clinics may use recordings for approved training only with a Board consent form, HIPAA‑level privacy, and no identifying details unless the patient agrees. Recordings must be destroyed after the Board’s set time.
Scholarships to grow the workforce
Starting July 1, 2025, the state reimburses up to $574,980 each to UNR, UNLV, and Great Basin College for bachelor’s programs and scholarships. It also reimburses up to $500,000 each to those schools to create micro‑credentials and student scholarships. UNLV’s partnership gets up to $1.2 million to start an APA‑accredited psychology internship with a child focus. The Nevada System of Higher Education gets up to $2 million for scholarships to train future supervisors. All funds are reimbursements during the 2025–2027 biennium.
Advisory group created, ends 2028
The Board creates a Behavioral Health and Wellness Practitioner Advisory Group. Members serve without pay and advise on rules and rollout. This group ends December 31, 2028.
Who is exempt from these licenses
Federal employees practicing in their jobs and state or federal workers providing prevention services on the job are exempt. People licensed under social work, alcohol and drug counseling, or behavior analysis are also exempt from those chapters’ rules when they are licensed as behavioral health and wellness practitioners. The law also clarifies who is outside this chapter so long as they do not present themselves as psychologists or behavioral health and wellness practitioners.
When these new rules start
Agencies may start writing rules right after the law passes. Most parts become fully active on January 1, 2026. The workforce funding section starts July 1, 2025. One future section takes effect on January 1, 2029.
Stronger oversight of behavioral health work
The Board can suspend, revoke, or place a practitioner on probation for misconduct like malpractice, fraud, or sexual activity with a patient. The Board or a hearing officer can subpoena witnesses and records. The Board, its advisory group, hospital review panels, and certain associations must file a complaint when they learn of possible grounds for discipline; others may file. Courts can quickly issue orders to stop unprofessional conduct during proceedings, without proof of damage. People who report or help lawful investigations are protected from civil lawsuits if they act without malice.
Medicaid funds to add prevention care
The law moves $68,705 into the Nevada Medicaid budget for fiscal year 2026–2027. It also lets the agency spend $115,171 that year, not from the State General Fund, to carry out the Medicaid prevention‑care section of this law. These sections take effect July 1, 2026.
More required training for psychologists
Psychologists must complete at least 2 hours of evidence‑based suicide prevention within 2 years of first getting licensed and at least every 4 years after. The Board also requires at least 6 hours on cultural competency and diversity, equity, and inclusion on its regular schedule.
Rules to get and keep the license
The Board decides on a complete license application within 120 days. The initial license fee is $200, and renewal every 3 years costs $200. To renew, you need 20 hours of continuing education in 3 years, including at least 2 hours in ethics and 2 hours in prevention science. If you miss renewal, your license is delinquent; the Board notifies you within 30 days, and you have 60 days to renew before it expires. Approved supervisors include psychiatrists, psychiatric APRNs, psychologists, clinical counselors, marriage and family therapists, and clinical social workers. If you practiced on or before January 1, 2026, you may keep practicing without the new license until July 1, 2026.
Lawsuits and safety rules updated
Behavioral health and wellness practitioners are added to civil laws that define health care providers. The 35% cap on contingency lawyer fees in malpractice cases applies to suits involving these providers. Assaults against these practitioners while working face enhanced penalties. State administrative references are also updated to include them.
Privacy rules for training recordings
Training programs and certain professionals may use recordings of services for approved training with the patient’s informed written consent. Recordings must follow HIPAA privacy rules, and the Board sets how long to keep them and when to destroy them. Some programs or professionals do not have to keep these recordings if they are used only for training and consent was given. These rules apply to behavioral health and wellness practitioners and to listed counselor types.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Rochelle T. Nguyen
Democratic • Senate
Cosponsors
Carrie Ann Buck
Republican • Senate
John C. Steinbeck
Republican • Senate
Roll Call Votes
House vote • 5/31/2025
Final Passage - Assembly (2nd Reprint)
Yes: 38 • No: 1
Senate vote • 5/27/2025
Final Passage - Senate (2nd Reprint)
Yes: 20 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Chapter 379.
6/6/2025legislatureApproved by the Governor.
6/6/2025legislatureEnrolled and delivered to Governor.
6/4/2025legislatureTo enrollment.
6/2/2025SenateIn Senate.
6/1/2025SenateRead third time. Passed. Title approved. (Yeas: 38, Nays: 1, Excused: 3.) To Senate.
5/31/2025HouseRead second time.
5/30/2025HousePlaced on Second Reading File.
5/30/2025HouseFrom committee: Do pass.
5/30/2025HouseRead first time. Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor. To committee.
5/28/2025HouseIn Assembly.
5/28/2025HouseFrom printer. To re-engrossment. Re-engrossed. Second reprint. To Assembly.
5/28/2025SenateRead third time. Passed, as amended. Title approved, as amended. (Yeas: 20, Nays: None, Excused: 1.) To printer.
5/27/2025SenateReprinting dispensed with.
5/27/2025SenateRead third time. Amended. (Amend. No. 823.)
5/27/2025SenatePlaced on General File.
5/27/2025SenateFrom committee: Amend, and do pass as amended.
5/27/2025SenateTo committee.
4/16/2025SenateFrom printer. To engrossment. Engrossed. First reprint.
4/16/2025SenateTaken from General File. Re-referred to Committee on Finance. Exemption effective. To printer.
4/15/2025SenateRead second time. Amended. (Amend. No. 34.)
4/15/2025SenateNotice of eligibility for exemption.
4/15/2025SenatePlaced on Second Reading File.
4/15/2025SenateFrom committee: Amend, and do pass as amended.
4/15/2025SenateRead first time. To committee.
2/5/2025Senate
Bill Text
As Enrolled
As Introduced
Reprint 1
Reprint 2
Related Bills
SB119 — AN ACT relating to economic development; requiring certain reporting relating to the NV Grow Program; requiring the Division of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development of the College of Southern Nevada to develop, create and oversee the Program; revising certain qualifications for a business to participate in the Program; making an appropriation; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
AB12 — AN ACT relating to unemployment compensation; revising requirements for obtaining judicial review of a decision of the Board of Review concerning a claim for unemployment benefits; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
SB460 — AN ACT relating to education; revising provisions governing plans to improve academic achievement; providing for the waiver of certain reporting requirements; revising provisions governing the annual report of accountability for a school district; revising the duties of the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education; providing for the impaneling of a Public Education Oversight Board; revising provisions governing boards of trustees of certain school districts; establishing certain measures for the designation of focus and priority school districts, sponsors of charter schools and public schools; revising provisions governing the Commission on School Funding; revising provisions governing the Early Childhood Literacy and Readiness Account; revising provisions governing prekindergarten programs; revising provisions governing assessments used to assess the literacy of certain pupils; revising provisions governing membership of the State Public Charter School Authority; revising provisions governing the formation of charter schools, the termination and amendment of charter contracts and the employment of teachers by charter schools; revising provisions governing the Nevada Educational Choice Scholarship Program; revising certain provisions governing instruction in English language arts; creating the Commission on Recruitment and Retention; revising provisions relating to the Commission on Professional Standards in Education; revising provisions governing background investigations of applicants for certain licenses; establishing requirements governing the hiring of a superintendent of schools; revising provisions governing certain evaluations; requiring the creation of a differential pay scale for certain teachers and administrators; creating the Education Service Center; establishing certain requirements for the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada; creating certain accounts and programs concerning teacher apprenticeships; making appropriations; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
SB81 — AN ACT relating to education; requiring the Department of Education to create and conduct certain surveys of public school employees; revising provisions governing the reimbursement of certain hospitals or other facilities that provide educational services; revising terminology related to services provided to certain students; revising various reporting requirements relating to education; revising provisions governing the authority of the State Board of Education; revising provisions governing the ratios of pupils to licensed teachers; eliminating certain audits of empowerment schools; revising provisions governing the licensure of administrators; repealing provisions governing the Nevada Teacher Advancement Scholarship Program and the Incentivizing Pathways to Teaching Grant Program; revising provisions governing certain scholarship and grant programs for students in education and related fields of study; requiring the Department to create a program of block grants for such scholarship and grant programs; eliminating provisions requiring the Department to recommend that a minimum amount be spent by public schools on textbooks and other instructional supplies; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
SB494 — AN ACT relating to state government; creating the Nevada Health Authority; creating certain divisions and offices within the Authority; providing for the appointment of officers and the employment of staff for the Authority; establishing requirements governing procurement by the Authority; creating the Nevada Health Authority Gift Fund; prescribing the duties of the Authority and its divisions and officers; transferring to the Authority the responsibility for operating various programs and administering various provisions; revising the name of certain agencies; revising certain terminology; eliminating the Division of Health Care Financing and Policy of the Department of Health and Human Services; revising provisions governing the operation of the Public Employees' Benefits Program and Medicaid; requiring certain reporting on the costs of health insurance for retired state employees; authorizing the Authority to require the reporting of certain information on the cost of certain prescription drugs; revising the membership and duties of the Board of Directors of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange; providing for a study of opportunities for the Board of the Public Employees' Benefits Program to directly contract with certain providers of health care; providing for a study of and the development of a plan to transfer certain additional functions to the Authority; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
SB502 — AN ACT relating to projects of capital improvement; authorizing certain expenditures for certain projects of the Executive and Legislative Departments of the State Government; levying a property tax to support the Consolidated Bond Interest and Redemption Fund; making appropriations; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.