AN ACT relating to health care; establishing the State Office of Health Care Workforce and Licensing in the Division of Public and Behavioral Health of the Department of Health and Human Services; providing for the appointment of and prescribing the duties of the Director of the Office; creating the Account for the State Office of Health Care Workforce and Licensing; transferring authority over certain programs to the Office; authorizing certain entities to consult with and request the assistance of the Director; creating the Board of Behavioral Health Professionals within the Office; prescribing certain requirements governing the operation of the Board; establishing and authorizing the establishment of certain advisory committees; eliminating the licensing boards that regulate certain behavioral health professions and transferring the responsibility for regulating those professions to the Board; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Sponsored By: Senate Committee on Health and Human Services
Failed
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
15 provisions identified: 8 benefits, 3 costs, 4 mixed.
Doctor visa waiver applicants face fee caps
The Office Director manages Nevada’s Physician Visa Waiver Program under federal and state law. The Director reviews support-letter applications, oversees participating employers and J-1 visa physicians, and adopts program rules. Employers or physicians applying for a support letter can be charged a nonrefundable fee of up to $2,000 per application. The actual fee is not stated. Revenue is tracked separately for program administration and training and education for participating physicians and employers.
Patient complaints reach the right licensing board
The new Board and state health division are included in existing health licensing oversight rules. These cover electronic health-record compliance and referrals involving another board’s authority or an immediate public-health threat. A board must refer a complaint within 5 days after deciding it belongs to another licensing board. It can still handle issues within its own authority. Existing limits on discipline for reproductive care apply when care is lawful and follows Nevada professional practice standards.
Board and committee members receive service support
Board members receive up to $150 per day for Board work, with the amount set by the Office Director. They also receive state per diem and travel expenses; these payments come only from specified licensing-fee revenue. Covered advisory committee members receive state per diem and travel expenses, but no other committee pay. Nevada and local government employees serving on those committees keep their regular pay while released from regular duties. They cannot be required to make up that time or use annual or compensatory leave.
Easier paths to behavioral health licenses
The Board may license psychologists without an exam when another state, the District of Columbia, or U.S. territory has equivalent requirements. It may allow temporary practice for up to one year while applicants pursue Nevada licensure. Temporary applicants must meet Nevada education and experience rules and have no disqualifying discipline or conduct elsewhere. The law also removes express powers to hold hearings, investigate, and require evidence concerning social work license applications. The Board can still refuse social work applications for reasons listed in law.
Emergency medical workers can decline workforce surveys
Health authorities may offer an electronic workforce survey when attendants, emergency medical technicians, advanced technicians, or paramedics renew credentials. Completing and sending it to the Office Director is voluntary. Workers cannot face discipline or renewal denial for declining. Submitted information is confidential except for disclosures the law allows.
Behavioral health licenses survive the board transfer
The law creates a 12-member Board of Behavioral Health Professionals within the health workforce Office. Members include licensed professionals, relevant group representatives, and a physician, physician assistant, or nurse. Existing credentials valid when the transfer provision takes effect remain valid until expiration, as long as holders remain qualified. Former-board statutes end on the readiness-notice date or January 1, 2027, whichever comes first. The professional-employee definition also covers Nevada-licensed or certified workers in professions regulated by the new Board provisions.
New board handles behavioral health qualifications
The Board sets psychiatric training and experience requirements for clinical social workers in covered crisis and treatment proceedings. These include emergency admissions, crisis holds, releases, involuntary admission petitions, and assisted outpatient treatment. The Board also certifies psychologists for specified substance-use evaluations before sentencing. Members without the relevant license cannot prepare, give, or grade psychology and marriage-and-family-therapy or clinical-counseling exams. For social work exams, the restriction applies only to grading.
Nevada coordinates health workforce planning and funding
The health workforce Office Director advises state officials and coordinates plans to develop and diversify Nevada’s health workforce. The Director follows the Administrator’s policies, reports on progress, and recommends law changes with the Board. A dedicated State General Fund account holds money accepted under the law, subject to a stated statutory exception. Unspent money carries forward each year and can pay only for Office duties.
Nevada institutions get medical training grant support
The Office administers competitive grants for Nevada institutions to create, expand, or retain medical residency and postdoctoral fellowship programs. Programs must be approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or its successor. Retaining programs whose federal support expires gets priority. The grant account accepts gifts, grants, loans, and other money for awards and administration; grant duties depend on legislative appropriations. The advisory council recommends awards, and unaffiliated qualified reviewers develop a rubric for a fair, accessible process. The Director also supports workforce data collection and helps specified state and education entities when requested and resources allow.
Health workforce director faces career limits
The Office Director must work full time for the Office and cannot hold other paid work while serving. The Director cannot apply for covered behavioral health licenses, certificates, or registrations while in office. That application restriction continues for 5 years after leaving the position.
School social workers must keep training
Nevada school social workers must complete continuing education set by the Board of Behavioral Health Professionals. The Board must adopt regulations setting the requirements, including the amount of training. The provision does not state required hours or costs.
Board records balance openness and patient privacy
Board records generally are open during normal hours with reasonable notice, subject to legal exceptions. Applicant personnel records may remain private; complaints and investigation materials remain private unless the person requests disclosure in writing. Charging documents and materials considered in deciding discipline are public records. Psychologist-patient communications lose legal privilege only when relevant to a Board case and the patient’s treatment is at issue. That exception does not remove privilege from unrelated communications.
Behavior analysts face revised licensing oversight
The Board oversees behavior analysis exams, licenses, registrations, fees, enforcement, and discipline. Listed professionals and other listed people remain exempt only while avoiding covered behavior-analysis titles and acts prohibited by that chapter. State licensing agencies lose authority under the specified company-licensing rule to license domestic or foreign limited-liability companies regulated by the behavior-analysis chapter. This is not a stated ban on every possible licensing route for those companies.
Behavioral health board oversight and audits change
The new behavioral health Board must follow Nevada’s regulatory-body requirements. The State Board of Health and state health division remain exempt. The new Board must receive criminal-history records when it requests them, replacing the former social work board on that list. Boards covering the listed behavioral health professions are removed from one statutory balance-sheet and fiscal-audit requirement.
Provider fees fund licensing within cost limits
Behavioral health licensing fees must cover Board costs, including member pay, but cannot exceed necessary costs or listed maximums. Licensing receipts, civil penalties, appropriations, gifts, and grants must be tracked separately for Board, committee, and administration costs. Former boards must close their financial accounts before the Office’s readiness date and send balances to the State Treasurer. As soon as practical on or after January 1, 2027, those balances go to the Office for those limited uses. No transferred balance or actual fee amount is stated in these provisions.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Senate Committee on Health and Human Services
Affiliation unavailable
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
Actions Timeline
(No further action taken.)
6/3/2025SenateTo committee.
4/15/2025SenateTaken from General File. Re-referred to Committee on Finance. Exemption effective.
4/14/2025SenateRead second time.
4/14/2025SenateNotice of eligibility for exemption.
4/14/2025SenatePlaced on Second Reading File.
4/14/2025SenateFrom committee: Do pass.
4/14/2025SenateFrom printer. To committee.
3/26/2025SenateRead first time. Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services. To printer.
3/24/2025Senate
Bill Text
As Introduced
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