BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Parents whose children receive behavior therapy services and the professionals who deliver that care say they were caught off guard this week when lawmakers advanced a bill that would remove regulatory authority from Alabama’s Behavior Analyst Licensing Board.
Supporters of the bill call it overdue reform and critics warn it could weaken professional oversight and make behavior therapy services harder to get.
Senate Bill 113, sponsored by Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, would shift the Behavior Analyst Licensing Board into an advisory role and move regulatory authority to the Alabama Department of Mental Health and its commissioner. The bill is expected on the House floor Thursday morning.
Lawmakers are charged with extending dozens of occupational and licensing boards’ authority each year. Elliott’s originally filed bill would have extended the behavior analyst board’s for one year. A significant rewrite of the original bill passed the Senate on Feb. 5.
At the center of the dispute is who should control licensing and rulemaking for behavior analysts – professionals who provide intensive therapy services, often for children with autism and other developmental disorders. There are about 800 licensed behavior analysts in Alabama.
Lawmakers say the change is needed after years of administrative problems cited in state audits, while parents and practitioners argue that licensing and rulemaking should remain in the hands of licensed professionals.
Elliott said the issue has been moving through the Sunset Committee, which reviews boards’ performances and can recommend changes, process for years, even if many stakeholders only recently became aware of the proposal.
The Department of Examiners of Public Accounts issued its Sunset Report in September, and the committee gave the board until the end of November to work with ADMH, where the board technically exists, to correct administrative issues.
The Sunset Report, covering 2022 through 2024, catalogued problems including noncompliance with the Open Meetings Act and failure to notify the Secretary of State when board positions opened. Similar problems existed during the prior audit period from 2018 through 2022.
“This board has had problems since its inception,” Elliot said. “The board’s leadership has had problems since its inception. The board members have not done a good enough job making sure that the significant issues found by the Examiner of Public Accounts were corrected.”
Elliott, a member of the Sunset Committee, said ADMH has assured him they are “going to dedicate the time, energy, effort and resources to this, to make this work.”
Sunset Committee Co-Chair Rep. Margie Wilcox, R-Mobile, said the board had multiple opportunities to address administrative concerns but failed to do so. Rep. Kerry Underwood, R-Tuscumbia, said he views the shift as a fix to longstanding problems.
Parents and practitioners began pushing back after learning details of the proposal earlier this week.
Catey Hall, whose son received behavior analysis services as a young child, posted a call to action on social media Sunday, urging parents to contact lawmakers to slow down and consult stakeholders. Hall was active in the grassroots effort that helped secure passage of a 2017 law requiring insurance coverage for applied behavior analysis therapy.
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