Governor Inslee signed 2SHB 1724; the new law (Chapter 425, 2023 Laws) goes into effect 5/11/2023. The law includes changes to the experience and supervision hours and amount of years needed to become a fully licensed social worker in Washington. Some of the changes are outlined below.
The Washington Department of Health released an announcement of the changes, titled 2SHB 1724 and Impact on Social Work Applicants, sent 5/16/2023:
2SHB 1724 was signed into law effective immediately on May 11th, 2023. Changes are made to the licensing requirements for advanced social workers and independent clinical social workers. In addition, the following changes are made to licensing requirements for the professions: Advanced Social Workers: An applicant's doctoral degree may be from any university accredited by a recognized accrediting organization, instead of only the Council on Social Work Education. The supervised experience hours are reduced from 3,200 hours to 3,000 hours. The requirement that at least 50 hours be supervised by a licensed advanced social worker or licensed independent clinical social worker is eliminated. Independent Social Workers: An applicant's doctoral degree may be from any university accredited by a recognized accrediting organization, instead of only the Council on Social Work Education. The supervised experience hours are reduced from 4,000 hours to 3,000 hours over two years instead of three years. The hours of experience that must be directly supervised are reduced from 130 hours to 100 hours. The Department of Health is in the process of working to identify applicants who meet the new requirements as established in 2SHB 1724. Once a pending application is reviewed in relation to the new standards, applicants will be notified by email regarding your next steps. If you meet these new standards you are encouraged to submit your application. The Office of Customer Service can be reached at 360-236-4700. Additionally, if you have questions about other changes made as a result of this bill please contact Brandon Williams, Program Manager at brandon.williams@doh.wa.gov. |
On 5/17/2023, DOH also sent a notice about an upcoming event: Social Work Q&A Opportunity:
2SHB 1724 was signed into law and went into effect on May 11th 2023. Section 3 of this bill amended some of the licensure requirements for LICSW and LASW applicants. The Department of Health will be conducting a question and answer session for interested parties to ask questions related to these changes to the Social Work requirements. This session will be held: Thursday May 18th from 12:00-1:00 PM. Meeting login information can be found below:
Microsoft Teams meeting Join on your computer, mobile app or room device Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 231 345 180 785 Download Teams | Join on the web Or call in (audio only) +1 564-999-2000,,475879355# United States, Olympia Phone Conference ID: 475 879 355# Interested parties may also submit their questions in writing to brandon.williams@doh.wa.gov. |
NASW-WA encourages social workers to read the new law and attend the Social Work Q&A Opportunity as above.
The Chapter is working to update our materials and will share as developed.