The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council adopts amendments to §885.1, relating to Executive Council Fees. Section 885.1 is adopted without changes to the proposed text as published in the August 5, 2022, issue of the Texas Register (47 TexReg 4632) and will not be republished.

Reasoned Justification.

On October 8, 2019, Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter to all Texas State agency heads instructing agencies to reform occupational-licensing rules in several areas. One such area the Governor focused on was the reduction of fees, specifically the Governor instructed agencies to develop and implement plans to reduce license applications fees to 75% or less of the national average for equivalent or comparable occupations, whenever possible. This adopted amendment is intended to do just that, all application and renewal licensing fees have either been reduced to 75% of the national average or, if the fee was already below 75% of the national average, then the fee stayed the same. The current fee schedule will remain in effect until September 1, 2023, on this date these new fee changes are scheduled to take effect. Application fees are adopted to be reduced for the following license types: LCSW by $9.00, LPC and LPC-Associate by $56.00, LPA by $189.00, LP by $426.00, and LSSP by $36.00. Renewal fees are adopted to be reduced for the following license types: LBSW and LMSW by $33.00, LCSW and LMSW-AP by $55.00, and LP by $129.00. Additionally, the $4.00 Texas.gov fee is adopted to be removed from the temporary license application for social workers and the application for criminal history evaluation. The implementation of these fee changes is scheduled to take effect on September 1, 2023, to provide all interested parties the opportunity to comment on these changes, and based upon future comments and information gathered these fee changes may be subject to future amendments.

List of interested groups or associations against the rule.

None.

Summary of comments against the rule.

None.

List of interested groups or associations for the rule.

None.

Summary of comments for the rule.

None.

Agency Response.

None.

Statutory Authority.

The rule is adopted under Tex. Occ. Code, Title 3, Subtitle I, Chapter 507, which provides the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council with the authority to make all rules, not inconsistent with the Constitution and Laws of this State, which are reasonably necessary for the proper performance of its duties and regulations of proceedings before it.

Additionally, the Executive Council adopts this rule pursuant to the authority found in §507.152 of the Tex. Occ. Code which vests the Executive Council with the authority to adopt rules necessary to perform its duties and implement Chapter 507 of the Tex. Occ. Code.

The Executive Council adopts this rule pursuant to the authority found in §507.154 of the Tex. Occ. Code which authorizes the Executive Council to set fees necessary to cover the costs of administering Chapters 501, 502, 503, 505, and 507 of the Tex. Occ. Code.

The Executive Council also adopts this rule under the authority found in §2001.004 of the Tex. Gov't Code which requires state agencies to adopt rules of practice stating the nature and requirements of all available formal and informal procedures.

The agency certifies that legal counsel has reviewed the adoption and found it to be a valid exercise of the agency's legal authority.