The Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists (the board) adopts new §§801.301 and 801.302, concerning the licensure and regulation of marriage and family therapists with changes to the proposed text as published in the March 28, 2003, issue of the Texas Register (28 TexReg 2697).

The new rules promote consistency in the evaluation, investigation, and resolution of complaints by program staff, and fair administration and imposition of disciplinary rules. The new sections concern relevant factors, severity levels, and a sanction guide to be used by the board's ethics committee when considering disciplinary action against licensed marriage and family therapists.

No public comments were received on the proposal during the comment period; however, the board made the following editorial changes to improve the accuracy of the sections.

Change: Concerning §801.301(1), (2), (3), and (5), the paragraph titles were changed from lower case to upper case to be consistent in the section.

Change: Concerning §801.302(2), the words "but may require termination" corrects a transposition of words that previously in proposed rule stated "but require may termination."

The new sections are adopted under the Occupations Code, §502.152, which provides the Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists with the authority to adopt rules concerning the regulation of marriage and family therapists.