LITTLE ROCK -- The American Counseling Association said Thursday it's opposed to an effort in Arkansas to allow counselors to refer clients to another provider if they have a religious objection to treating them.
The association's director of government affairs, Art Terrazas, said the rule change proposed by the state Board of Examiners in Counseling is unnecessary and he was concerned about the impact it could have. Lawmakers have given initial approval to the proposal, which is expected to go before a legislative panel on Friday.
The rule would allow counselors and therapists to refer a patient to someone else over sincerely held "ethical, moral or religious principles" but only after careful consideration and consultation, and only if the counselor is unable to effectively serve the client. It also says counselors cannot abandon someone who seeks assistance.
"We do have some concerns because the bottom line for us is the code of ethics states that counselors do not discriminate when it comes to serving the clients who come through their doors," Terrazas told The Associated Press. He said he believed the rule gave counselors "a wink and a nod" to discriminate.
The American Counseling Association represents more than 56,000 professional counselors.
A legislative panel endorsed the rule change with no discussion or debate, but the proposal has been criticized by some human rights groups who said it would allow counselors to deny needed mental health services to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. The state board regulates 2,800 counselors and marriage and family therapists in the state.
Michael Loos, the board's executive director, said the rule change is partly an effort to head off Arkansas adopting a more far-reaching law like one recently enacted in Tennessee that allows counselors to refuse to treat patients based on the therapist's religious or personal beliefs. Loos defended the proposal Thursday, saying it explicitly adopts the national association's code of ethics.
"This is a helpful thing, not a hurtful or spiteful thing," Loos said. "This has nothing to do with the national code of ethics, frankly. It has everything to do with the posture of this board, the practitioners we license and the public they serve."
Loos noted the rule doesn't absolve counselors from adhering to the association's code of ethics, which says counselors shouldn't refer patients elsewhere based solely on their own beliefs, values and principles. Terrazas questioned the need for adding the clause.
"Why introduce new language that inserts more vague language in there?" he said. "Just adopt the code and leave it at that."
Counselors would not face sanctions for referring current or prospective patients, according to the rule change. Loos has said the board would handle any complaints about a referral over the conscience provision, and would question counselors on what steps they had taken to address their objections rather than send patients elsewhere. Terrazas, however, said counselors could face sanctions from the national association.
The association had criticized Tennessee's law as a "hate bill," and moved its national conference from Nashville to San Francisco in protest. The Arkansas rule is advancing more than a year after Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed into law a religious objections measure that he asked lawmakers to revise over criticism the initial version was discriminatory.
Democratic state Rep. Clarke Tucker also criticized the rule change, calling it "unconscionable" for the Legislature to give such a proposal final approval days after a mass shooting at an Orlando gay bar that left 49 people dead.
"To create this particular exemption using this language which everyone equates to anti-LGBT sentiment strikes me as a wedge," Tucker said.
State Desk on 06/17/2016