H.R. 9866: Compacts, Access, and Responsible Expansion for Mental Health Professionals Act

This bill would create a new federal grant program, run by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to support mental health licensure portability. In simple terms, it is meant to make it easier for certain mental health professionals to work across state lines.

What the program would do

Within 90 days after the bill becomes law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would have to set up the Mental Health Licensure Portability Program. The program would award grants to eligible groups for projects that:

• Encourage counselors to work in states that have interstate compacts related to mental health licensing;
• Support interstate compact commissions that help carry out those compacts.

Who could receive grants

The bill defines eligible entities broadly to include interstate compact commissions or state licensure boards involved in compact arrangements for:

• professional counseling,
• psychiatry,
• psychology,
• social work, or
• pediatric counseling.

What “interstate compact” means here

Under the bill, an interstate compact is an agreement between two or more states that lets each state recognize certain professional licenses from the others. For this bill, that would apply to counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, or pediatric mental health professionals. The goal is to make it easier for licensed professionals to practice in more than one state without going through a full new licensing process each time.

Funding

The bill would authorize $4 million per year for fiscal years 2026 through 2029 to carry out the program.

Practical effect

If enacted, the bill would not directly create a new national license. Instead, it would provide federal grant funding to help states and compact organizations expand and administer existing interstate licensing agreements for mental health professionals. The intended effect is to increase the movement of licensed mental health workers across participating states and support the administrative systems that make those agreements work.

Relevant Companies

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