Nov/Dec 2008 - President's Report

Greetings Fellow CAADAC Members!

Well, we gave it our best shot, but unfortunately the Governor vetoed our licensure bill. Given that the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) unexpectedly came out against the bill by claiming that licensure was unnecessary, it was not a huge surprise that it was vetoed; after all, the DCA houses the Board of Behavioral Sciences, the department which would have administered the licensure. In his veto message, the Governor indicated that the two-tiered system was unacceptable. Ironically, it was this two-tiered system (which was modeled after Pennsylvania’s licensure) along with a number of other compromises, that actually removed the very strong and influential opposition from the other licensed professionals – namely the Clinical Psychologists, who then assumed a neutral stance, and the MFT’s and LCSW’s, who both dropped their opposition and actually took up support of the bill. I must tell you that removing this opposition, which was considered all but impossible in the past, was critical to getting the bill to the Governor’s desk in the first place. The veto message also indicated that individuals seeking treatment for an addiction problem would be subjected to different standards based on their ability to pay. This message is difficult to understand because licensure, as written, simply requires that those working outside of licensed facilities become licensed, basically making it illegal to do private practice counseling without the necessary education and experience as outlined in the bill. Nonetheless, your Legislative Committee did an outstanding job getting the bill to the Governor, and we are all very disappointed that it did not pass.

The good news is that CAADAC has earned a great deal of respect from the legislature who witnessed our negotiating ability with the other licensed professionals and, through their vote, supported us in getting a fully-cooked and detailed licensure bill to the Governor’s desk for the first time in the history of our organization – a feat which will surely aid us in future efforts. We have already started preparing for the next legislative session by participating in a teleconference with Assemblyman Jim Beall, Jr. and representatives from stakeholders such as the California Association of Alcohol and Drug Program Executives (CAADPE), County Alcohol & Drug Program Administrators’ Association of California (CADPAAC), and California Opioid Maintenance Providers (COMP). The purpose of this meeting was to begin discussing licensure language that all entities can accommodate. We also invited the State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs (ADP), Chief Deputy Director Michael Cunningham, and CADPAAC Executive Director Tom Renfree to be our guests at the IC&RC conference last month. We are very pleased that they took us up on our offer in order to learn more about the validity of our certification process. Your Legislative Committee, Warren Daniels (Chair), Willie Guerrero (CAADAC Lobbyist), Sherry Daley (Public Policy Coordinator), Joe Aragon (President-Elect), Rhonda Messamore’ (Executive Director), Jim Sellars (CCB Board), and myself remain dedicated to doing everything we can to attain licensure.

Despite the disappointment regarding the veto of our licensure bill, we were successful in getting other legislation passed. In an historic development, CAADAC and CAADE teamed up to sponsor legislation that adds chemical dependence counselors to the long list of professionals who are mandated reporters of child abuse. Assembly Bill 2337, carried by Assemblyman Jim Beall, Jr., was signed into law by the Governor on September 27, 2008. Your Legislative Committee is very excited to have partnered with CAADE on this legislation and hope this is the beginning of bigger things to come between our organizations.

Switching from the legislative front, I want to share my excitement regarding a website upgrade we are working on. Our goal is to make it much more user-friendly so that anyone visiting can easily navigate it and find the information they need with limited computer suave. It will also allow for members and certificants to make online payments. Finally, it will be formatted in a way which will increase the likelihood that those searching the Internet for counselor certification will be streamed onto our website.

Additionally, there has been another exciting announcement made for our organization; if you were able to attend the annual conference this year you may have already heard the good news. At the Closing Plenary, I had the pleasure of announcing that the CAADAC Executive Committee hired back Rhonda Messamore’ as our Executive Director! She has rescinded her nomination for President-Elect and has opted to serve once again as our ED. Given the outstanding work Rhonda did in her previous two years as CAADAC’s ED, your Board of Directors and Executive Committee are thrilled to have her back, and I hope you share in our excitement!

I also had the pleasure of honoring the CAADAC, CCBADC, and CFAAP Board members at our conference this October; you may not be aware of this, but the members of these boards, including the Executive Committee and yours truly, are all elected volunteers. We do this work out of love for our profession, our organization, our students, and last but not least, our patients. There are many people who make this organization what it is and I have been thrilled to work with them over the past 12 years while serving on the CAADAC Board. If the opportunity presents itself, please join me in thanking these volunteers for their service.

The annual conference was a great event and I’d like to thank co-chairs Russ Arnett and Phillip Ybarra, as well as Rebekah Gray and the rest of the CAADAC staff and all of the volunteers on the conference committee who worked tirelessly to ensure it went off without a glitch. Those who attended will agree that they succeeded in doing just that. Of particular note was the inaugural “Student Celebration Day” which was sponsored by CCBADC and attended by nearly 200 students! The students were genuinely thrilled to be honored in this way and I believe it was a great way for CAADAC to exhibit our professionalism and demonstrate for the students just how important they are for our future.

As I enter my last couple of months as CAADAC President and prepare to pass on the torch to your very capable President-Elect, Joe Aragon, I want to let you know what a privilege it has been to serve you. You have honored me beyond measure by trusting me with the leadership of this wonderful organization.

Bob