No fee increases were requested and no new programs were being proposed. The number of licensed clinical social workers and applicants has increased 15.2 percent to 2,450 since January 1995. With increasing population, the number of clinical social workers is expected to continue to grow. The Board is not able to exchange information among agencies or provide needed information to licensees. Due to the restrictions, cases are more difficult to investigate and, therefore, necessitated the hiring of an investigator.
Rural areas continue to see a shortage of licensed clinical social workers.
Rural licensed clinical social workers also have limited access to continuing education offerings to complete their education requirements. The Board is making improvements through home study, video, and audio programming. This would be a 31.8 percent increase over 1997-99 estimated expenditures. The budget continued current programs and services to licensees and citizens and allowed for an additional .50 FTE for clerical support to reduce a backlog in processing licensees and seasonal workload issues. The legislature approved the Governor's recommended budget, including the .50 FTE Office Specialist and services and supplies necessary to support the position.