Section 89: Board of registration of allied mental health and human services professions; qualifications of members
Section 89. The governor shall appoint members of the board only from among the candidates who meet the following qualifications:
(A) 12 members shall be licensed practicing mental health and human services professionals and shall have been, for at least 5 years immediately preceding appointment, actively engaged as a practitioner rendering professional services in that field, in the education and training of graduate students or interns in the field, in appropriate human developmental research, or in another area substantially equivalent thereto, and shall, during the 2 years preceding the appointment, have spent the majority of their professional time in such activity in the commonwealth. One of the 12 shall also be a member of a union licensable under sections 163 to 172, inclusive, of chapter 112.
Said members shall be appointed in such a manner as to proportionally represent the total number of active holders of each professional license type, as determined from time to time by the board; provided, that at least 1 member shall be a marriage and family therapist, at least 1 shall be a rehabilitation counselor, at least 1 shall be a clinical mental health counselor, at least 1 shall be an educational psychologist and at least 1 shall be a behavior analyst who meet the qualifications in the last 2 paragraphs of section 165 of chapter 112.
(B) Three members shall be representatives of the general public who have no direct affiliation with the practice of any allied mental health or human services profession.
The initial appointees, with the exception of representatives of the general public, shall be deemed to be and shall become licensed immediately upon their appointment and qualification as members of the board.
The governor shall immediately appoint the first board member to be appointed under this section. The governor shall nominate a new member to fill a vacancy on the board within thirty days of the occurrence of such vacancy.
The appointment of any member of the board shall automatically terminate within thirty days after the date such member is no longer a resident of the commonwealth.
Each appointee shall, upon accepting appointment to the board, take and subscribe to the oath or affirmation prescribed by law and file the same in the office of secretary of state.