Today, Governor Tina Kotek signed legislation to cut red tape for behavioral health workers, after the bill passed the House and Senate with broad bipartisan support. The bill was developed from the work of the Governor’s Behavioral Health Talent Council (the Council), chaired by First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson.

House Bill 4083 represents the first set of actions being advanced from the Council. The new law helps address Oregon's behavioral health workforce crisis by:

• Streamlining credentialing through requiring a centralized platform, which will help to alleviate long wait times for providers ready to provide care;
• Reducing unnecessary administrative work that contributes to burnout; and
• Expanding access to master’s degree level clinical supervision by allowing qualified licensed professionals to supervise across license types.

Together, these changes are designed to retain workers in the field, ensure new talent can enter this work more seamlessly, and help ensure Oregonians can get the care they need when they need it. More details about the bill are available here.

"The Behavioral Health Talent Council listened to frontline providers who told us they're drowning in paperwork, struggling to find supervisors, and stuck in holding patterns by unnecessary barriers,” First Lady Kotek Wilson said. “This bill addresses those real challenges and will help us retain the skilled professionals we cannot afford to lose."

"This bill cuts unnecessary red tape for Oregon's behavioral health workforce,” Governor Kotek said. "This is an important win for health care providers and for Oregonians waiting for care, and it's just the beginning of implementing recommendations from the Council."

Governor Kotek has made this issue a top priority. She commissioned the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) to complete the Behavioral Health Talent Assessment, and then established the Council to transform those recommendations into actionable plans for implementation. Last month, the Council released its final report, with 17 action plans and 74 strategies. Working with frontline voices and experts across the state, the Council developed a comprehensive set of recommendations for improving workforce conditions. Governor Kotek will review the recommendations and determine how best to advance them through executive action, legislation, or agency directives.

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