Attention Nevada Recovery Community Members:

CARSON CITY, NV — By a vote of 37-5, the Nevada Assembly passed Assembly Bill 194 requiring individual licensure of peer recovery support. If this bill becomes law, any person providing peer mentorship, coaching, or support will need to demonstrate competency to do so or their qualification for an exemption. Otherwise, they will be committing a crime.

The Certification of Behavioral Healthcare Peer Recovery Support Specialists bill was introduced and sponsored by Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno (D – Assembly District 1,  North Las Vegas).

This sweeping legislation broadly captures all peer mentoring and coaching by requiring non-clinical, non-professional recovery support to be licensed by the state. The Board of Alcohol, Drug, and Gambling Counselors (BEDAG) will have exclusive authority over the new license regardless of where peer support may be provided.

The Assembly did not address the legal and financial impacts of this bill. The Board (BEDAG) estimates the cost of implementing this new license to be $100,000 over two years. This cost will be paid by BEDAG’s other licensees including LCADC’s until such time there are enough qualified persons for this new license category.

Current peer supports will need to demonstrate that they qualify for an exemption or prepare to be licensed. This overreaching bill will prohibit the availability of vital volunteer recovery referrals and services to people who desperately need help.

This new license will not increase peer recovery support in Nevada. Although the language is made to sound harmless – the impact is crippling.

Beyond the technical failures of this bill – the notion that recovery occurs only under the licensed scrutiny of the state perpetuates the harmful stigma that people in recovery are never capable of self-directing care. Further, that people offering Peer Support should be closely supervised to ensure they are following a strict treatment protocol. This is the opposite of what effective peer support is.

This bills presence and passage by the Assembly shows how little our lawmakers understand the role of peers, volunteers, mentors and coaches in recovery-oriented systems of care.

A few of the Highlights:

• Creates a mandatory license and grants exclusive power to BEDAG (Board of Drug, Alcohol, and Gambling Counselors) to determine what peer recovery support, mentoring, coaching, education, mutual aid supports or role modeling is and who is qualified to provide it.
• Defines Peer-to-Peer services as Nonprofessional, nonclinical assistance to a person diagnosed with a substance use or other mental disorder. These Services include;  Mentoring, coaching, education, or role modeling and “any other, the Board may prescribe by regulation.” This definition casts a wide net that will include volunteer services as provided by Veterans, Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts, Community Health Organizations, Recovery Community Organizations, Prison reentry mentors, Faith Based supports, mutual aid groups and anywhere a peer would provide assistance to another peer.
• Criminalizes assistance to recovery services and mandates an addiction or mental health diagnosis for recovery services. Those seeking help would need to have seen a Doctor and been diagnosed before anyone can provide services or suggestions for help.
• Prohibits early intervention services to at risk youth without a diagnosis.
• Creates a $100,000 unfunded mandate.

RECOVERY TESTIMONIES NEEDED TO OPPOSE NEVADA ASSEMBLY BILL 194 on MONDAY: