Upcoming is the first meeting of the Social Work Compact Commission on September 17th, from 9 am to 4 pm. Anyone may attend virtually. Registration and information may be found here: https://swcompact.org/meetings/full-commission-meetings/. It is open to the public and the agenda may be found at the same link.
I will be there as your Executive Director, to monitor the conversation and progress, although ONLY the state representatives (the Commissioners) are speaking at this meeting, until the section for public comment (late in the day). If you have questions or concerns, please email me! This meeting will begin to lay the groundwork for the Interstate Licensure Compact Commission.
The full process of establishing the SW Compact Commission is expected to take 18-24 months at the minimum—so if you’re licensed in more than one state, continue to maintain your multistate licensure at this time using the regular renewal processes.
At this time, 22 states have enacted the Compact and will have representatives at this meeting. There will also be four “ex officio” members on the Compact Commission as well. They will have a voice, but not vote, and will represent the social work profession at large.
Missouri has already selected its Commissioner from the State Committee for Social Workers, Justin M. Bennett, LCSW. He will represent the interests and perspectives of Missouri social workers as well as helping to craft the form and function of the Compact Commission.
This is all the important work that has to be done to establish a functioning Commission to manage interstate licensing, and NASW is excited to see this progress.