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Read. Follow. Verify.Montana Legislature Proposes Adopting the Social Work Licensure Compact to Establish Multistate Practice
Last action · May 23, 2025: (S) Died in ProcessSponsor: Emma Kerr-Carpenter
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What This Bill Proposed
Senate Bill 140 adopts the Social Work Licensure Compact, creating a multistate licensing system that allows social workers to practice across participating member states without obtaining individual licenses in each state. The measure establishes eligibility requirements, background check procedures, rulemaking authority for a joint commission, and disciplinary frameworks.
Changes licensing structures and mobility for clinical, master's, and bachelor's social workers by enabling multistate practice under a single home-state license, subject to remote-state laws and rules.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
regulated social workers
Social workers gain the ability to obtain a multistate license allowing practice across member states without acquiring individual state licenses, while remaining subject to remote-state laws and compact disciplinary rules.
licensing authorities
State boards and licensing agencies must participate in the commission's data system, report adverse actions, conduct criminal background checks, and recognize multistate licenses issued by other member states.
active military members and their spouses
Service members and their spouses holding a multistate license may retain their home state designation throughout active duty service.
Key Facts
- The Social Work Licensure Compact creates a multistate licensing framework allowing qualified social workers to practice in all member states.
- Applicants for a clinical-category multistate license must attain a master's degree in social work and complete a minimum of 3,000 hours or 2 years of postgraduate supervised clinical practice.
- Applicants must submit fingerprints or biometric data for criminal history record checks through the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- The Social Work Licensure Compact Commission is established as a joint government agency and instrumentality of member states with rulemaking authority.
Show all 8 facts
- A coordinated data system is established to track licensee information, adverse actions, and current significant investigative information.
- Active military members and their spouses holding a multistate license may retain their home state designation while the service member is on active duty.
- Only the licensee's home state has the power to take adverse action against a multistate license, while remote states may remove multistate authorization to practice within their borders.
- The compact becomes effective on the date the statute is enacted into law in the seventh member state.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible for a multistate social work license under this compact?
Can a remote state discipline a social worker practicing under a multistate license?
How does the compact affect active military personnel and their families?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died in committee.
Procedural history
20 actions- May 23, 2025Senate(S) Died in Process
- Mar 12, 2025Senate(S) Missed Deadline for General Bill Transmittal
- Feb 28, 2025SenateCommittee(S) Taken from Table in Committee
- Feb 5, 2025SenateCommittee(S) Tabled in Committee
- Jan 30, 2025Senate(S) Fiscal Note Printed
- Jan 30, 2025Senate(S) Fiscal Note Signed
Show 14 earlier actions
- Jan 30, 2025Senate(S) Fiscal Note Received
- Jan 24, 2025Senate(S) Fiscal Note Requested
- Jan 23, 2025Senate(S) Hearing
- Jan 15, 2025SenateCommittee(S) Referred to Committee
- Jan 15, 2025Senate(S) 1st Reading
- Jan 14, 2025SenateIntroduced(S) Introduced
- Jan 14, 2025House(LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- Jan 6, 2025House(LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- Jan 3, 2025House(LC) Draft in Assembly
- Jan 2, 2025House(LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- Dec 30, 2024House(LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- Dec 20, 2024House(LC) Draft in Edit
- Dec 19, 2024House(LC) Draft in Legal Review
- Oct 30, 2024House(LC) Drafter Assigned
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Transition from Single-State to Multistate Licensing
The measure establishes a framework replacing single-state licensing requirements with mutual recognition across participating member states.
Connected Entities
Sources
bills.legmt.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 65)
- Controversy15Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz25Current news / social attention level
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