republic-os/legislation/us/states/hi/2020-regular-session/sb-2877.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELORS."
description: "Clarifies that the practicum internship experience requirement is to be included with the course work in counseling requirement for mental health counselors. Clarifies that the supervised mental health practicum intern experience requirement is a total of 300 hours of supervised client contact across two academic terms. Permits applicants to fulfill all or part of their face-to-face clinical supervision requirement by a videoconference service. (HD2)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/hi"
legislature: "Hawaii Legislature"
session: "2020 Regular Session"
identifier: "SB 2877"
citation: "Hawaii SB 2877 (2020 Regular Session)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Mental Health Counselor", "License Requirement", "Practicum Internship Experience", "Post-graduate Experience Supervision"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["KOUCHI"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 36
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2020-01-23"
last_action: "2020-09-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d965abcd-5323-43d8-95af-85630e06fc38"
source_url: "http://capitol.hawaii.gov/Archives/measure_indiv_Archives8-12.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=2877&year=2020"
source_hash: "88b93b833253bf81de1f896d07600c09b3bac22e528b8464be202108962e7ae2"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-hi"]
---

# Hawaii SB 2877 (2020 Regular Session) — RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELORS.

Clarifies that the practicum internship experience requirement is to be included with the course work in counseling requirement for mental health counselors. Clarifies that the supervised mental health practicum intern experience requirement is a total of 300 hours of supervised client contact across two academic terms. Permits applicants to fulfill all or part of their face-to-face clinical supervision requirement by a videoconference service. (HD2)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **SB2877** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2020/bills/SB2877_.HTM)
2. **SB2877_HD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2020/bills/SB2877_HD1_.HTM)
3. **SB2877_HD2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2020/bills/SB2877_HD2_.HTM)
4. **SB2877_SD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2020/bills/SB2877_SD1_.HTM)

## Votes

- The committees on IAC recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- The committees on CPC recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- The committee(s) on CPH recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- The committees on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. — **14–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- KOUCHI — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-01-23** Introduced. `introduction`
- **2020-01-23** Passed First Reading. `reading-1`
- **2020-01-27** Referred to HMS, CPH. `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-27** Re-Referred to CPH.
- **2020-02-14** The committee(s) on CPH has scheduled a public hearing on 02-19-20 9:00AM in conference room 229.
- **2020-02-19** The committee(s) on CPH recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in CPH were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Baker, S. Chang, Ruderman, L. Thielen; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 3 Excused: Senator(s) Nishihara, Wakai, Fevella. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-02-27** Reported from CPH (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2902) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and placement on the calendar for Third Reading.
- **2020-02-27** Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1).
- **2020-02-27** 48 Hrs. Notice 03-03-20.
- **2020-03-03** Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). Ayes, 25; Aye(s) with reservations: none . Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House. `passage`
- **2020-03-03** Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 412) in amended form (SD 1). `introduction`
- **2020-03-05** Pass First Reading `reading-1`
- **2020-03-09** Referred to IAC, CPC, FIN, referral sheet 36 `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-09** Bill scheduled to be heard by IAC on Thursday, 03-12-20 9:30AM in House conference room 430.
- **2020-03-12** The committees on IAC recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 5 Ayes: Representative(s) Ohno, D. Kobayashi, Kong, Nishimoto, Takayama; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Gates, McDermott. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-03-13** Reported from IAC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1085-20) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to CPC.
- **2020-03-13** Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on CPC with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Gates, McDermott, Thielen excused (3). `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2020-03-13** Bill scheduled to be heard by CPC on Tuesday, 03-17-20 2:00PM in House conference room 329.
- **2020-03-16** This measure has been deleted from the meeting scheduled on Tuesday 03-17-20 2:00PM in conference room 329.
- **2020-06-22** Bill scheduled to be heard by CPC on Wednesday, 06-24-20 10:00AM in House conference room 325.
- **2020-06-24** The committees on CPC recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 6 Ayes: Representative(s) Takumi, Ichiyama, Cachola, Kong, Onishi, Matsumoto; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 5 Excused: Representative(s) Aquino, Belatti, Cabanilla Arakawa, Har, Mizuno. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-06-25** Reported from CPC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1212-20) as amended in HD 2, recommending referral to FIN.
- **2020-06-25** Report adopted. referred to the committee(s) on FIN as amended in HD 2 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cabanilla Arakawa, Matayoshi excused (2).
- **2020-06-26** Bill scheduled to be heard by FIN on Monday, 06-29-20 2:00PM in House conference room 329.
- **2020-06-29** The committees on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 14 Ayes: Representative(s) Luke, Cullen, Eli, Gates, Hashimoto, Holt, Kitagawa, B. Kobayashi, Nakamura, Nishimoto, Todd, Wildberger, Yamashita; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) McDermott; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Matayoshi. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-07-01** Reported from FIN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1249-20), recommending passage on Third Reading.
- **2020-07-01** Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and none excused (0). Transmitted to Senate. `passage`
- **2020-07-02** Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 374). `introduction`
- **2020-07-02** Deferred One Day 07-06-20.
- **2020-07-06** Senate agrees with House amendments. Placed on the calendar for Final Reading on 07-08-20.
- **2020-07-06** One Day Notice 07-08-20.
- **2020-07-08** Passed Final Reading. Ayes, 22; Aye(s) with reservations: none . 0 No(es): none. 2 Excused: Senator(s) English, Keith-Agaran.
- **2020-07-08** Received notice of Senate agreement and Final Reading (Sen. Com. No. 630).
- **2020-07-10** Enrolled to Governor. `executive-receipt`
- **2020-09-15** Act 063, 09/15/2020 (Gov. Msg. No. 1168). `executive-signature`
- **2020-09-15** Act 063, on 09/15/2020 (Gov. Msg. No. 1168). `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d965abcd-5323-43d8-95af-85630e06fc38`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Hawaii legislature records).