STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 685

with Senate Floor Amendments

(Proposed By Senator SINGER)

ADOPTED: APRIL 21, 1997

      These amendments eliminate the provision of the bill which currently permits a person certified in New Jersey on the enactment date of the bill by the National Association of Forensic Counselors as a Master addiction counselor, or by the National Board of Addiction Examiners as an addiction counselor, to receive certification as a certified alcohol and drug counselor without meeting the other requirements under the bill. The amendments also specify that the minimum educational requirement for certification shall be a high school diploma or its equivalent and that a person who has been convicted of a crime of the first, second, third or fourth degree in New Jersey, or the equivalent thereof or other indictable offense in another jurisdiction, may not be licensed or certified as an alcohol and drug counselor.