Alaska's associate counselor license takes effect Friday, though the board's notice says otherwise

Counseling graduates in Alaska have been told they still cannot apply for the associate counselor license that lawmakers created in 2024. The notice saying so is out of date: the regulations it calls not yet in place take effect Friday. The license was meant to let graduates practice under a credential while logging the 3,000 hours required for full licensure.

The Board of Professional Counselors adopted the regulations on July 10, and the Office of the Lieutenant Governor signed and filed them on July 22 after Department of Law review. They become effective Aug. 21. A companion package sets the fees, effective the same day: $200 to apply for an associate counselor license, $150 for the initial license and $150 to renew, and $200 each for initial and renewal certification as an approved counselor supervisor.

Below its own notice of those filed regulations, the same page still says the license type is "not yet available." It attributes the holdup to Administrative Order 358, which it says froze the promulgation of new regulations across all agencies, and adds that the board cannot provide a timeline and that the delay is not the board's decision.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed that order on May 9, 2025, and it runs until rescinded. It exempts regulations already out for public notice and lets an agency head request a waiver from the governor's chief of staff.

For now, anyone building postgraduate hours toward a professional counselor license must work under a supervisor who won board approval before the hours began. Current rules require 50 of the 100 total supervised-experience hours to be completed one-on-one with an approved counselor supervisor. Supervisor applicants must still meet a standard the Legislature repealed, requiring five years of counseling experience and board approval.

House Bill 126 took effect July 1, 2025, more than 13 months ago. The board has not said whether applications open Friday, and no response from affected counselors or supervisors appears in the record.