On April 12th, 2024, the Social Work Licensure compact officially became enacted in seven states: Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, Washington, Utah, Kentucky, Virginia, and Kansas. This marks a significant milestone in the development process as the compact specifies that the compact will come into effect upon enactment of the seventh member state. The social work compact allows eligible social workers to practice in all states that join the compact.
While the social work compact legislation specifies that the compact needs seven member states to become active, social workers cannot yet practice in other member states. The implementation process for the compact will take approximately 18-24 months before social workers can begin applying for multistate licenses. A timeline of this process can be found below:
State Commissioner Nominations – Summer 2024
Each new member state must appoint a commissioner to serve on the compact commission. The commissioner is selected by the state’s social work board and can be the current administrator of the social work board or their designee, a board member who is a social worker, or a public member of the board. Once all commissioners have been elected, the Social Work Compact Commission will convene for its first inaugural meeting.
Inaugural Commission Meeting – Fall 2024
At the inaugural meeting, the Commission will elect an executive committee, appoint officers, establish a subcommittee structure and approve the initial bylaws and rulemaking processes that will govern the compact. All compact commission meetings will be open to the public. CSG expects this inaugural meeting to happen early in the fall of 2024.
Establishing the Compact Data System- Ongoing Throughout 2025
After the inaugural meeting, the compact commission will continue to work on operationalizing the compact, including acquiring a data system. The data system is a foundational piece of compact operations where member states communicate licensure information with each other and with the compact commission. CSG expects development of the data system to take approximately 10-12 months.
Once the data system is fully developed, states will be onboarded to the new system. It is expected that states will have varying timelines to onboard and will be largely dependent on the state’s current licensure infrastructure.
Additional Compact Commission Meetings – Ongoing throughout 2025
The compact commission will hold subsequent commission meetings throughout 2025 for additional rulemaking to establish a fee structure, application process, further define compact participation requirements. The commission will also hire staff, select a secretariat organization, and take additional steps for the compact to move towards being fully operational.
Multistate License Applications Open – Target Date of Fall 2025
Once the data system is operational in states and the commission has finalized all necessary rulemaking, applications will be made available for social workers to apply for a multistate license. Once eligibility is confirmed by the home state, all fees are paid, and a social worker is granted a multistate license, they will be able to practice in all other member states of the compact without any further steps necessary.