Senator McKell presented Senate Bill 48, "Behavioral Health Amendments," which the Senate passed after discussion on the floor about licensing, consumer protection, and the line between life coaching and regulated mental-health practice.

Sponsor Senator McKell said the bill targets people who market mental-health diagnosis or treatment without appropriate licensure and creates an education and enforcement fund to support oversight. "If you're going to practice mental health, if you're gonna discuss diagnosis, you're gonna mark diagnosis, you have to be a regulated mental health professional," McKell told colleagues on the floor, identifying line 155 of the draft as the central limitation. The bill also creates an education enforcement fund (line 172), the sponsor said, which is the reason for an attached fiscal note.

Senator McKell and supporters said the change arose from an OPLER review and interim work to address actors who had lost mental-health licensure and rebranded as life coaches while continuing to market mental-health services. The sponsor described the bill as providing "guardrails" so that only licensed and regulated professionals may diagnose or treat mental-health conditions.

There was no extended contest on constitutional grounds on the floor; questions from colleagues focused on the scope of regulated activity and the enforcement mechanism. The Senate adopted the bill on a roll-call vote of 26 yeas, 0 nays, 3 absent and will send it to the House for consideration.

The bill's stated intent on the floor was consumer protection, licensing clarity, and a path to fund education and enforcement around the new limitations. The floor discussion referenced OPLER's review and included detailed line citations to the bill text (lines 155 and 172) during the sponsor's presentation.