Understanding the Texas Counseling Compact: Your Guide to Multi-State Practice

Thirty-nine states plus the District of Columbia have enacted Counseling Compact legislation as of November 2025. This multi-state agreement lets you practice across state lines without getting separate licenses in each state. The Texas counseling compact is moving through the legislative process currently, with 38 states having passed legislation to join already. Texas works toward participation, and understanding how the counseling compact states operate will prepare you for expanded telehealth opportunities. The privilege to practice costs approximately $30 per state. This makes multi-state practice more available than traditional licensure routes.

What Is the Counseling Compact

Basic Definition and Purpose

The Counseling Compact represents an interstate licensure compact designed to encourage interstate licensure portability, increase access to services, and improve public protection for the counseling profession and its clients. Built on uniform standards that exist among states, the compact operates through the trust that individual state licensing regulation provides for competent and ethical care.

The compact functions as a binding agreement between all member states who have agreed to the same legislation of the model compact. The compact legislation reflects the current reality and uniformity of how states license counselors. The Counseling Compact Commission was set up to oversee and administer the compact. Member states control it through delegates from each state.

The compact’s design addresses several critical objectives:

• Provide for mutual recognition of other member state licenses
• Improve states’ abilities to protect public health and safety
• Encourage cooperation of member states in regulating multistate practice
• Support active-duty military personnel and their spouses
• Improve exchange of licensure, investigative, and disciplinary information among member states
• Allow for the use of telehealth technology to increase access to counseling services
• Eliminate the necessity for licenses in multiple states

How Multi-State Licensure Works

You use the professional counseling license granted by your home state to apply for the privilege to practice in other member states. Your home state represents your primary state of residence. The compact operates through a privilege-to-practice model. Counselors receive a home state license and then use it to get privilege to practice in other member states.

The application process requires you to apply to the Commission, pay an administrative fee, and complete any additional requirements set by the remote state. These might include passing a jurisprudence exam and paying state fees. You must apply for the privilege to practice in each state through the compact. Your state passing the compact represents an important step, but it does not approve your license for use in other states.

Your privilege to practice expires on the same date as your home state license at the time the privilege is issued. The expiration date displays during the application process in CompactConnect. Keep in mind that the privilege expiration date does not update when you renew your home state license. You must renew it in CompactConnect after your home state renews your license and reports the new expiration date to the system.

Difference Between Home State License and Privilege to Practice

Your home state grants your license. This represents the primary license issued by the state where you reside. A compact privilege to practice is granted by other compact member states after you have applied for the privilege to practice in those states through the compact.

You must join via your home state license to participate in the compact. A license from a state other than the home state does not qualify for compact participation. The compact requires professional counselors to use a license from their home state to participate. Other licenses can still be used to practice in the state that issued them but cannot be used for participation in the compact.

You must adhere to the scope of practice of the state where you are practicing. This means where your client resides. Your home state might allow you to do something that the remote state does not. Even if you are competent to do so, you must adhere to the remote state’s scope of practice. Licensing renewal and continuing education remain required only according to your home state’s standards and process.

Texas Counseling Compact Current Status

Legislative Progress: HB 1537 and SB 498

Texas has two companion bills working through the legislative process to authorize participation in the counseling compact. House Bill 1537 was filed on December 6, 2024 and received its first reading on March 12, 2025. The bill was referred to the Human Services Committee. Senate Bill 498, filed earlier on November 22, 2024, received its first reading on February 3, 2025 and was referred to the Business & Commerce Committee. Three co-authors were authorized for SB 498 between February 4 and February 20, 2025.

Both bills adopt the Licensed Professional Counselors Compact. This establishes Texas as part of an interstate agreement that makes multistate practice easier for licensed professional counselors. The legislation authorizes fees and has provisions for telehealth services, licensure uniformity, information sharing among member states, and compliance with state-specific laws. You would keep your home state license while getting a “privilege to practice” in other member states without getting additional licenses. You must meet specific requirements such as keeping an unencumbered license, paying applicable fees, and adhering to the laws of the remote state where you provide services.

The compact creates a Counseling Compact Commission to oversee implementation. The commission develops and keeps a data system to track licensure information, adverse actions, and investigations. The legislation also supports military personnel and their spouses by allowing them to keep a home state license during relocation.

Timeline for Implementation

The Texas legislative session ends June 2, which creates urgency for passage of the counseling compact bills. Texas will need to wait until 2027 to attempt joining the compact again if the legislation fails to pass during this session. The previous attempt to pass compact legislation died in the Senate because of unrelated political maneuvering.

The Counseling Compact Commission hopes to start granting privileges to practice in other compact states by fall 2025. States and the District of Columbia are completing the steps needed to begin issuing and receiving privileges under the counseling compact. Passage of compact legislation does not approve your license for use in other states automatically. Each state must first complete technical and regulatory steps necessary for implementation. These steps have secure data sharing and system testing.

States Already Participating in the Compact

Arizona and Minnesota became the first two states to complete implementation, making the compact operational between these states as of September 30, 2024. Ohio joined as the third operational state. Licensed Professional Counselors licensed by Arizona who live in Arizona can apply for the privilege to practice in Minnesota. Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors licensed by Minnesota who live in Minnesota can apply for the privilege to practice in Arizona. LPCCs licensed by Ohio who live in Ohio can apply for the privilege to practice in both Arizona and Minnesota.

Beyond these three operational states, 39 states plus the District of Columbia have enacted counseling compact states legislation. The compact expanded faster, with 37 states joining since 2021. Eleven states enacted the compact in 2023 alone: Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming. Six additional states joined in 2024: Arizona, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and South Dakota.

Eligibility Requirements for Texas LPCs

Active Unencumbered LPC License

The counseling compact requires you to hold an active, valid, unencumbered license in good standing within your home state. Your license must permit you to diagnose, assess, treat, and practice at the highest level as a licensed professional counselor. You cannot have any disciplinary actions or investigations pending against your license. The term “unencumbered” means your license remains free from restrictions, limitations, or sanctions that would prevent you from practicing the full scope of professional counseling.

You must reside in a compact member state at the time of application and maintain your license in that home state. Associates or counselors who practice under supervision do not qualify for compact privileges. The compact serves licensed professional counselors who hold independent practice authority.

60-Hour Master’s Degree Requirement

States must require counselors to complete a 60 semester-hour (or 90 quarter-hour) master’s degree in counseling or 60 semester-hours of graduate coursework in designated areas to join the compact. This requirement reflects uniform standards that exist across counseling compact states. Your degree must come from an accredited program in counseling or a counseling-related field.

The language specifying “60 semester-hours of graduate course work” accommodates states that license practitioners with degrees in related fields, provided they completed the required coursework in eight subject areas described in the compact legislation. Then counselors who hold degrees in related fields are eligible if they meet all requirements for licensure as a licensed professional counselor in their home state and satisfy all compact provisions.

National Counselor Examination (NCE)

Member states must require passage of an examination that the Counseling Compact Commission recognizes. The acceptable exams include the National Counselor Examination (NCE), the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination (NCMHCE), or the Certified Rehabilitation Counselor Exam (CRC). The commission may determine other counseling exams qualify for compact participation.

National exam scores do not expire. If you passed any qualifying exam at any point in your career, the score remains valid for compact purposes.

Grandfathering Provisions for Older Licenses

You may still qualify under the Legacy License Rule if you received your license under previous licensing requirements before your state adopted current 60-hour standards. The compact does not include individual state “grandparenting” clauses. Counselors who obtained 36-hour or 48-hour master’s degrees prior to their state’s adoption of a 60-hour requirement remain eligible as long as their state regulates the profession at the 60-hour level. To cite an instance, older Texas licensees who took the Texas licensing exam rather than the NCE can still qualify once Texas joins, provided their state determines their eligibility under legacy provisions.

How to Apply for Privilege to Practice

CompactConnect Application Process

Applications for counseling compact states privileges opened on September 30, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. ET for Arizona and Minnesota. CompactConnect website processes all applications. You can start practicing in the remote state once your privilege number appears on your dashboard. Your privilege number should appear almost right away.

You must apply for each state where you want the privilege to practice. The compact doesn’t grant automatic privileges across all member states. You can only use the compact between Arizona and Minnesota as of September 30, 2025. You cannot use the compact to see clients in any other states until those states complete their implementation process.

Jurisprudence Exams for Each State

Several states require you to pass a jurisprudence examination before granting a privilege to practice. This examination tests your knowledge of the laws and regulations specific to that state. The jurisprudence exam may carry an additional cost beyond the administrative fee and state fee for each privilege request. States requiring jurisprudence exams include Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Background Checks and Fees

The Commission set the administrative fee at $30 per privilege. This administrative fee applies to each request you submit. You pay one administrative fee if you make one request. You pay the administrative fee ten times if you make ten requests. State fees vary substantially, ranging from $0 to $264 in similar compacts already issuing privileges.

Privilege Renewal vs License Renewal

Your privilege expires on the same date as your home state license at the time the privilege is issued. The privilege expiration date doesn’t update when you renew your home state license. You must renew it in CompactConnect after your home state renews your license and reports the new expiration date to the system to extend your privilege. Your application’s timing affects both your privilege’s duration and the total fees you pay. Applying before renewing your home state license could result in paying $55 for the original privilege and $55 again shortly thereafter for renewal, totaling $110. Renewing your license before applying for the privilege allows you to pay only $55 for a privilege valid through your full license term.

Benefits and Limitations of the Compact

Expanded Telehealth Opportunities

Telehealth represents the most practical application of the counseling compact. You can reach clients who lack access to local care, especially when you have underserved or rural areas. Counselors with specialty practices find that broader geographic reach makes services sustainable in ways that a single state cannot. Knowing how to practice across counseling compact states expands possibilities for your services and helps you broaden your practice.

Cost Comparison: $30 vs Full State Licensure

The compact charges a $30 administrative fee per privilege. Individual state licenses cost $200 to $500 for original applications, plus renewal fees every one to two years. State licensure applications require you to submit transcripts, exam scores, and official verifications, all of which cost extra. Compact privileges let you skip these documentation requirements and result in most important cost savings. You only need to fulfill continuing education requirements for your home state, not each remote state.

What the Compact Doesn’t Cover (Associates and Supervision)

The compact applies exclusively to counselors licensed to practice independently. Roles that require supervision, such as student, assistant, or provisional licenses, remain ineligible. Compact privileges cannot be delegated to supervisees. Individual state board authority, not compact provisions, governs transferring supervised hours between states.

Client State Laws and Regulations You Must Follow

You must comply with laws where your client physically resides during sessions. This has informed consent requirements, record-keeping rules, and mandated reporting standards. Compact privileges do not grant insurance billing rights automatically. You need separate applications for in-network status with private insurance and Medicaid in each state.

Increased Competition from Other Counseling Compact States

Counselors from states with lower practice costs can compete for clients in your market. Oregon counselors opposed compact participation and noted that practitioners from less expensive states could undercut necessary business charges. Counseling compact participation may introduce pricing pressure from states like Mississippi or South Dakota.

Learn More

The Texas counseling compact presents most important opportunities for expanding your practice through affordable multi-state privileges. Texas advances HB 1537 and SB 498 through the legislative process, and you should prepare for implementation by ensuring your credentials meet eligibility standards. Without doubt, the $30 privilege fee represents substantial savings compared to traditional multi-state licensure costs. You’ll gain access to broader telehealth markets while you retain only your home state license and continuing education requirements.

However, you must understand the limitations. Associates cannot participate, and you’ll need to follow each client state’s specific regulations. Texas moves closer to joining 39 other states already participating, and now is the time to familiarize yourself with CompactConnect procedures and plan your multi-state strategy.