Counseling Compact in Michigan: HB 4591 | MMHCA
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Policy: the Counseling Compact

The Counseling Compact, and where Michigan stands.

Movement on House Bill 4591, the board’s resolution supporting the Compact with protective safeguards, and what 581 Michigan counselors told us.

The opening page of House Bill 4591 as passed by the House on October 29, 2025, superimposed over the dome of the Michigan State Capitol. The bill was introduced June 10, 2025 by Representatives Bohnak, Pavlov, Prestin, Markkanen and Cavitt and referred to the Committee on Health Policy. Section 16190a reads: the counseling compact is enacted into law and entered into by this state as a party with all jurisdictions that legally join in the compact.
House Bill 4591 as passed by the House, October 29, 2025. Introduced June 10, 2025 by Representatives Bohnak, Pavlov, Prestin, Markkanen and Cavitt.

Bill status · as of July 30, 2026

Where the bill sits. House Bill 4591, sponsored by Representative Karl Bohnak, cleared House Health Policy on September 3, 2025 and House Rules on September 25, 2025, then passed the full House 83-23 on October 29, 2025. It has sat with Senate Health Policy since October 30, 2025 with no further recorded action. Michigan has not enacted the Compact, and Michigan counselors cannot yet obtain a privilege to practice.

Nationally

Forty jurisdictions enacted. Seven actually issuing privileges.

Enacting the legislation and switching the system on are two different things. Pennsylvania became the 40th member jurisdiction on July 12, 2026, the 39th state alongside the District of Columbia, and is not yet operational. Its law takes effect sixty days after signing.

Map of the United States shaded by Counseling Compact status as of July 30, 2026. Arizona, Minnesota, Ohio, Louisiana, Georgia, Indiana and Arkansas are issuing privileges to practice. Thirty-three further jurisdictions, including the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania, have enacted Compact legislation but are not yet issuing. Michigan has enacted nothing and is outlined separately.
6 Issuing privileges now
34 Enacted, not yet issuing
1 Michigan: nothing enacted
10 Not a member
Counseling Compact status by state, as of July 30, 2026. Michigan has enacted no Compact legislation; HB 4591 remains pending in the Senate. Compiled by MMHCA from the Counseling Compact Commission jurisdiction list and news archive, counselingcompact.gov.

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The short version

What the Compact actually is.

An interstate agreement that lets a counselor licensed in one member state practice in the others without applying for a separate license in each.

The mechanism is a privilege to practice. You hold a full license in your home state and obtain a privilege in each additional member state. It generally covers telehealth and sometimes in-person work, and you remain subject to the laws and scope of the state where the client is located.

For Michigan it would matter most in underserved areas, the Upper Peninsula in particular, and for counselors whose clients move or travel.

Key terms

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What we told the committee

The Compact is not the rural access fix it is being sold as.

MMHCA Secretary Carol Berger, LPC, a counselor in private practice in Owosso for over twenty years, put three structural objections to the House Health Policy Committee. They are the reasoning behind the safeguards the board asked for, and none of them has been answered yet.

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The Compact does have potential. But it isn’t operational at this point. They haven’t even written all the legislative rules yet, and those rules will override Michigan Public Health Code.
Carol Berger, LPC, MMHCA Secretary, testifying before House Health Policy

The offer the association made alongside the objections still stands: MMHCA asked to help the committee examine Michigan’s actual mental health access problems, and to assess honestly whether the Compact addresses them.

Board resolution, adopted August 22, 2025

Supporting the Compact with protective safeguards.

Provided to the House Health Policy Committee and the bill sponsors. The board supports passage, and recommends safeguards alongside it.

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Adopted August 22, 2025 by the MMHCA Board of Directors. Chris DeBoer, Board President.

Board resolution (PDF) counselingcompact.gov

What Michigan counselors told us

581 responses, and a split worth reading carefully.

MMHCA surveyed over 12,000 Michigan counselors. 581 completed all or part of the survey. Roughly 60% of respondents supported implementation; roughly 30% raised concerns.

Top benefits noted

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Top concerns noted

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Percentages are categorized response themes from the July 6, 2025 update, not shares of all 12,000 counselors surveyed. Full results are published as a PDF alongside the board resolution.

A lit Counseling and Wellness Center storefront on a small-town main street at dusk, with a bookshop and a church spire further along the block

The concern counselors raised most was market saturation by out-of-state telehealth platforms. The second was whether practices like this one survive it.

If and when Michigan joins

What to get ready now.

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