(a) If, in evaluating any applicant for licensure as a social worker, the board finds that the applicant is deficient in the qualifications or in the quality of the applicant’s educational experience required by Kan. Stat. Ann. § 65-6306, and amendments thereto, or Kan. Stat. Ann. 2023 Supp. 65-6322, and amendments thereto, as applicable, or by rules and regulations adopted by the board, the board may require the applicant to fulfill remedial or other requirements, as the board may prescribe.

(b) A person who is completing requirements prescribed by the board under subsection (a) may apply to the board for provisional licensure as a social worker on a form and in a manner prescribed by the board. The board may issue a provisional license to practice social work. A provisional license shall expire upon the earlier of the date that the board issues or denies a license to practice social work or 12 months after the date of issuance of the provisional license. No provisional license shall be renewed, and no provisional license shall be issued again, upon any subsequent application for the same license level.

(c) A person practicing social work with a provisional license may not use the title “licensed baccalaureate social worker,” “licensed master’s social worker” or “licensed specialist clinical social worker” or the initials “LBSW,” “LMSW” or “LSCSW,” independently. The word “licensed” may be used by such person only when preceded by the word “provisional.”

(d) This section shall be a part of and supplemental to the social workers licensure act.