Effective July 1, 2007, the board will no longer license professional mental health counselors. Prior to the effective date, the board shall issue a license as a professional mental health counselor to any person who files a completed application accompanied by the required fees and who submits satisfactory evidence that the applicant:
A. has reached the age of twenty-one;
B. holds a master's or doctoral degree in counseling or a counseling-related field from an accredited institution and has a total of no less than forty-eight graduate semester hours or seventy-two quarter hours in the mental health clinical core curriculum;
C. demonstrates professional competency by passing the required examinations prescribed by the board;
D. has completed one thousand client contact hours of postgraduate professional counseling experience under appropriate clinical supervision consisting of at least one hundred supervision hours; and
E. is of good moral character with conduct consistent with the code of ethics.