HB 1993 — An Act providing for the use of artificial intelligence in mental health therapy and for enforcement.

PRINTER'S NO.    2515

                   THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                       HOUSE BILL
                       No. 1993
                                              Session of
                                                2025

     INTRODUCED BY SHUSTERMAN, PROBST, PIELLI, HILL-EVANS, RIVERA,
        HOHENSTEIN, FRANKEL, SANCHEZ, HADDOCK, GREEN, SCOTT, SMITH-
        WADE-EL AND WAXMAN, OCTOBER 24, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL LICENSURE,
        OCTOBER 24, 2025


                                    AN ACT
 1   Providing for the use of artificial intelligence in mental
 2      health therapy and for enforcement.
 3      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 4   hereby enacts as follows:
 5   Section 1.   Short title.
 6      This act shall be known and may be cited as the Artificial
 7   Intelligence in Mental Health Therapy Act.
 8   Section 2.   Definitions.
 9      The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
10   have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
11   context clearly indicates otherwise:
12      "Administrative support."   A task performed to assist a
13   mental health professional with the logistics of an appointment
14   that does not involve therapeutic communication, including:
15          (1)   managing appointment scheduling and reminders;
16          (2)   processing billing and insurance claims; and
17          (3)   drafting general communications related to therapy
 1    logistics that do not include therapeutic advice.
 2    "Artificial intelligence."     As follows:
 3        (1)   A machine-based system that can, for a given set of
 4    human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations
 5    or decisions influencing real or virtual environments,
 6    including the ability to:
 7              (i)    perceive real and virtual environments;
 8              (ii)    abstract perceptions made under this paragraph
 9        into models through analysis in an automated manner; and
10              (iii)    use model inference to formulate options for
11        information or action based on outcomes under
12        subparagraph (i) or (ii).
13        (2)   The term includes generative artificial
14    intelligence.
15    "Consent."      As follows:
16        (1)   A clear, explicit affirmative act by an individual
17    that:
18              (i)    unambiguously communicates the individual's
19        express, freely given, informed, voluntary, specific and
20        unambiguous written agreement, including a written
21        agreement provided by electronic means; and
22              (ii)    is revocable by the individual.
23        (2)   The term does not include an agreement that is
24    obtained by the following:
25              (i)    The acceptance of a general or broad terms of
26        use agreement or similar document that contains
27        descriptions of artificial intelligence along with other
28        unrelated information.
29              (ii)    An individual hovering over, muting, pausing or
30        closing a given piece of digital content.

20250HB1993PN2515                   - 2 -
 1                 (iii)   An agreement obtained through the use of
 2           deceptive actions.
 3      "Generative artificial intelligence."        The class of
 4   artificial intelligence models that emulate the structure and
 5   characteristics of input data in order to generate derived
 6   synthetic content, including images, videos, audio, text and
 7   more.
 8      "Mental health professional."         An individual who is licensed,
 9   certified or otherwise authorized to administer or provide
10   professional mental health care or counseling under:
11           (1)   the act of May 22, 1951 (P.L.317, No.69), known as
12      The Professional Nursing Law;
13           (2)   the act of March 23, 1972 (P.L.136, No.52), known as
14      the Professional Psychologists Practice Act;
15           (3)   the act of October 5, 1978 (P.L.1109, No.261), known
16      as the Osteopathic Medical Practice Act;
17           (4)   the act of December 20, 1985 (P.L.457, No.112),
18      known as the Medical Practice Act of 1985; or
19           (5)   the act of July 9, 1987 (P.L.220, No.39), known as
20      the Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and
21      Professional Counselors Act.
22      "Peer support."     Services provided by individuals with lived
23   experience of mental health conditions or recovery from
24   substance use that are intended to offer encouragement,
25   understanding and guidance without clinical intervention.
26      "Permitted use of artificial intelligence."        Administrative
27   support or supplementary support in therapy or psychotherapy for
28   which the mental health professional maintains full
29   responsibility for all interactions, outputs and data use
30   associated with the system.

20250HB1993PN2515                     - 3 -
 1      "Religious counseling."    Counseling provided by clergy
 2   members or pastoral counselors or other religious duties if the
 3   services are explicitly faith-based and are not represented as
 4   clinical mental health services or therapy or psychotherapy
 5   services.
 6      "Supplementary support."    A task performed to assist a mental
 7   health professional in the delivery of therapy or psychotherapy
 8   services that does not involve therapeutic communication and
 9   that is not administrative support, including:
10          (1)   preparing and maintaining client records, including
11      therapy notes;
12          (2)   analyzing anonymized data to track client progress
13      or identify trends, subject to review by a mental health
14      professional; and
15          (3)   identifying and organizing external resources or
16      referrals for client use.
17      "Therapeutic communication."    A verbal, nonverbal or written
18   interaction conducted in a clinical or professional setting that
19   is intended to diagnose, treat or address an individual's
20   mental, emotional or behavioral health concerns, including the
21   following:
22          (1)   Direct interaction with clients for the purpose of
23      understanding or reflecting their thoughts, emotions or
24      experiences.
25          (2)   Providing guidance, therapeutic strategies or
26      interventions designed to achieve mental health outcomes.
27          (3)   Offering emotional support, reassurance or empathy
28      in response to psychological or emotional distress.
29          (4)   Collaborating with clients to develop or modify
30      therapeutic goals or treatment plans.

20250HB1993PN2515                   - 4 -
 1            (5)   Offering behavioral feedback intended to promote
 2      psychological growth or address mental health conditions.
 3      "Therapy or psychotherapy services."       Services provided to
 4   diagnose, treat or improve an individual's mental health or
 5   behavioral health. The term does not include religious
 6   counseling or peer support.
 7   Section 3.     Permitted use of artificial intelligence.
 8      A mental health professional shall not be permitted to use
 9   artificial intelligence to assist in providing supplementary
10   support in therapy or psychotherapy services for which the
11   client's therapeutic session is recorded or transcribed unless:
12            (1)   The patient or the patient's legally authorized
13      representative is informed in writing:
14                  (i)    that artificial intelligence will be used; and
15                  (ii)   the specific purpose of the artificial
16            intelligence tool or system that will be used.
17            (2)   The patient or the patient's legally authorized
18      representative provides consent to the use of artificial
19      intelligence.
20   Section 4.     Prohibition on unauthorized therapy services.
21      (a)   Prohibited statements.--An artificial intelligence
22   provider shall not make any representation or statement or
23   knowingly cause or program an artificial intelligence system
24   made available for use by a person in this Commonwealth to make
25   any representation or statement that explicitly or implicitly
26   indicates that:
27            (1)   the artificial intelligence system is capable of
28      providing therapy or psychotherapy services;
29            (2)   a user of the artificial intelligence system may
30      interact with any feature of the artificial intelligence

20250HB1993PN2515                       - 5 -
 1      system which simulates human conversation in order to obtain
 2      therapy or psychotherapy services; or
 3            (3)   the artificial intelligence system, or any
 4      component, feature, avatar or embodiment of the artificial
 5      intelligence system, is:
 6                  (i)    a provider of therapy or psychotherapy;
 7                  (ii)    a mental health professional;
 8                  (iii)    a therapist;
 9                  (iv)    a clinical therapist;
10                  (v)    a counselor;
11                  (vi)    a psychiatrist;
12                  (vii)    a doctor; or
13                  (viii)    any other provider of therapy or
14            psychotherapy services.
15      (b)   Certain system prohibited.--An artificial intelligence
16   provider shall not make available for use by a person in this
17   Commonwealth an artificial intelligence system that is
18   specifically programmed to provide a service or experience to a
19   user that would constitute the practice of a mental health
20   professional if provided by a natural person.
21      (c)   Use of artificial intelligence.--A mental health
22   professional may use artificial intelligence only to the extent
23   that the use meets the requirements of section 3. A mental
24   health professional may not allow artificial intelligence to:
25            (1)   make independent therapeutic decisions;
26            (2)   directly interact with a client in any form of
27      therapeutic communication;
28            (3)   generate therapeutic recommendations or treatment
29      plans without review and approval by the mental health
30      professional; or

20250HB1993PN2515                         - 6 -
 1             (4)   detect emotions or mental states.
 2   Section 5.      Enforcement.
 3      A violation of this act shall constitute unprofessional
 4   conduct under the following provisions of law, including a
 5   substantively similar provision of a successor act:
 6             (1)   Section 14(a)(9) of the act of May 22, 1951
 7      (P.L.317, No.69), known as The Professional Nursing Law.
 8             (2)   Section 8(11) of the act of March 23, 1972 (P.L.136,
 9      No.52), known as the Professional Psychologists Practice Act.
10             (3)   Section 15(a)(8) of the act of October 5, 1978
11      (P.L.1109, No.261), known as the Osteopathic Medical Practice
12      Act.
13             (4)   Section 41(8) of the act of December 20, 1985
14      (P.L.457, No.112), known as the Medical Practice Act of 1985.
15             (5)   Section 11(a)(2) of the act of July 9, 1987
16      (P.L.220, No.39), known as the Social Workers, Marriage and
17      Family Therapists and Professional Counselors Act.
18   Section 6.      Exceptions.
19      This act does not apply to:
20             (1)   religious counseling;
21             (2)   peer support; or
22             (3)   self-help materials and educational resources that
23      are available to the public and do not purport to offer
24      therapy or psychotherapy services.
25   Section 7.      Effective date.
26      This act shall take effect in 60 days.




20250HB1993PN2515                       - 7 -