(CNN) Utah's legislature couldn't agree on banning conversion therapy for minors. So the governor is giving the state's Psychologist Licensing Board a shot and they may ban it entirely.

Conversion therapy is an attempt to forcibly change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity. It does not work, and studies show that those subjected to it or who choose to undergo it are put at a greater risk of depression or suicide.

Earlier this year, a bill banning conversion therapy for minors, sponsored by two Republican legislators, stalled in the state's legislature. So now, Gov. Gary Herbert is directing the Psychologist Licensing Board to draft rules to regulate conversion therapy in the state.

"We're going to turn this to the licensing people," said Herbert, a Republican, in his monthly news conference Thursday. "They'll use the best available science. They'll have the opportunity to see what works, what doesn't work. What should be done. What shouldn't be done."

Herbert wrote in the letter to the board that he was particularly troubled about "interventions using physical distress" and "the lack of understanding many parents have concerning so-called 'conversion therapy.'" As he's not a psychologist, he says, he wants the experts to weigh in.

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