BILL NUMBER: AB 525	CHAPTERED  07/14/03

	CHAPTER  48
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  JULY 14, 2003
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  JULY 14, 2003
	PASSED THE SENATE  JUNE 27, 2003
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  MAY 12, 2003
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 24, 2003

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Cohn

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2003

   An act to amend Section 3365.6 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to hearing aids.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 525, Cohn.  Hearing aid dispensing.
   Existing law, the Hearing Aid Dispensers Licensing Law,
establishes the Hearing Aid Dispensers Bureau in the Department of
Consumer Affairs for the licensing and regulation of hearing aid
dispensers.  Existing law prohibits a hearing aid dispenser from
selling a hearing aid to a person 16 years of age or younger, unless
that person has obtained a recommendation for a hearing aid within
the preceding 6 months from a specified otolaryngologist and a
certified audiologist.
   This bill would delete the requirement that the audiologist be
certified and instead require that the audiologist be licensed by the
state.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 3365.6 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   3365.6.  No hearing aid shall be sold by an individual licensed
under this chapter, to a person 16 years of age or younger, unless
within the preceding six months a recommendation for a hearing aid
has been made by both a board-certified, or a board-eligible
physician specializing in otolaryngology, and by a state licensed
audiologist.  A replacement of an identical hearing aid within one
year shall be an exception to this requirement.