BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1260| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1260 Author: Huffman (D) Amended: 4/20/09 in Assembly Vote: 21 SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE : 9-0, 7/6/09 AYES: Negrete McLeod, Wyland, Aanestad, Corbett, Correa, Florez, Romero, Walters, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 62-16, 5/11/09 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Acupuncture SOURCE : California Acupuncture Board DIGEST : This bill changes the number of members required to establish a quorum to conduct business for the California Acupuncture Board from five to four members, including at least one acupuncturist. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Provides for the licensure and regulation of the practice of acupuncture and establishes the California Acupuncture Board (Board) to enforce and administer these provisions. CONTINUED AB 1260 Page 2 2. Specifies that the Board is comprised of seven members, made up of three acupuncturists and four public members. States that five members constitute a quorum to conduct business. 3. Requires an affirmative vote of a majority of those present at a meeting of the Board to take any action or pass any motion. This bill changes the number of members required to establish a quorum to conduct business for the Board from five to four members, including at least one acupuncturist. Background Prior to 2006, the Acupuncture License Act provided that the Board would consist of nine members. On July 1, 2006, the Board sunseted and SB 248 (Figueroa), Chapter 659, Statutes of 2005, repealed the old Board and created a reconstituted Board of seven members. Three of the seven members of the Board must be acupuncturists with at least five years of experience in acupuncture and four of the members shall be public members who do not hold a license or certificate as a physician and surgeon or acupuncturist. The Governor appoints the three acupuncturist members and two of the public members, subject to the confirmation of the State Senate. The Senate Rules Committee and the Speaker of the Assembly each appoint a public member. Each of the members serves a four-year term. Although the Board was reconstituted in 2006, the number of members required to establish a quorum remained at five members. Subsequent legislation extending the sunset date of the Board did not change this quorum requirement. Prior legislation SB 248 (Figueroa), Chapter 659, Statutes of 2005 , appointed a new Board with seven members, and sunseted the Board on July 1, 2008. SB 963 (Ridley-Thomas), Chapter 385, Statutes of 2008 further extended the sunset date of the Board to January 1, 2011. AB 1260 Page 3 FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 7/7/09) California Acupuncture Board (source) Council of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Associations ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the California Acupuncture Board, the sponsor of this bill, this bill is necessary for the Board to conduct business. The author's office states that in January 2003, legislation went into effect changing the Board quorum requirement from a majority of the appointed members to five members. At that time, the Board consisted of nine members. In January 2006, the Board was reconstituted with the nine-member Board being repealed and a new seven-member Board was created. However, no change was made to the quorum requirement when the Board membership was reduced. The author's office further points that that if there are vacancies on the Board and/or if one member is unable to make a meeting, there is a potential for not having a quorum to conduct business. Two meetings had to be cancelled last year due to the lack of a quorum. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gilmore, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Yamada, Bass NOES: Anderson, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Charles Calderon, Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Hagman, Jeffries, Knight, Logue, Miller, Niello, Audra Strickland, Villines NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, John A. Perez AB 1260 Page 4 JJA:do 7/7/09 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****