BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 300|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 300
Author: Ma (D), et al.
Amended: 8/24/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/8/11
AYES: Hernandez, Strickland, Alquist, Anderson, Blakeslee,
De León, DeSaulnier, Rubio, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/27/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Emmerson, Lieu, Pavley, Price,
Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-0, 4/11/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Safe Body Art Act
SOURCE : Alliance of Professional Tattooists
Association of Professional Piercers
California Association of Environmental Health
Administrators
Health Officers Association of California
DIGEST : This bill enacts the Safe Body Art Act providing
for minimum statewide standards for the regulation of
individuals in the business of tattooing, body piercing,
and the application of permanent cosmetics. The provisions
will take effect on July 1, 2012.
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Senate Floor Amendments of 8/24/11 specify that the
activities of a physician assistant are not restricted by
this bill.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Requires the California Conference of Local Health
Officers (CCLHO) to establish sterilization,
sanitation, and safety standards for persons engaged in
the business of tattooing, body piercing, or permanent
cosmetics.
2. Requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to
provide the necessary resources to support the
development of these standards and requires the
standards to be directed at establishing and maintaining
sterile conditions and safe disposal of instruments.
3. Allows the standards to be modified as appropriate to
protect consumers from transmission of contagious
diseases through cross-contamination of instruments and
supplies, as specified.
4. Requires the standards to be submitted to DPH for review
and consultation by July 1, 1998, and directs DPH to
distribute those standards in written form to all county
health departments within 30 days of adoption by DPH.
5. Requires a practitioner of tattooing, body piercing or
permanent cosmetics to register with the county in which
the business is conducted, obtain the sterilization,
sanitation, and safety standards distributed by DPH, as
specified, and pay a one-time registration fee of $25.
6. Allows the county to charge an additional fee, if
necessary, to cover the cost of registration and
inspection, and allows a county to adopt regulations
that do not conflict with, or are more comprehensive
than, standards adopted by DPH.
7. Makes a person liable for a civil penalty for the
failure to register or for a violation of the
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sterilization, sanitation and safety standards.
8. Makes it a misdemeanor to tattoo, or offer to tattoo, a
person under the age of 18, and makes it an infraction
for any person to offer or perform body piercing upon a
person under the age of 18, unless the body piercing is
performed in the presence of, or as directed by, a
notarized writing by the person's parent or guardian,
unless the person is an emancipated minor.
This bill:
1. Repeals existing law governing the development of body
art standards for persons engaged in the business of
tattooing, body piercing, or permanent cosmetics.
2. Prohibits a person from performing body art if he/she is
not registered with the local enforcement agency (LEA).
3. Requires the applicant to provide specified information
as a condition of registration including, among other
things, the following: evidence of current Hepatitis B
vaccination; evidence of completion of training in
bloodborne pathogens, first aid, and CPR; proof that
he/she is 18 years or older; self-certification of
knowledge and commitment to state law and relevant local
regulations; and payment of a registration fee, to be
determined by the LEA in an amount sufficient to cover
actual administrative costs.
4. Requires a practitioner to display the registration
certificate in a readily visible place at the facility
where the practitioner is performing body art and makes
a valid and current registration issued by an LEA valid
in any other jurisdiction for no more than five
consecutive days, or 15 days total, in any one calendar
year. Requires a practitioner's registration to be
renewed annually.
5. Requires, for first-time registrants, documentation
evidencing a minimum of six months' related experience.
The local enforcement agency may require documentation
that includes, but is not limited to, dates, type, and
location of work, and the name and contact information
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of the registrant's supervisor(s).
6. Prescribes a number of hygiene and sanitation procedures
for a practitioner to follow before performing body art
and at the completion of the procedure. Directs the
practitioner to maintain a clean and sanitary
environment, as specified.
7. Prescribes various requirements for commercially
manufactured inks, dyes, pigments, soaps, trays,
single-use needles, needle bars, grommets, razors,
machines, and tools used in the performance of body art.
8. Imposes various restrictions on the performance of body
art including informed consent and client disclosure
requirements, as specified.
9. Requires sites that only perform mechanical stud and
clasp ear piercing to meet separate notification,
sanitation, training, and equipment requirements.
10.Prohibits a body art facility from conducting business
without a valid health permit issued by an LEA and
requires the application for a health permit to include
a copy of the facility's Infection Prevention and
Control Plan and a specified fee, as determined by the
LEA.
11.Specifies that the health permit is valid only for the
location of the facility and the time period indicated
on the permit and is non-transferable. Requires the
health permit and certificates of registration for all
practitioners performing body art in the facility to be
posted prominently at the body art facility.
12.Requires a person who proposes to construct a practice
site or mobile practice site, other than a temporary
body art event booth, to submit plans and a specified
fee to the LEA for review. Requires the plans to be
reviewed before any building, plumbing, or electric
permits are issued and requires any corrective action to
be taken and the site approved to open before any body
art can be performed.
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13.Specifies that, if a practitioner performs body art in a
vehicle in a jurisdiction for more than seven days in a
consecutive 90-day period, the practitioner is required
to obtain a health permit from the LEA in that
jurisdiction. Requires a vehicle that will be operating
in the jurisdiction for less than seven days in a
consecutive 90-day period to be treated as a temporary
demonstration booth, as specified.
14.Allows a practitioner to operate in a temporary
demonstration booth for a maximum of seven days in a
90-day period in the local jurisdiction of registration
provided that the booth meets certain specified
requirements.
15.Permits an LEA officer to enter a body art facility
during the facility's hours of operation and other
reasonable times to conduct specified inspection and
compliance activities. Requires the LEA officer to make
a written report and furnish a copy to the owner or
practitioner upon completion of an inspection or
investigation.
16.Makes it a violation of this bill for the owner or any
person working in a body art facility to conceal or
withhold records or evidence, interfere with the
performance of an LEA officer, or knowingly falsify or
misrepresent information required to be submitted or
maintained by this bill. Allows an LEA to suspend a
certificate of registration or health permit for a
violation of this bill.
17.Provides for specified due process whenever an LEA
officer finds that a practitioner or body art facility
is not in compliance with the requirements of this bill.
18.Requires practitioners, body art facility owners, and
sponsors of temporary body art events to obtain and pay
for necessary registration and permits, as specified.
19.Makes it a misdemeanor to perform body art without being
registered or to operate a body art facility or
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temporary body art event without a health permit.
Authorizes the LEA to assess various administrative
penalties.
20.Allows a city, county, or city and county to adopt
regulations or ordinances that do not conflict with, or
are more stringent than, the provisions of this bill.
21.Makes the provisions of this bill operative on July 1,
2012.
22.Defines "sponsor" of a temporary body art facility.
23.Permits an LEA to set fees that are sufficient to cover
the administrative and enforcement costs of providing
permits to the sponsor of and practitioner related to
temporary body art facilities.
24.Clarifies that the sponsor and the practitioner would
both be responsible for obtaining all relevant permits
to conduct the business of a temporary body art facility
and would both be subject to penalties if found in
violation.
25.Specifies that the activities of a physician assistant
are not restricted by this bill.
Background
Health concerns associated with body art . In 2007, the Pew
Research Center reported that 36 percent of young people
between the ages of 18 and 25 had a tattoo and 30 percent
had a body piercing somewhere other than their ear, and
that 40 percent of those age 26 to 40 had a tattoo and 22
percent had a body piercing somewhere other than their ear.
Unsafe tattooing and piercing practices can lead to serious
health impacts such as hepatitis or HIV infection, as well
a range of other bloodborne infections. Complications are
fairly uncommon, given how common tattoos and piercings
are, but because body art breaches the skin, infections are
a risk, nevertheless. Tattoo inks are classified as
cosmetics and, with limited exceptions, are not regulated
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by the Food and Drug Administration. Long-term effects of
these inks are unknown. Specific risks of tattoos include
bloodborne diseases, skin disorders, skin infections,
allergic reactions, and complications during diagnostic
imaging such as an MRI. Piercing also carries risks,
including infection, allergies, nerve damage, and excessive
bleeding.
Branding is the process in which a mark, usually a symbol
or ornamental pattern, is burned into human skin tissue
with a hot iron or other instrument, with the intention
that the resulting scar makes it permanent. It is often
used as a form of initiation in fraternities, gangs, and
prison groups, but can also be a strictly decorative
procedure when performed at a body art facility. Not as
popular or as common as other forms of body art, it
nonetheless poses distinct health risks due to the burning
of human tissue.
Prior Legislation
AB 223 (Ma, 2010) and AB 517 (Ma, 2009), which were
substantively similar to AB 300, would have established the
Safe Body Art Act to provide comprehensive statewide
regulations on the body art industry. In his veto messages
on the bills, Governor Schwarzenegger stated that he did
not see a compelling need for additional legislation, given
that body art guidelines were developed several years ago,
local jurisdictions have the option to establish these
requirements in their own county, and many have chosen to
do so.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
LEA start-up, ongoing unknown, likely in the
millions of dollars Local*
administration annually; fully supported by local
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fees,
commencing July 1, 2012
* Although this bill enacts a state-mandated local
program, it does not meet the criteria for state
reimbursement because LEAs will have the authority to
impose fees for the administrative and enforcement costs
of this program.
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/30/11)
Alliance of Professional Tattooists (co-source)
Association of Professional Piercers (co-source)
California Association of Environmental Health
Administrators (co-source)
Health Officers Association of California (co-source)
Alameda Alliance for Health
Alpine County Public Health Department
American Academy of Pediatrics, California District
American Red Cross
Blood Centers of California
Body Manipulations
California Chapters of the American Red Cross
California Environmental Health Association
California Hepatitis Alliance
California Society of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery
California State Association of Counties
City and County of San Francisco
City of Vernon
County Health Executives Association of California
County of San Bernardino
County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors
County of Sonoma Department of Health Services
Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services
Kaiser Permanente
Lake County Health Services Department
Marin County Environmental Health Services
Mariposa County Public Health Department
San Francisco Department of Public Health
San Joaquin County Environmental Health Department
Studex Corporation
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The bill's sponsors, the
California Association of Environmental Health
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Administrators, the Health Officers Association of
California, the Association of Professional Piercers, and
the Alliance of Professional Tattooists maintain that,
despite requirements in existing law and repeated calls
from both health practitioners and established body art
professional trade associations, California still does not
have enforceable statewide standards that are sufficiently
detailed for consistent and effective local enforcement.
Proponents of the bill state that this bill represents an
extensive multi-year effort between public health and
environmental health representatives, individual
practitioners and body art trade associations to ensure
that the statewide standards proposed are not only
protective of public health, but fair and reasonably
enforceable.
Blood Centers of California states that federal regulations
minimally require a one-year deferral from blood donation
for potential donors with tattoos and body piercings
performed in facilities that are not licensed or inspected
by the state, resulting in an estimated 100,000 deferrals
nationally. The Blood Centers of California adds that this
deferral of otherwise healthy adults represents the loss of
a huge source of donor blood supply in the state. The
Blood Centers of California contends that the standards and
regulations this bill provides will result in an increase
in potential blood donors in California.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-0, 4/11/11
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Campos, Carter, Cedillo,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng,
Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto,
Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell,
Monning, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V.
Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio,
Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Charles Calderon, Fletcher, Gorell,
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Halderman, Knight, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell, Vacancy
CTW:mw 8/24/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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