BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1168
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 2, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Richard Pan, Chair
AB 1168 (Pan) - As Introduced: February 22, 2013
SUBJECT : Safe body art.
SUMMARY : Makes a number of technical and clarifying changes to
existing law governing practitioners engaged in the business of
body art in California. Specifically, this bill :
1)Includes in the definition of a body art facility a specified
building, section of a building, or vehicle in which a
practitioner demonstrates body art for the purpose of
instruction.
2)Requires personal medical information gathered from a customer
prior to the performance of body art to comply with existing
federal privacy law established under the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
3)Prohibits the performance of body art at any location other
than a permanent or temporary body art facility that has been
approved and inspected by the local environmental health
department (LEHD).
4)Deletes the requirement for practitioners who are initially
registering with the LEHD to provide evidence of at least six
months of related experience as there is no standard
definition of what constitutes experience.
5)Authorizes a LEHD to suspend or revoke the permit of a body
art facility if a person who does not possess a valid
practitioner registration is allowed to perform body art.
6)Clarifies floor, wall, and ceiling surface requirements for
permanent body art facilities and requires these facilities to
have adequate restroom facilities.
7)Authorizes the LEHD to determine the amount of separation
between the procedures area of a body art facility and the
areas of the facility not related to body art.
8)Deletes the requirement for the decontamination and
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sterilization areas of a body art facility to have sharps
containers because these areas primarily deal with reusable
equipment, not sharps.
9)Specifies that only service animals, as defined by the federal
Americans for Disabilities Act, are allowed in certain areas
of a body art facility.
10)Deletes the requirement for temporary body art facilities to
have eye wash stations because no such requirement exists for
permanent body art facilities and these stations are not
required in the performance of body art.
11)Makes other minor technical and clarifying changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires, effective July 1, 2012, LEHDs to register
practitioners and issue permits to body art facilities
annually following a site visit and review of specified
documentation, such as infection control plans.
2)Establishes a framework under which body art practitioners
qualify to provide services, including, among other things,
requirements for training, health and safety practices,
documentation handling and storage, and inspection compliance.
3)Imposes specified prohibitions on body art practices,
including limitations on customers with regard to age and
medical condition, and requires informed consent to be given
and a signed consent form to be retained prior to the
provision of body art services.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . According to the sponsor, the
California Association of Environmental Health Administrators,
which represents all 62 LEHDs with body art safety inspectors,
this bill is intended as a clean-up measure to make several
technical, non-controversial clarifications to the state's
existing body art statutes. The sponsor states that this bill
contains a number of relatively small but important
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operational and structural refinements based on input from
practitioners and regulators in the field that are needed to
ensure effective and efficient implementation of the state's
body art laws.
The sponsor notes that, among other things, this bill will
remove an unenforceable apprenticeship requirement as both
regulators and industry practitioners agree that there are no
standards to verify what constitutes "experience;" require
practitioners to comply with federal privacy laws when
obtaining a customer's confidential medical information;
clarify that sharps containers are not required in
decontamination and sterilization areas of a facility because
all sharps waste is gathered at the procedure area; and, make
other clarifying changes to ensure that LEHDs appropriately
enforce operational and structural requirements.
2)BACKGROUND . AB 300 (Ma), Chapter 638, Statutes of 2011,
creates the Safe Body Art Act (Act) to set up a uniform
regulatory and oversight structure for the performance of
tattooing, branding, body piercing, and permanent makeup in
California. The Act requires all body art practitioners to
annually register with their LEHD, obtain annual blood-borne
pathogen training, provide documentation of Hepatitis B
vaccination status, and obtain specific health information and
informed consent from customers. The Act also requires the
owner of a body art facility to obtain a permit from the LEHD,
operate the facility in a safe and clean manner, maintain
written procedures for the operation of the facility, and
maintain records of training and equipment sterilization. The
Act also regulates the performance of body art at body art
events in temporary demonstration booths and in vehicles.
Inspectors from LEHDs conduct annual inspections of body art
facilities to determine compliance with the Act and have the
authority to suspend or revoke permits and registrations under
specified conditions.
3)SUPPORT . The sponsor writes in support that the changes in
this bill are needed to reduce inconsistency and confusion
with regard to implementing the Act. The sponsor adds that
the provisions of this bill reflect consensus from a large
stakeholder group comprised of environmental health
regulators, tattooists, body piercers, permanent cosmetic
practitioners, the mechanical ear piercing industry and other
health trainers and safe body art advocates. Studex
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Corporation, a manufacturer of ear piercing equipment states
in support that this bill brings much needed certainty,
clarity, and statewide uniformity to the regulatory oversight
of the ear piercing industry.
4)PRIOR LEGISLATION .
a) AB 300 regulates the performance of body art in
California.
b) AB 223 (Ma) of 2010, and AB 517 (Ma) of 2009, both of
which were substantively identical to AB 300, were vetoed
by Governor Schwarzenegger who stated in his veto messages
that he did not see a compelling need for additional
legislation, given that local jurisdictions have the option
to establish these requirements in their own county and
many have chosen to do so.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Environmental Health Administrators
(sponsor)
Studex Corporation
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Cassie Royce / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097