BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1168
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          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