BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1246
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Date of Hearing: August 6, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 1246 (Lieu) - As Amended: June 15, 2014
Policy Committee: Business and
Professions Vote: 11-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill modifies statutes related to the California
Acupuncture Board (CAB). Specifically, this bill:
1)Extends the sunset date of the CAB and the authorization to
appoint an executive officer to January 1, 2017.
2)Revises acupuncture educational program approval requirements,
repealing CAB's authority to approve schools and replacing
this process with standards that include national
accreditation, as well as repealing fees schools currently
must pay to CAB for approval.
3)Specifies that any executive officer (EO) appointed on or
after January 1, 2015 shall not have served as an executive
officer for the CAB prior to January 1, 2015.
4)Requires the CAB to establish standards for the acceptance of
educational training and clinical experience received outside
of the United States and Canada beginning on January 1, 2017.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Ongoing costs of about $3.3 million per year to support the
California Acupuncture Board's licensing activities, supported
by licensing fees (all costs/revenues are Acupuncture Fund).
2)Minor reduction in costs and revenues after January 1, 2017
due to the elimination of the Board's authority to approve
educational programs.
SB 1246
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3)Staff costs to promulgate regulations, potentially in the
range of $100,000, to address internationally trained
applicants.
4)By changing the process for accrediting schools by the Board,
it is possible that an increased number of individuals would
meet the state's licensing requirement to have graduated from
an accredited school. This could increase the number of
applicants for licensure. This could result in a potential
increase in licensing costs in the range of $100,000 or more
due to increased applications (Acupuncture Fund), and a
commensurate one-time revenue spike due to increased fee
revenues from exam fees as well as higher revenues ongoing.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . This bill extends the sunset date of the CAB and
makes other in order to address issues identified during the
CAB's 2014 sunset review. This bill is author-sponsored.
2)The 2014 sunset review background paper for the CAB identified
multiple issues relating to the administration and oversight
of the CAB and its ability to properly regulate and license
acupuncturists. These issues include: a lack of communication
to its licensees through CAB's Web site and listserv,
application backlogs, failure to query a National Practitioner
Databank to check the history of licensees, failure to
complete an audit of a national licensing examination, and
concerns with the CAB's school approval process.
3)Main Provisions . The most significant change this bill makes
in CAB's authority relates to its approval of schools. Instead
of requiring CAB approval of schools, this bill retains CAB's
approval of curriculum but requires schools be accredited by
the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental
Medicine (ACAOM). In order for a school or training program to
be approved, it would need CAB approval of its curriculum and
accreditation by the ACAOM, as well as approval by the Bureau
of Private Postsecondary Education. This bill provides a
two-year implementation delay in order to provide schools, CAB
and ACAOM time to review standards and implement the joint
process. All other states require ACAOM accreditation in lieu
of state-specific approval processes.
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This bill also extends the CAB's authority for an additional
two years, rather than four, as is typical. The sunset time
frame has been shortened due to concerns about whether CAB is
addressing numerous issues raised by the Legislature.
According to the 2014 Sunset Review background paper, the
CAB's report to the Joint Sunset Review Committee indicates
little progress in addressing issues identified in the 2012
Sunset Review background paper.
4)Support and Opposition . Several schools, students,
practitioners and organizations are in support. A number of
organizations oppose the bill due to concerns about changing
the current CAB school approval process.
Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081