| Assembly Bill 1943 (Chu) - Acupuncturist Education - Now on Governor’s Desk! |
| AB 1943 passed the Senate 25-11 on August 26 and the Assembly 59-22 on August 28, and has now been sent to Governor Davis for his signature. Show your support for our profession by writing a letter to the Governor today! |
| Send a letter to Governor Davis! |
| 1. Write a letter of support to Governor Davis on your association / office letterhead. |
| 2. Mail and Fax one copy to the Governor Davis FAX: 916-445-4633 |
| 3. Fax one copy to Assemblymember Judy Chu FAX: 916-319-2149 |
| Thank you for your support of our profession, |
| Brian C. Fennen, L.Ac, OBT |
| Executive Director |
| ======================================================== |
| Sample Support Letter - AB 1943 |
| August 29, 2002 |
| Honorable Gray Davis |
| Governor, State of California |
| State Capitol |
| Sacramento, CA 95814 |
| Re: AB 1943 (Chu) - Acupuncturist Education - Support |
| Dear Governor: |
| Our profession has been nearly unanimous in its support for Assembly Bill 1943, because it will require a long overdue upgrade and standardization of acupuncture and oriental medicine training programs. We are deeply concerned that educational standards for our profession have not changed for nearly twenty years, while schools have added hundreds of extra hours of non-standardized coursework. As a result, many students and members of our profession complain that certain schools are becoming “diploma mills,” more interested in the bottom line than they are in teaching balanced programs of study. |
| Over 30% of recent licensees claim that their school did not adequately prepare them to enter their first year of practice! Instead, their schools focused on preparation for passage of multiple-choice state licensing and national certification exams. While written exams are a vital necessary component to test competency, these exams contain only a random sampling of a much larger knowledge base that entry-level practitioners should have acquired in school. The public is thus entirely dependent upon the schools to train practitioners in depth and in the hands-on clinical skills that cannot be tested by written exams. It is therefore incumbent upon the State of California, and upon its Acupuncture Board, to direct our schools to move beyond experimentation and exam preparation, and into a core curricula of competency-based education that will prepare graduates to enter our profession. |
| Assembly Bill 1943 will: |
| Set education standard for licensed acupuncturists to 3,000 hours for students entering after January 1, 2005. (The Acupuncture Board appointed twenty professional and school representatives to a Competencies Task Force, which met five times over nine months to determine that 3,000 hours were a minimum requirement for entry into the profession, and also determined the subject matter that should make up such a curriculum. This was determined to present no hardship for the vast majority of students and schools, as the thirty California approved schools are already averaging 3100 hours.) |
| Request the independent Little Hoover Commission to review and report on the need to further raise educational requirements, up to 4,000 hours, and to determine whether current practitioners would need any supplemental education if the standard were increased beyond 3,000 hours in the future. |
| Please sign this important legislation to benefit students and patient alike. |
| Sincerely, |
| Dr. You, OMD, LAc |
| ================================= |
| AB 1943 Final Amended Text August 5 |
| Landmark Legislation Sent to Governor Davis |