| One week after her legislative committee voted to eliminate the Acupuncture Board, Senator Liz Figueroa amended Senate Bill 233 to set the date of termination as January 1, 2006. Meanwhile, CAOMA's President, Michelle Lau, vowed to fight back, and called an emergency phone conference with representatives of the profession, in order to organize a response. |
| Why are acupuncturists so upset over this matter? |
| We are well aware that the Acupuncture Board has experienced problems - but they have been caused by 1) outside interests (CCAOM, NCCAOM, ACAOM) lobbying to control the California Acupuncture Board, education, and examination, 2) a continuing trend for Governors to ignore filing vacant seats on the Board, resulting in delays of meetings, 3) a shallow and biased report on acupuncture written by the Little Hoover Commission at the expense of licensees, and 4) repetitive, baseless, and often adversarial attacks by the Joint Committee and its staff against the Board and its staff for the past three years. |
| While a cursory review of the final recommendations made by the Joint Committee on Boards, Commissions, and Consumer Protections appears to identify a damning trend of problems with the Acupuncture Board, a further review finds those claims to be almost entirely baseless, and seemingly trumped up. No reasonable or credible explanation has been given for the continued attacks on the Board. |
| Asian-Americans in California are rightly suspicious of unexplained prejudicial treatment, truly concerned that this may be just another assault on their culture, history, and ethnicity. |
| CAOMA calls upon every acupuncturist, patient, and interested person, to come and testify before the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee on Monday, April 25, at 1:30 pm in Room 3191 of the State Capitol building, Sacramento. |
| Oppose Senate Bill 233, authored by Senator Figueroa of Fremont , which, if passed, will eliminate the Acupuncture Board and its regulation of Licensed Acupuncturists at the end of this year. |
| Go to the California Legislation Pages |