| After meeting with Senator Figueroa, CAOMA President Michelle Lau and lobbyist Sandy Carey reported that the Senator's offer to reconstitute (terminate and recreate) the Acupuncture Board still stands, but can only do so if CAOMA withdraws its opposition and lends its support to the passage of such a measure. CAOMA had done all it could to prevent the Senator from terminating the current board members and the executive officer of the Acupuncture Board, but to no avail. Automatic legislative sunset provisions are nearly impossible to overcome without the support of the chair of the boards and commissions oversight committee. |
| The deliberations of the meeting were reported to CAOMA member organizations for a quick decision over the weekend, because the current legislative session is nearing its end. Everyone is aware that the alternative would be to allow the Board to expire altogether on July 1, 2006, as existing law would do. Representatives of California's professional organizations were invited to participate in a teleconference. The consensus decision was that it would be in the best interests of the public and of the profession to have a new board begin reconstruction immediately after an expiration of the current board on January 1, 2006, rather than potentially having to wait six to eighteen month between the current and future boards. The immediate renewal of the board would mean leaving regulation of an entire profession in the hands of unqualified bureaucrats for as short a period of time as necessary. |
| Regardless of the method of reconstruction, the Department of Consumer Affairs will still be in control during the transition, and the Director of the DCA will have veto power over all hiring of administrative and clerical staff. |
| Senator Figueroa agreed to have her amendments placed into another bill that has already passed through committees, requiring only votes on the Assembly and Senate floors before being sent to the Governor. |