I just received an alert that SB 381 was introduced in the California Senate by Senator Leland Yee.
The bill is below. Please let Senator Yee know you oppose this bill.
BILL NUMBER: SB 381 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Yee
FEBRUARY 20, 2013
An act to add Section 734 to the Business and Professions Code,
relating to chiropractic practice.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 381, as introduced, Yee. Healing arts: chiropractic practice.
Existing law, the Chiropractic Act, enacted by an initiative
measure, provides for the licensure and regulation of chiropractors
by the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners. Under the act, a
license authorizes its holder to practice chiropractic as taught in
chiropractic schools or colleges but does not authorize its holder to
practice medicine, surgery, osteopathy, dentistry, or optometry.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of
physicians and surgeons and osteopathic physicians and surgeons by
the Medical Board of California and the Osteopathic Medical Board of
California, respectively.
This bill would prohibit a health care practitioner from
performing a joint manipulation or joint adjustment, as defined,
unless he or she is a licensed chiropractor, physician and surgeon,
or osteopathic physician and surgeon. The bill would provide that a
health care practitioner who performs a joint manipulation or joint
adjustment in violation of these provisions engages in the unlawful
practice of chiropractic, which shall constitute, among other things,
good cause for the revocation or suspension of the health care
practitioner's license, as specified.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 734 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:
734. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a health care
practitioner subject to regulation pursuant to this division shall
not be authorized to perform a joint manipulation or joint adjustment
except for the following individuals:
(1) A chiropractor licensed by the State Board of Chiropractic
Examiners.
(2) A physician and surgeon licensed by the Medical Board of
California.
(3) An osteopathic physician and surgeon licensed by the
Osteopathic Medical Board of California.
(b) A health care practitioner who performs a joint manipulation
or joint adjustment in violation of this section engages in the
unlawful practice of chiropractic, which shall constitute good cause
for the revocation or suspension of the health care practitioner's
license, or any other disciplinary action deemed appropriate by the
health care practitioner's licensing board.
(c) For purposes of this section, "joint manipulation" and "joint
adjustment" are synonymous terms that describe a method of skillful
and beneficial treatment where a person uses a direct thrust to move
the joint of a patient beyond its normal range of motion, but without
exceeding the limits of anatomical integrity, as taught in
chiropractic schools or colleges.
