STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2278

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3028

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 3028 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GRADUATES OF FOREIGN ACUPUNCTURE PROGRAMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to ensure that all applicants granted an acupuncture license meet equivalent standards of training and education.

     Specifically, this measure requires foreign-educated acupuncture applicants to have their educational information evaluated by a board approved and designated professional evaluator to determine curriculum equivalency.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Board of Acupuncture, the Institute of Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, and the Hawaii Acupuncture Association.

     Your Committee finds that the Board of Acupuncture is required to review and approve foreign school curricula to ensure that it meets United States educational requirements, a mandate that the Board does not have the expertise or resources to effectively undertake.  This measure will ensure educational equivalency by requiring, at the applicant's expense, a professional credentialing evaluator, with the expertise and resources, to appropriately evaluate foreign curriculum and transcripts.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3028 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair