STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2938

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2544

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2544 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ACUPUNCTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify and update the scope of practice and licensure requirements for acupuncture practitioners.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Acupuncture Association, Institute of Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, AcuPlan Hawaii, Kailua Acupuncture Clinic, and thirteen individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Board of Acupuncture.

Your Committee finds that existing laws relating to the scope of practice for acupuncturists have not been updated in more than twenty years and do not adequately describe the leading requirements or methods and techniques learned in the educational body of training used today. Education, research, biomedical training, and terminology have all evolved and advanced within the profession and updates are necessary to continue to meet current best standards of practice to treat and care for Hawaii residents. This measure updates the scope of practice for acupuncturists to keep current with national standards and licensing requirements as the profession further integrates into mainstream medicine.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying the definition of "practice of acupuncture" to include examination, diagnosis, and treatment of a patient using the invasive procedure of piercing the skin by inserting needles into the patient, auricular therapy, scalp, dry needling acupuncture, certain non-invasive procedures, traditional therapeutic means, and other procedures as determined by the board;

(2) Clarifying that the examination and education requirements managed, verified, and administered by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, in accordance with the standards adopted by its Accreditation Commission, shall apply to new licenses;

(3) Clarifying that the nine-hundred-hour clinical internship program requirement may be obtained from an accredited institute or school awarding the diploma and shall be obtained under the supervision of a licensed acupuncturist affiliated with an accredited institute or school; and

(4) Reverting to the existing statutory language regarding certain requirements for applicants who graduated from a foreign institute, school, or college with a formal program in the science of acupuncture.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2544, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2544, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

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ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair