A Test for California Acupuncture

Legislature Puts California Acupuncture Board on Notice

By Daniel Rothberg

The state board tasked with licensing and regulating California’s roughly 11,000 acupuncturists has faced trouble before – a cheating and bribery scandal rocked the board in 1989.

Now, amid criticism that the California Acupuncture Board’s priorities give short shrift to consumer protection, state lawmakers are moving for an overhaul and lobbing a pointed message at its executive officer to get in line.

With the board’s authority set to expire Jan. 1, the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee has a bill to extend that date, with strings attached. Senate Bill 1246 narrows the board’s regulatory portfolio, offers a shorter-than-usual extension and includes a provision that could threaten the tenure of Executive Officer Terri Thorfinnson.

Specifically, the bill says “the executive officer appointed on or after January 1, 2015, shall not have served as the executive officer of the board at any time prior to January 1, 2015.”

Interpretations of the section vary. A Senate committee consultant, Le Ondra Clark, said the wording would not require the board to fire Thorfinnson, but would prohibit her reappointment after Jan. 1 should the board appoint a new executive officer. Thorfinnson said in her analysis for the board that the provision “effectively terminates” her tenure.

“I’ve not ever seen them do this before,” Julie D’Angelo Fellmeth, who monitors state consumer boards and is administrative director of University of San Diego’s Center for Public Interest Law, said of the Legislature’s approach. “They might just be sending a message to the board that the Legislature is not happy with the performance of the executive officer.”

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