Use of national standards provides for greater flexibility for practitioners to move to another state should the need or interest occur, avoids micro-management by state boards and minimizes the 'politicization' of acupuncture boards or committees. For all these reasons, use of national standards is critical in designing legislation. These two agencies are used by legislatures and state licensing boards across the United States as a basis for licensure. In the Handbook, the entire Model Bill is presented first without discussion. Next, each section of the Bill is printed with comments and options to consider in drafting legislation.
Some comments are relatively short, others are quite lengthy.
The third section provides optional language regarding Chinese herbology, acupuncture chemical dependency specialists and visiting teachers as well as considerations regarding structuring and financing a board and supervision or referral requirements. Appendices contain various charts and documents pertinent to the discussions above as well as a general introduction to the legislative process. A sample paper to present to legislators to support your bill and answers to questions that are frequently posed by legislators and legislative committees. One of the most important items to remember in drafting legislation is that every state is different. Prior to drafting legislation, statutes of other health care providers in the state should be reviewed to determine what is customary, and therefore acceptable language, in the state.