California Assembly Bill 1980
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010California Assembly Bill 1980
This bill was almost passed through the California legislature without opposition. The original wording in this bill would have prevented musculoskeletal manipulation from being practiced by anyone other then a veterinarian in this state. Thanks to the IAAMB and other concerned individuals who brought this to the light of day. Those of you who called in and emailed certainly made a difference in the ability of animal caretakers and healers ability to help heal animals. I just got off of the phone with Rebecca May who works with the author of this bill and she said that the bill just passed through the legislature today and is on the governors desk for signing into law so we can all breathe a little easier. Rebecca said that their intention was not to exclude complementary health care practitioners from working with animals and that they no one, even the veterinary board wanted to go after massage therapists. All physical therapists and massage therapists can now relax about whether massage and physical therapy is legal in this state.
Danielle says:
April 10th, 2011
3:43 pm
I wouldn’t rest quite yet. A lot has transpired since Aug of 2010. This is not over for massage therapist either. Unless you have something in writing by the Veterinary Medical Board that clearly states what massage therapist can do and defines their scope of practice related to animals you are not safe. The California Veterinary Medical Board (VMB) and California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) have ramped up their efforts to stop qualified animal physical therapists and other animal health professionals, that are not licensed veterinarians, from working animals. Furthermore veterinarians that refer to these practitioners will also be charged with a crime. See SB 697 (Negrete McLeod). In a nutshell animal health practitioners (ie Animal Physical Therapist) will be charged with a crime for providing/advertising animal health related services. The “defeat” of specific language in AB 1980 only bought the CVMA and VMB more time to write less ambiguous language to lock in their territory. We need to get the word out that we want options for our animals and the right to choose who provides these services. Rally support. Post this information on your Facebook page if you have one, bring it up at club meetings and events. Contact animal related groups. If you can, show up to a Veterinary Medical Board meeting ready to voice your opposition and encourage others to do the same. The next board meeting is in Riverside on April 20th. http://www.vmb.ca.gov/about_us/vmbagenda_20110418.shtml. Please forward this to every animal lover you know. If we don’t take immediate action some of the most qualified clinicians that currently serve animals will no longer be accessible. The VMB and CVMA are moving very quickly with their plan.
Liya says:
June 25th, 2011
8:40 pm
From what I can tell, the bill has been shelved.
http://totalcapitol.com/?bill_id=201120120SB697
Not that it won’t be a problem anymore but it gives a little breathing room in the meantime.
I think instead of making all these things illegal, they should provide ways to be licensed by the board. That way people still receive the care they want/need for their animals, there are no “legal” issues, and it would minimize the risk of animals being harmed at the hands of someone untrained in their self-proclaimed profession.
I don’t know how to suggest that to the board though.
I think it necessary that people be trained in the basics of veterinary care (such as a certification as a Veterinary Assistant-not to be confused with an RVT) if they are going to be working with animals like this but, I don’t think that the practices that this bill covers should be regulated to “Vets Only” and certainly none of them fall under “Veterinary Medicine” in general.
If they want to make sure people are licensed and trained, good-I agree.
But the fact is that they only want to make it illegal. The fact that they want to take those services and professions away from people and animals just makes me mad.
I will be keeping up with this bill has it has been shelved-not gone completely. If I find out anything new I’ll be sure to post it
Liya says:
June 25th, 2011
8:41 pm
*as it has been shelved ^
Liya says:
June 25th, 2011
9:09 pm
I found this on another school’s website where they were listing the specifics of each state’s requirements. Thought y’all might be interested.
August 3, 2010
Debranne Pattillo, President and Founder
Equinology INC and Caninology
P.O. Box 1192
Gualala, CA. 95445
RE: RECENT CONCERNS RAISED REGARDING AB 1980-HAYASHI (VETERINARY MEDICINE)
Ms. Pattillo,
Thank you for speaking with CVMA’s lobbyists this week regarding AB 1980 by Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, which seeks to make a series of reforms to the Veterinary Medicine Practice Act. Several members of the animal massage community, and for that matter, the animal chiropractic community, have raised concerns with an amendment in the bill in Section 4826 of the Practice Act. This letter seeks to provide you with some additional clarification for your membership and students.
AB 1980 is jointly sponsored by the California Veterinary Medical Board, the California Veterinary Medical Association, and the California Registered Veterinary Technician Association. Section 4826 of the Business and Professions Code (Veterinary Practice Act) is being amended (in italics) thus:
4826. A person practices veterinary medicine, surgery, and dentistry and the various branches thereof, when he or she does any one of the following….
(f) Performs physical rehabilitation or musculoskeletal manipulation upon an animal, unless otherwise authorized by regulation of the board.
The intent behind adding “f” to Section 4826 of the Practice Act is to give the Veterinary Medical Board two authorities: 1) the ability to crack down on unlicensed activity by lay people purporting to be “animal physical therapists” and “animal chiropractors” and 2) the ability to write regulations regarding the animal physical therapists. (The animal chiropractic regulations – Section 2038 of the California Code of Regulations – have been in effect for over a decade.) Legislative Counsel specifically recommended that we include the phrase “unless otherwise authorized by regulation of the board,” or (f) would be restricted to only veterinarians who could perform these tasks. Clearly, we did not intend to limit this provision to veterinarians only, and so we concurred with Legislative Counsel’s recommended language.
The bill is totally and completely silent with regard to animal massage therapists and it will not impact your ability to practice whatsoever. Animal massage is specifically and intentionally not mentioned in these amendments. Perhaps some of the confusion on the bill has come from the use of the phrase “musculoskeletal manipulation.” This is a term that is contained in Section 2038 of the California Code of Regulations, relative to animal chiropractors, however, when we drafted this section years ago, we were told that the term “chiropractic” is a protected term by the industry and may not be used by any of the other healing arts professions. Thus, the VMB adopted the term “musculoskeletal manipulation” instead.
Lastly, the addition of (f) to Section 4826 is, in no way, intended to impede the work of legitimate practitioners who perform work on animals. Rather, it seeks to highlight those “bad actors” in the world of animal chiropractic or animal physical rehabilitation who have no training or certification, and who are not safely working on animals.
We appreciate your recent conversation with us and we hope that this letter further assists your efforts in alleviating some of the recent concerns raised by Equinology or Caninology members/students. Please feel free to share this letter with those interested parties you find appropriate.
Sincerely,
Valerie Fenstermaker, CVMA Executive Director
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Valerie Fenstermaker I Executive Director
California Veterinary Medical Association
800.655.2862 x32 I Fax: 916.646.9176
http://www.cvma.net