Naturopathic Doctors Act: California Board of Naturopathic Medicine and licensing requirements.

Existing law, the Naturopathic Doctors Act, establishes the Naturopathic Medicine Committee within the Osteopathic Medical Board of California for the licensure and regulation of naturopathic doctors. Existing law repeals the act on January 1, 2023. This bill would rename the "Naturopathic Medicine Committee" as the "California Board of Naturopathic Medicine" and would place the board within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The bill would specify that any reference in any law or regulation to the Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine or the Naturopathic Medicine Committee refers to the California Board of Naturopathic Medicine. The bill would prohibit the board from incurring any costs as a result of its name change beyond what is absorbable within existing resources. Existing law requires the committee to consist of 9 members, including 7 professional members appointed by the Governor, one public member appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, and one public member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. Existing law prohibits the appointment of a person as a public member if the person or the person's immediate family in any manner owns an interest in a college, school, or institution engaged in naturopathic education, or the person or the person's immediate family has an economic interest in naturopathy or has any other conflict of interest. Existing law defines "immediate family" for this purpose to mean the public member's spouse, parents, children, or their children's spouses. This bill would specify that each appointing authority for the board has the power to remove from office at any time a member of the board appointed by that authority for continued neglect of duties required by law, incompetence, or unprofessional or dishonorable conduct. The bill would revise the definition of "immediate family" for purposes of the above-described conflict-of-interest provision to include the public member's domestic partner and the domestic partners of the public member's children. Existing law authorizes the committee to employ other officers and employees as necessary to discharge the committee's duties. This bill would require the board to employ a full-time staff position whose responsibilities would include enforcement against violations of the act. The bill would require the position to be under the direction of the executive officer. Existing law requires an applicant for licensure to pass the Naturopathic Physicians Licensing Examination (NPLEX) or an equivalent examination approved by the North American Board of Naturopathic Examiners. Existing law authorizes the committee, in the absence of an examination approved by the North American Board of Naturopathic Examiners, to administer a substantially equivalent examination. This bill would authorize the board to additionally require an applicant to pass any NPLEX elective examinations relevant to a licensee's scope of practice in California. Existing law further requires an applicant for licensure to complete continuing education requirements biennially and authorizes those requirements to be met through continuing education courses approved by the committee, the California Naturopathic Doctors Association, or various other entities, or through other courses that meet the continuing education standards for licensed physicians and surgeons in California. This bill would also authorize those continuing education requirements to be met through courses approved by the North American Naturopathic Continuing Education Accreditation Council. Existing law requires a naturopathic doctor, in order to be certified for the specialty practice of naturopathic childbirth attendance, to obtain a passing grade on the American College of Nurse Midwives Written Examination, or a substantially equivalent examination approved by the committee, in addition to complying with other educational requirements. This bill would include the American Naturopathic Obstetricians examination within the above-described examinations required for that specialty practice certification. This bill would extend the operation of the act until January 1, 2027, and would also make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.