Annex A.

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED THE TEXAS HEALTH FREEDOM ACT

relating to the regulation of complementary and alternative medicine providers.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subtitle M, Title 3, Occupations Code, is amended by adding Chapter 703 to read as follows:

CHAPTER 703. COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE PROVIDERS

SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Sec. 703.001. SHORT TITLE.

This chapter may be cited as the CAM Practitioner Act.

Sec. 703.002. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.

The legislature:

1. Recognizes that all citizens have fundamental rights to liberty and privacy under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States that include the right to self-determination and bodily integrity and the right to maintain bodily integrity with the health care of their choice, including complementary and alternative medicine;

2. Recognizes TEX. CONST. art. XVI, [section] 31 (1876), which states that "no preference shall ever be given by law to any schools of medicine;"

3. Acknowledges that non-conventional schools of medicine and health care modalities are now being referred to as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM);

4. Finds that examples of CAM include, but are not limited to, (1) traditional Chinese practices, such as Qi Gong energy healing and acupressure; (2) therapeutic yoga; (3) aroma therapy; (4) ayurveda; (5) homeopathy; (6) culturally traditional healing practices; (7) energetic healing; (8) polarity therapy; (9) folk practices; (10) reiki; (11) healing touch; and (12) healing practices utilizing food and substances defined in the Dietary and Supplement Health Education Act of 1994.

5. Recognizes that a recent study by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the National Institutes of Health shows that on average 36 percent to 62 percent of all Americans, including millions of Texans, of all social and economic backgrounds routinely receive CAM services from CAM practitioners; acknowledges that a recent report by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies recognizes demand for CAM services will continue to grow; and recognizes that Oklahoma, Idaho, Minnesota, Rhode Island and California have or have passed "health freedom" legislation; Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin have organizations that have drafted and are promoting health freedom legislation; and that groups in Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington have organized to promote health freedom legislation.

6. Recognizes that CAM is generally safe, that it is not fraudulent, that it has not been shown to pose a recognizable and imminent risk of significant and discernible harm to the public's health, safety, or welfare, and that therefore risks from its use are not enough to justify licensure or registration, but safety can be protected by insuring citizens have the ability to make informed decisions when evaluating CAM services;

7. Finds that, notwithstanding the widespread use of complementary or alternative health care services, access to these services for residents of the State has been hampered, and the free flow of information about these services inhibited, by a failure of the State to openly acknowledge the existence of CAM therapies and methods;

8. Finds that providers of CAM services cannot openly offer their services with the comfort and safety of knowing that they will not be exposed to fines, penalties, or the restriction of their practices, whether regulated by statute or not, based on charges that they are in violation of State professional practice acts governing health care practitioners;

9. Finds that the State's failure to acknowledge such unregulated health care services impedes the beneficial delivery of health care information by clients of CAM providers to those clients' licensed health care providers, and between licensed and unlicensed health care providers with respect to...