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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Taylor

DATE TYPED 02/23/05 HB 921

SHORT TITLE Naturopathic Medicine Practice Act

SB

ANALYST McSherry

REVENUE

Estimated Revenue

Subsequent

Years Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

NFI $50-100.0

$50-100.0 Recurring Naturopathic Prac-

tice Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

House Bill 921 relates to, and conflicts with House Bill 890

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Corrections Department

Regulations and Licensing Department

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 921 proposes the creation of the Naturopathic Medicine Practice Act which would

regulate the naturopathy industry. This bill proposes definitions for naturopathic medicine and

terms relating to the practice of naturopathic medicine including: naturopathic doctor, naturo-

pathic medical doctor, naturopathic medicine, naturopathic physical medicine, medicines of min-

eral, animal and botanic origin, and natural hormones.

Naturopathic medicine is proposed to be defined as: a system of health care practiced by naturo-

pathic doctors for the prevention, assessment and evaluation and treatment of human health con-

ditions, injuries and diseases that uses education, natural medicines, homeopathy and therapies to

support and stimulate a person's intrinsic self-healing processes; the definition includes naturo-

pathic physical medicine

The proposed act would establish criteria for a licensing board to license and regulate practitio-

ners of naturopathy and would create a naturopathic medicine practice act fund to be funded by

license fees.

House Bill 921 -- Page 2

The bill proposes that the board would be administratively attached to the Regulations and Li-

censing Department.

The bill provides that doctors of naturopathic medicine could use the following types of medi-

cines and therapies: food, food extracts, certain medicine of mineral, animal and botanical ori-

gins, vitamins, minerals, natural hormones, enzymes, digestive aids, whole gland thyroid, plant

substances, homeopathic preparations, topical medicines, counseling, biofeedback, dietary ther-

apy, hygiene and immunizations, certain injections, naturopathic physical medicine, therapeutic

devices and barrier devices for contraception.

HB 921 proposes the creation of a 5 member board, 3 members of which would be doctors of

naturopathic medicine and 2 members of which would represent the public. The 5 member

board would be made responsible for adopting the rules and regulations to “regulate” the profes-

sional licensees, including examination requirements, education and experience requirements,

and a code of ethics. The bill provides for “grandfathering” of existing practitioners, and ex-

empting existing alternative health care practitioners who are not naturopaths.

The proposed bill provides grounds for disciplinary action against a licensee and sets the penalty

as a misdemeanor.

Significant Issues

The proposed Act and associated board have not been reviewed by the Sunset/Sunrise subcom-

mittee of the Legislative Finance Committee and have not received a recommendation for crea-

tion from the subcommittee.

The proposed license type seems to be similar to other already regulated professions and it is not

clear what the number of professionals to which the board would administer licenses would be.

The proposed bill would create a new misdemeanor: the violation of any provision of the Natu-

ropathic Medicine Practice Act including, but not limited to, providing the board with false in-

formation, practicing naturopathic medicine without a license, and failure to pay fees.

According to the Regulations and Licensing Department, the proposed board being administra-

tively attached to the Department would permit the board to rely on RLD staff to assist with the

development will permit the board to rely on RLD staff to assist with the development of the

program framework and the drafting and adopting of rules and regulations.

According to RLD, the creation of this board has not been reviewed through the Sunrise Review

Process.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

HB 921 does not include an appropriation, but creates a naturopathy practice fund and provide

for the state treasurer to invest the fund as other state funds are invested, and to credit to the fund

with returns from the investment. All balances in the fund would remain in the fund and would

not revert to the general fund.

House Bill 921 -- Page 3

A cap on proposed fees is proposed to be five hundred dollars ($500) for any application, exami-

nation, license, registration, inspection, renewal, penalty, reactivation or administrative fee. The

proposed language would allow the proposed board to establish fees by rule. The proposed fee

for a grandfathered licensee within the first year of the effective date of the act is three hundred

fifty dollars ($350).

The Regulations and Licensing Department estimates that the cost of setting up a naturopathy

board, drafting regulations, conducting hearings, and setting up a viable regulation program

would cost $100.0 thousand and a lesser amount on a recurring basis. RLD asserts that the esti-

mate includes funding for a half-time Office Clerk and Administrative support, travel expenses

for four board meetings, travel for rule hearings statewide, and any overhead costs associated

with setting up a new program. RLD continues that the applicant pool, as identified by this bill,

is significantly larger than the pool identified in HB 890 and would be large enough to generate

revenue to cover the majority of the costs of regulating naturopathy.

In order to generate $100 thousand the first year of existence, the board would have to license

286 professionals in naturopathy. No suggestion or citation of the expected number of licensees

has been provided at this time. RLD administers other boards which have budgets as small as

$27 thousand in revenues/year.

Continuing Appropriations

This bill creates a new fund and provides for continuing appropriations. The LFC objects to in-

cluding continuing appropriation language in the statutory provisions for newly created funds.

Earmarking reduces the ability of the legislature to establish spending priorities.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The Corrections Department reports that, in both the short term and the long term, this bill would

somewhat increase the administrative prison staff and probation staff because of the increasing

prison population and probation caseloads. The Department reports that it would be able to ab-

sorb the additional burden due to the fact that the numbers of persons convicted would be mini-

mal.

Because HB 921 attaches the Naturopathic Medicine Board administratively to the Regulation &

Licensing Department, enactment of the bill would have an administrative impact on the Boards

and Commissions program staff. The Department reports that the board being administratively

attached to the department would permit the board to rely on RLD staff to assist with the devel-

opment of the program framework and the drafting and adopting of rules and regulations.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

The proposed act and board seem to relate to similar practices as are covered by the Acupuncture

and Oriental Medicine Board and the Massage Therapy Board.

House Bill 921 and House Bill 890 cover similar material and have the same short title but con-

flict.

Proposed language involving renewal of licenses, duties of the board, longevity of board member

appointment, license requirements, definitions of a naturopathic doctor, description of how a na-

House Bill 921 -- Page 4

turopathic doctor should be designated, and the necessary requirements for accreditation of

schools differ between the two bills.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The Regulation & Licensing Department raises the concern that the act creates a very broad

scope of practice that overlaps many existing alternative health practices. The Department also

points out that, at the same time, the proposed language creates exemptions for existing alterna-

tive practices, provided that patients give informed consent. RLD asserts that the proposed Act

would not limit the public’s access to existing alternative therapies and remedies, and would

provide standards for the practice of Naturopathy.

ALTERNATIVES

The proposed Naturopathy Board could be proposed to the Sunset/Sunrise subcommittee of the

Legislative Finance Committee in order to gain support for its creation.

Another alternative would be to not regulate Naturopathic Medicine by not creating a Naturo-

pathic Medicine Act.

The alternative bill, HB 890 which would also provide for a Naturopathic Medicine Practice Act,

would not allow for “grandfathering” members of the profession, and would not exempt alterna-

tive health practitioners from the act.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL.

Professional licensure will not be enacted in New Mexico for the Naturopathic profession

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

1.

Why did the proposed board not participate in the Sunset/Sunrise Committee hearings

during the fall.

2.

How many Naturopathic doctors reside in New Mexico.

3.

How many Naturopathic doctors could not be considered professionals under another

act.

4.

Could Naturopathic doctors be licenses under the Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine

Practice Act; or could Acupucture and Oriental Medicine Practice Act be expanded to in-

clude the naturopathic medicine practice.

EM/lg