Following is a summary of key bills that influence your access to CAM.
To view any of these bills that have passed into law (OCG) on the internet, visit http://www.legis.state.ga.us

Senate Bill 385 - BioTerrorism Bill which included mandatory vaccination.
Much to our chagrin, this bill passed without our hoped for amendments.

Our hoped-for amendments:
(1) informed consent - so you know the ingredients, hazards, side effects and proper use of a vaccine or treatment.
(2) written procedures for exemptions - now, the religious exemption will not be honored during emergencies and the only written exemption is for a disabled child. All other actions are by medical discretion.
(3) a guarantee of due process for anyone affected by this process, and related to this, due process for damages to eliminate the blanked legal immunity in the current bill.

Overview of the legislation:
sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 relates to animal diseases

section 7 would force your Physician, Chiropractor, Pharmacist, Nurse, or Lab to TURN YOU IN for the simple SUSPICION of a dangerous disease.
section 8 allows property to be decontaminated or DESTROYED WITHOUT COMPENSATION
section 9 COMPULSORY VACCINATIONS with NO EXCEPTIONS - medical or religious (CDC recommends ARREST upon refusal)
section 10 compulsory quarantine or isolation

section 14 adds "public health emergency" as a reason to declare a state of emergency
section 16 grants LEGAL IMMUNITY for all involved - therefore total unaccountability
section 17 allows provisional regulations to be enacted without oversight or public notice

Freedom Legislation - did not pass

Freedom of Access Legislation was not introduced. CAMA had been working with a task force of MAG (Medical Association of GA) to finalize the language for introduction. MAG will accept nothing short of a regulatory board and insisted that lay midwives and colon therapists remain felons. We could not support a bill with these limitations.

Veterinarian Bill - defeated

HB 719 had been favorably reported by the Agriculture Committee and went to the floor of the House. It would have restricted the practice of all forms of alternative medicine for animals, such as homeopathy, acupuncture, botanicals, and spinal adjustments to Veterinarians only. The original bill stated that “To 'practice veterinary medicine' means: To diagnose, treat, correct, change, relieve, or prevent animal disease, deformity, defect, injury, or other physical or mental conditions behavioral disease, … including but not limited to acupuncture, animal dentistry, homeopathic or manual or mechanical adjustment procedures, botanical medicine, physical or massage therapy …” HB719 would have made the practice of these modalities by alternatives practitioners illegal. They later added an amendment to delete massage therapy in the definition. If this bill had passed, CAM practitioners (except massage therapists) would have become lawbreakers.

On February 18, 2002 a sister bill was introduced in the Senate by Senator Ragan. SB 473 also restricting CAM practice to veterinarians only by defining the practice of veterinary medicine to be : "To diagnose, treat, correct, change, relieve, or prevent animal disease, deformity, defect, injury, or other physical or mental conditions behavioral disease, including the prescription, or administration, or dispensing of any drug, medicine, biologic, apparatus, application, anesthetic, or other therapeutic or diagnostic substance or technique on, for, or to any animal, including but not limited to acupuncture, animal dentistry, homeopathic or manual or mechanical adjustment procedures, administer rabies vaccine, botanical medicine, physical or massage therapy, surgery, diagnostic veterinary pathology, implantation of microchips or similar devices, any manual, mechanical, biological, or chemical procedure used testing for pregnancy testing, or for correcting sterility or infertility, or to render advice or recommendations with regard to any of the above." If this bill had passed, CAM practitioners (including massage therapists) would have become lawbreakers.

Although it was defeated in the 2001-2002 session, it passed in the 2003-2004 session.

Massage & Somatic Therapies - defeated

HB 733 was introduced to license massage therapists. I believe it was based on an inaccurate assumption stated in the bills introduction; “The General Assembly recognizes that the practice of massage is potentially dangerous to the public … regulations are necessary to protect the public from unqualified practitioners. It is therefore deemed necessary in the interest of public health, safety, and welfare to regulate the practice of massage in this state…” HB 733 went before the Georgia Occupational Regulation and Review Council GOORC last summer. They agreed that there was minimal if any risk of harm to the public and did not recommend that it be pursued in the legislature.

Chiropractors & Acupuncture - did not pass

SB 156 would have expanded the scope of chiropractors to include acupuncture after additional training. Regulation and testing would be through their professional association rather than through the rules and testing set up last year through the medical board. It never got out of the Health & Human Services Committee.

Hypnotherapists - passed in a changed version

SB 119 passed the Senate and was assigned to the House Health & Ecology Committee. Representative Childers, chair, assigned it to GORRC for study last summer and GORRC did not recommend that it be pursued in the legislature. It could have jeopardized hypnotherapy practice as it defined the practice of mental health therapy broadly. "'Mental health therapy' means the performance of that specialty which evaluates and treats persons with behavioral, affective, cognitive, and interpersonal problems or conditions, or seeks to prevent such problems or conditions, or seeks to enhance behavior and mental health."