AN ACT to increase membership on the acupuncture licensing board from six to nine.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 90‑453(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Membership. – The Acupuncture Licensing Board shall consist of nine members, three appointed by the Governor and six by the General Assembly. The six members appointed by the General Assembly shall be licensed to practice acupuncture in this State and shall not be licensed physicians under Article 1 of this Chapter. The persons initially appointed to those positions by the General Assembly need not be licensed at the time of selection but shall have met the qualifications under G.S. 90‑455(a)(4) and (5). Of the Governor's three appointments, one shall be a layperson who is not employed in a health care profession; one shall be a physician licensed under Article 1 of this Chapter who has successfully completed 200 hours of Category I American Medical Association credit in medical acupuncture training as recommended by the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture; and one shall be licensed to practice acupuncture in this State. Of the members to be appointed by the General Assembly, three shall be appointed upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and three shall be appointed upon the recommendation of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. The members appointed by the General Assembly must be appointed in accordance with G.S. 120‑121.
Members serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority. Vacancies shall be filled by the original appointing authority and the term shall be for the balance of the unexpired term. A vacancy by a member appointed by the General Assembly must be filled in accordance with G.S. 120‑122."
SECTION 2.  Notwithstanding the provisions of G.S. 90‑453(a), as enacted in Section 1 of this act, the member appointed by the Governor who shall be licensed to practice acupuncture in this State and the two members appointed by the General Assembly, one upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and one upon the recommendation of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, shall each serve a three‑year term commencing July 1, 2007, and ending June 30, 2010. Members described in this section shall serve for the terms for which they were appointed and until their successors are appointed and qualified.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 26th day of July, 2007.

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		 Beverly E. Perdue
	 President of the Senate

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		 Joe Hackney
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

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		 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2007