URGENT: Protect Access to Florida’s Alternative Healers!
Public Hearing Tomorrow January 24, 2024.
In person testimony needed!
Oppose House Bill 843, a restrictive licensing bill for Naturopathic Physicians. Please come and oppose this bill in order to protect herbalists, homeopaths, traditional naturopaths, ayurvedic practitioners, and many others.
Come to Tallahassee for the Public Hearing because testimony is in-person , and not virtual. The hearing is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday, January 24, 2024. The bill is Florida HB 843, “an act relating to naturopathic medicine” and will be heard in the Healthcare Regulation Subcommittee, Reed Hall (102 HOB).
Write your legislator NOW by clicking the take action button below and letting them know your concerns.
We need your in-person testimony and your written letters now to defeat this legislation and protect the access to the complementary and alternative health care you enjoy today! (Details below). The proposed restrictive bill will hurt those who seek access to alternative and complementary practitioners and their practitioners as well as the Florida economy.
What this Bill Does
HB 843 would criminalize the unlicensed practice of anything within the proposed definition of “the practice of naturopathic medicine” regardless of whether it poses a risk of harm to the public. The definition is so broad that it includes the use of such natural therapies as “lifestyle change, natural medicines, vitamins, minerals, dietary supplements, botanical medicines, medicinal fungi, and homeopathic medicines.” Thousands of citizens practice varying forms of naturopathic health care and naturopathic services. These healers practicing within the definition of the “practice of naturopathic medicine” would potentially be criminalized if this bill becomes law.
NOTE: This bill does not include proper criminal exemptions and safe harbor language for those complementary and alternative practitioners practicing who would not be licensed Naturopathic Physicians.
MORE REASONS TO OPPOSE FL HB 843 and WORK for A SAFE HARBOR LAW
There is no constitutional basis for regulating vocations that do not pose an imminent and significant risk of harm to the public. Many complementary and alternative health care practitioners provide services that do not rise to the level of harm requiring licensure, and many states have protected these practitioners from being criminalized by passing Safe Harbor practitioner exemption laws that keep them safely in the public domain for all citizens to access as they choose. Florida has no Safe Harbor law!
Take Action Steps:
Click here to email the subcommittee members to OPPOSE FL HB 843/845 because it hurts alternative healing practitioners and the clients they serve.
Click Here to Sign-up to Testify in Person during the public hearing on Wednesday, January 24, beginning at 8:00 am EST. You can also hand in a card available at the meeting to the employee of the Sergeant at Arms who will place your name on the list for testimony.
Click Here to learn how to testify in person or send in written testimony. There will be no virtual testimony allowed at the hearing. If you would like to register your opposition, sign-up with the link above. The employee of the Sergeant at Arms at the meeting will read your name, then if you are not present, will put your opposition onto the record.