Board advances draft 2026 sunset review, staff to finalize report for November review

The California Board of Naturopathic Medicine spent the Oct. 8 meeting reviewing and editing its draft 2026 sunset review report, directing staff to finish outstanding data tables and narrative sections and return the draft to the board for approval at its November meeting.

The board’s draft consolidates updated licensing and enforcement data, a newly commissioned survey of former licensees, and a set of newly identified statutory and administrative issues the board recommends the Legislature consider. Rebecca, board staff member, told members the fund-condition and licensing tables have been completed with figures confirmed by the Department of Consumer Affairs budget office and that she will circulate final narrative text to the board’s advisory reviewers before the next meeting.

Why it matters: the sunset review is the board’s formal report to the Legislature assessing statutory and operational issues, and it shapes any recommended law changes or administrative follow-up. The board’s narrative and attachments will be submitted to the Legislature in early January 2026, per the board’s timetable.

What the board decided and directed

- The board directed staff to complete missing narratives tied to newly prepared tables (fund condition, licensing, enforcement) and circulate the text to the data governance/sunset advisory reviewers (Dr. Satara Theis and Dr. Bruce Davidson) for technical review within the week. Rebecca said the audit-related tables and narratives would be completed and returned to the advisory reviewers before the next full meeting.

- The board will review the revised draft on Nov. 19, 2025, and the publications/design draft on Dec. 3, 2025, with final submission to the Legislature targeted for the first week of January 2026.

Substantive points raised during the review

- Staffing and fund changes: Rebecca noted an expenditure increase in fiscal year 2023–24 associated with establishing an enforcement position the last sunset authorized, and she said staff queried the budget office about a sharp rise in pro rata charges during those years.

- Licensing trends and modernizing scope: the draft includes a table correlating license-population changes with legislative milestones (fiscal years 2014–25). Board member Dr. Bruce Davidson said the table shows a pronounced rise in applications around the 2015–2018 legislative push (SB 538) and recommended the table remain until survey results can confirm causal factors. Rebecca said a separate survey of former California licensees will close Oct. 22 and its results will be incorporated into the report.

- State exam validation: staff tightened the draft language explaining the board’s reliance on the North American licensing exam (NPLEX) and the cost and duplication that would result from commissioning an independent state occupational analysis. The draft notes that an OPES review was estimated to exceed $50,000 and recommends that the Legislature recognize the national OA as meeting statutory requirements under Business and Professions Code section 139.

- Online practice and unlicensed activity: the draft will include a new section on online/unlicensed activity. The board and a Senate staff representative, Yafana Lamar of the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee, discussed that one new question in the sunset template asks how the board addresses online practices outside California; board staff said most unlicensed activity the board pursues is discovered via online advertisements and websites.

Quotes

"The tables have been completed; I'll send them to the advisory reviewers and then bring a revised draft back to the board," Rebecca, board staff member, said as the board prepared to finalize the draft.

"That one example around the SB 538 period looks like a clear effect," Dr. Bruce Davidson said about the license-population table, urging the board to retain the table pending survey results.

Next steps and timeline

Rebecca said she will deliver a near-complete report to the data governance and sunset advisory reviewers by the end of next week; the board will consider the revised draft on Nov. 19 and the publications/design draft on Dec. 3. The staff aims to submit the final report to the Legislature in early January 2026.

Ending

The board paused the sunset review only after scheduling the advisory review and two board-level review dates; no formal regulatory changes were adopted at the Oct. 8 meeting and the board took no final legislative positions at this session.