Bills would provide business oversight

DENVER - Faith Christensen graduated from a four-year college of naturopathic medicine, practiced as a naturopathic doctor for 3½ years in Seattle, then moved to Colorado 1½ years ago only to find that she could not be licensed as a medical provider here.

Christensen operates an office in Manitou Springs where she blends classical medical training with knowledge of how herbs and Chinese medicine can help the body. She’s found herself limited in what she can do because she’s not considered a doctor.

What’s more, she finds some people cast a skeptical eye at her because others who have done nothing more than take an online course can bill themselves as naturopathic healers as well.

House Bill 1192 would license and regulate naturopathic doctors, costing professionals like Christensen a little more in fees but specifying that people who use the title have completed a degree and have a certain amount of experience. Christensen said she is in favor of the measure, as are all the collegeeducated naturopathic doctors she knows.

As a slew of bills establishing or increasing regulation on 22 industries make their way through the General Assembly this year, a number of legislators, mostly Republicans, say the state is becoming over-regulated. Regulation stifles competition and creates a “medieval guild system” where only a few can practice in certain occupations, according to Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs.

Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, believes attention is being paid to regulation this year because former Gov. Bill Owens made clear that he did not favor such legislation.

While some cry “nanny state,” a majority of legislators are saying the measures might save a life.

“These are things that are important for the life, health and safety of our citizens that need to be regulated,” Fitz-Gerald said.

Five professions that could be licensed for the first time in Colorado if bills continue to advance: athletic trainers, landscape architects, mortgage brokers, naturopathic doctors and plumbing contractors.

It isn’t just professions that are being targeted by new regulations this year. Previously unregulated activities have at least been part of the debate.

One unsuccessful bill would have required teens who use tanning beds to get permission slips from parents or doctors, and a measure still making its way through the Senate would require motorcycle riders under age 18 to wear a helmet designed to certain specifications.

Some occupations, like luxury limousine operators and moving company workers, find themselves coming under more scrutiny, such as stricter background criminal checks or qualifications for their licenses. Others, like audiologists and wholesale food manufacturers, are likely to see their regulations continue beyond the date they were set to expire.

Rep. Jeanne Labuda, D-Denver, said she sponsored the naturopathic doctors bill after reading about the case of Brian O’Connell, a Wheat Ridge naturopath practitioner who received an online degree and was charged with 14 counts after one of his patients died. She doubts all professions need regulation but said she likes to look at the bills on a case-to-case basis.

But Republican leaders have resisted many of the measures, saying that they block people from operating a business and put government limits on jobs that, even if performed poorly, would hurt no one. The Legislature killed five of the bills so far this year, including an often mocked measure that would have defined and given title protection to people calling themselves “art therapists.”

“We’re trying to replace human common sense and parental responsibility with governmental intervention,” said Rep. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs.

“In my district, I think people are more concerned with government encroaching on their rights than neighbors and professions and businesses.”

McElhany has taken considerable grief from his colleagues for carrying a bill that would create a database of registered interior designers and would specify the qualifications to get onto the database.

McElhany insists, though, that he is simply trying to make life easier for interior designers who now have to show qualifications to pull building permits but would be able to just show their place on the database under his bill. If Gov. Bill Ritter signs such bills, more could come, though.

“We have 100 diverse members in this body, all of them who are allowed to bring five bills of their choosing, and I don’t know how they choose those bills,” Fitz-Gerald said. “I think you hone in on the things that are of utmost importance to you.”

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Here’s a look at what professions the General Assembly may regulate this year.

Proposed licenses under consideration:

Athletic trainers, landscape architects, mortgage brokers, naturopathic doctors and plumbing contractors

Professions under consideration for stricter regulations:

Conveyance mechanics, debt-management service providers, hemodialysis technicians, interior designers, luxury limousine operators and moving-company workers

Professions proposed for continued regulation past anticipated time of ending regulation:

Audiologists and hearing-aid providers, and wholesale food manufacturers

Professions getting stricter requirements under bills that have passed:

Building contractors, motor vehicle transport carriers, physical education teachers and tutors

Proposed licenses that have failed:

Art therapists, cigarette manufacturers, importers and wholesalers, mortuary-science practitioners, private investigators, and retail cigarette and tobacco sellers