Texas Legislation
June 2017 Update
Dear Friends,
We have just had an update that the Texas governor has signed into law the bill with the amendment.
Thank you for any efforts you may have made so far, but there is no need to continue writing to the Texas governor.
Please keep a very vigilant lookout in your own legislature, for any bills relating to health and education in particular. Both the amendment in Oregon, which was dropped from the bill, and this amendment in Texas, have been extensive in their potential effects on the rights of citizens to freedom of expression and freedom of choice, and their effects on the livelihoods of many practitioners. Yet rather than being proposed in a bill of their own, in plain sight, they have been tacked on to other bills, appearing to be about routine matters unrelated to the registration or regulation of practitioners. This means that without constant vigilance, vital opportunities to present our case and defend our position at Assembly and Senate committee public hearings, are all too easily missed.
It may, however, be a hopeful sign, that the people who promote exclusion and restrictive practice seem to prefer to work in the shadows, rather than seek open debate and proper discussion. Clearly they are not too confident of their case!
Our fight for our rights, and those of our clients, goes on.
With my best wishes to you all,
Dr. John Butler
President
American Council of Hypnotist Examiners
Dear Friends,
I am writing to you with regard to an education bill HB 3808 that is currently before the Governor of Texas, having passed through the Texas Assembly and Senate. This bill has attached to it an amendment that includes a flawed and very possibly unconstitutional (particularly by its scope) definition of psychology.
I am urging members not only in Texas but in other states to write respectfully to Governor Abbott, and ask others that you may know to do so also, registering your opinions that he should veto this bill with its flawed amendment. A very brief message can be sent by contacting the Governor’s office at https://gov.texas.gov/contact
It is the case that anyone can write to the Governor stating that in their opinion this is not a good amendment for the citizens of Texas. There is no need to go into details about the inadequacies in the definition of psychology prepared by the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists. It is enough at this point that a strong level of opposition is apparent. It may be a simple, single sentence message such as “Please do not support HB3808”.
We have only recently become aware of this “trojan horse” amendment, which has been tacked on to an education bill. A common tactic used to get such restrictive pieces of legislation through the legislature is by attaching them to non-controversial pieces of legislation so they escape scrutiny. Please be aware that you do not need to identify yourself as a hypnotherapist, counselor or therapist when registering your objection.
Hypnotists and hypnotherapists need to be aware that they can be targeted by the Boards if they are known to be actively objecting to these proposals, so this is left to your discretion. There is very little time to act as the deadline for veto is June 18th. The legal opinion is that there is only a very slight chance of getting this veto. Nevertheless, there is a need and a value to showing opposition to this amendment.
Regardless of what happens in the next few days this will not be end of the matter. Texas has seen some of the most severe legal attacks on hypnotists over many years because of its restrictive legislation, so this is not unfamiliar. For the last 2 years approximately, there has in fact not been a psychology statute in Texas because the previous definition of psychology was successfully struck down as unconstitutional in a landmark case Serafine v. Branaman, 810 F.3d 354 (5th Cir. 2016). The new definition of psychology is also flawed and, I believe, very probably also unconstitutional.
ACHE is actively fighting for health freedom rights in all states where these are restricted. ACHE cooperates with appropriate Health Freedom legislative initiatives and supports our members’ ability to pursue their work under First Amendment rights.
With my best wishes to you all,
Dr. John Butler
President
American Council of Hypnotist Examiners