While we remain excited about our major legislative victory this past year, we have not let our defenses down. We continue to guard against adverse government activity and remain proactive in our government advocacy efforts.

In early January, the Illinois legislature convened a new 2-year General Assembly. Already, over 6,000 bills, thousands of amendments and hundreds of resolutions have been filed in the legislature. The legislature is now meeting every week, considering new statutes for Illinois and amending existing ones.

Each year, the Association, through our lobbyists, vigorously monitors every piece of paper filed in the General Assembly (bills, resolutions, amendments, conference committee reports) as well as the actions of the Governor's executive offices, in particular the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, and the actions of legislative committees for governmental decisions that may impact the acupuncture community.

Our primary objective is to guard against any adverse change to our licensure law, the Illinois Acupuncture Practice Act. We have been successful in guarding against any change to the Act which has not been supported by the Association.

Amending our licensure act, however, is not the only means of harming the acupuncture community. For example, in past years we have defeated efforts by naprapaths and nurses that would have severely weakened our profession by allowing nurses and naprapths to practice acupuncture without complying with any of the rigorous training set forth in the Act.

Our lobbyists have already alerted us to several potential bills of concern during this busy 2005 legislative season, including a bill to license naturopaths in Illinois. While we have no objection to the licensure of naturopaths, the bill as introduced would have given naturopaths the right to perform acupuncture with no training. With the session only now nearing its procedural halfway point, the need for continued vigilance grows.

Among our proactive advocacy efforts, we continue to work on clarifying the legality of acupuncturists using herbs in their practices. Please continue to support the legislative work of IAF by joining one of Illinois' membership groups; the ISAA or one of the Asian groups: AAAA, CKAAA, KAAA.

We are a young profession, and need a continued presence in Springfield to realize the tremendous potential of acupuncture in Illinois and to protect our current status. .