Steve Wiegand: No issue's too messy for Capitol

You might think California legislators have enough on their plates without worrying about enemas.

More specifically, licensing people who give other people enemas, for money.

You might be wrong. And unless you were in Room 447 at the Capitol on Tuesday morning, when the Assembly Business and Professions Committee heard AB 311, you missed an entertaining look into how things get done in the Legislature.

Until last week, AB 311 was all about allowing over-the-counter sales of hearing aids. Then Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally gutted the bill and rewrote it.

As rewritten, the measure proposed to regulate California's colon hydrotherapy industry.

For those of you unfamiliar with colon hydrotherapy, it consists, according to a committee analysis, of "a session where water enters a client's bowels, softening and loosening waste, and creating the reflex for evacuation. The client's colon evacuates through normal peristalsis."

They use various devices for this, and it can cost anywhere from $75 to $100 per session. People apparently do it to feel better about things.

Under a 2002 law, passed unanimously by the Legislature, it's apparently legal for just about anyone to offer this procedure, as long as the client is the only person who actually inserts anything.

But the International Association of Colon Hydrotherapy (IACH) wants the state to set up a licensing procedure that would set specific minimum training requirements for colon hydrotherapists.

They said they want this to protect consumers, although a cynic might suggest it may also have something to do with limiting competition.

Anyway, the IACH went to Dymally, and the venerable Democrat from Compton put together a proposal to create the Board of Colon Hydrotherapy.

The bill, which Dymally amended Jan. 7, called for a panel of "five practicing colon hydrotherapists of integrity and ability," appointed by the governor.

It also set a bunch of standards for being licensed and operating a colon-cleaning business. The details ranged from how many hours of instruction license applicants would need (100) to how many parking spaces the joint would need (2).

It also required that toilet facilities be on the same floor as the treatment room, which seems like a good idea.

Now, because legislative rules require all bills to be out of policy committees by tomorrow, it was pretty vital that the Biz and Professions panel act expeditiously.

But several committee members were upset that they had little time to think about the subject. Plus, representatives of the California Medical Association and the state Medical Board said they were against licensing a procedure of dubious medical benefits.

So Dymally offered to gut the bill again and put colon hydrotherapy regulation under the Medical Board. But Linda Whitney, the board's lobbyist, said no thanks, the board didn't want it.

Then committee Chairman Mike Eng offered to move the bill to "interim study," which is a legislative euphemism for killing it, only in a nice way.

Then Dymally complained that he had been treated poorly, because the the committee's consultant had failed to give him a heads-up that the bill was in trouble. He reminded the committee that it's accepted practice to take "author's amendments" at the last minute to keep bills moving.

"I am embarrassed about the whole thing," Dymally grumped.

Finally, a committee member moved passage of the bill with the provision the state Medical Board would oversee things. But the bill died on a 5-5 vote.

And the committee, having done its doody, moved on.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Steve Wiegand, (916) 321-1076. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/wiegand.