The bill creates a statutory framework allowing licensed chiropractors to register as "animal chiropractic practitioners" if they hold specified certifications, and it limits unregistered chiropractors from delivering animal chiropractic care unless supervised by a veterinarian. It defines key terms, requires board registration, and obligates registered practitioners to limit treatment to species for which they are trained, keep medical records, and obtain a signed application-for-care that informs owners about the chiropractor’s non-veterinarian status.
The statute also directs the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners to publish a public list of registered animal chiropractic practitioners, permits the board to adopt implementing regulations (with consultation from the Veterinary Medical Board on certain matters), and expressly clarifies that a veterinarian is not liable for the actions or omissions of an animal chiropractic practitioner who complies with the statute. The measure reshapes the boundary between chiropractic and veterinary practice and creates new administrative duties for regulators and chiropractors.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill defines "animal chiropractic" and conditions who may perform it: only chiropractors who register with the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners and hold certain certifications may practice without veterinarian supervision; unregistered chiropractors may provide care only under a supervising veterinarian. It requires an owner-signed application-for-care, three-year medical record retention, and a publicly available registry of practitioners.
Who It Affects
Licensed chiropractors seeking to treat animals, credentialing organizations that certify animal chiropractic, the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners, and the Veterinary Medical Board are directly affected. Animal owners, veterinary practices that coordinate care, and insurers may also experience downstream effects.
Why It Matters
The bill creates a regulated pathway for non-veterinarian manual therapy on animals, formally recognizing a new cross-disciplinary practice and allocating regulatory authority to a chiropractic board rather than to veterinary licensing alone. That choice shifts oversight responsibilities, affects liability exposure, and sets administrative and documentation obligations that clinics will need to operationalize.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The law starts by defining the practice it governs: "animal chiropractic" is hands-on manipulation of an animal’s spine, joints, or soft tissues intended to address joint dysfunction. It limits who can call themselves an animal chiropractic practitioner to licensed chiropractors who hold a current credential from named veterinary chiropractic organizations or any other credentialing body the chiropractic board later recognizes.
That creates a two-part threshold: state licensure as a chiropractor plus a recognized animal-focused certification.
A chiropractor who wants to treat animals without a veterinarian present must register with the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners and may only treat species or types of animals on which they have received training. The statute allows registered practitioners to work without veterinarian supervision, but it bars non-registered chiropractors from representing themselves as animal chiropractic practitioners or practicing animal chiropractic unless they are working under a veterinarian’s supervision.Before any hands-on care, the practitioner must secure a completed application-for-care form signed by the owner or agent.
The form must explain that the chiropractor is not a veterinarian, that animal chiropractic is an alternative therapy meant to be used alongside veterinary care, and must ask whether the animal has seen a veterinarian in the prior 12 months and whether a veterinary diagnosis exists. The chiropractor must keep a medical record for each animal for at least three years and provide it to the animal’s veterinarian on request.On regulation and oversight, the bill keeps primary regulatory authority with the chiropractic board: it must comply with existing chiropractic regulations and can adopt new rules to implement the article.
For standards of animal care and credentialing recognition, the board must consult the Veterinary Medical Board and share proposed regulation text; the Veterinary Medical Board will vote informally but cannot block the chiropractic board’s rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act. Finally, the statute clarifies that veterinarians retain their practice rights and are not liable for compliant actions or omissions by registered animal chiropractic practitioners.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill conditions unsupervised animal chiropractic on two credentials: a California chiropractic license plus a certification from the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association, the International Veterinary Chiropractic Association, or another board-recognized organization.
A chiropractor must register with the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners to practice animal chiropractic without veterinarian supervision and may limit treatment to animal types they are trained on.
The owner-signed application-for-care must state that the chiropractor is not a veterinarian, state that animal chiropractic is an alternative to veterinary care, ask whether the animal saw a veterinarian in the prior 12 months, and request any veterinary diagnosis.
Practitioners must retain medical records for at least three years and must provide those records to an animal’s veterinarian upon request.
The chiropractic board must consult the Veterinary Medical Board on regulations regarding standards of care and credential recognition, but it may proceed with rulemaking regardless of the Veterinary Medical Board’s informal vote.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Definitions: scope and credential baseline
This section sets the vocabulary the rest of the article uses. It defines "animal" as any nonhuman living animal and defines "animal chiropractic" as manual manipulation therapies targeted at vertebral, joint, or musculoskeletal dysfunction. It also fixes credentialing expectations by naming two professional associations whose certifications satisfy the statute (with room for the board to add others later by regulation). For implementers, these definitions determine the boundary of regulated activity and the minimum documentary evidence a chiropractor must hold to qualify.
Prohibition on unregistered practice and title use
This subsection makes it an offense for a chiropractor who has not registered under the new article to practice animal chiropractic or represent themselves to the public as an animal chiropractic practitioner unless they are working under a veterinarian’s supervision. The practical effect is a title-protection and practice-bar on non-registrants that creates clear compliance exposure for chiropractors who currently treat animals without certification or registration.
Registration, treatment limits, and independent practice
Registered chiropractors must file whatever application the board prescribes and can provide animal chiropractic without veterinarian oversight—but only for animal types they have training on. The species-or-training limitation forces practitioners to document the scope of their competency and shields the board from claims that registration grants blanket authority to treat any animal. It preserves an avenue for collaborative practice while allowing independent operation within defined competencies.
Owner consent and medical record obligations
The bill requires a completed application-for-care form before any evaluation or treatment and lists minimum content: the chiropractor’s non-veterinarian status, a statement that chiropractic care is an adjunct to veterinary care, whether the animal has seen a veterinarian in the past year, and any existing veterinary diagnosis. Practitioners must keep medical records for at least three years and provide them to the animal’s veterinarian on request. These mechanics create documentation trails useful for continuity of care, regulatory oversight, and, potentially, liability inquiries.
Public registry, non-preemption of veterinary practice, and vet liability carve-out
The board must publish a registry of registered animal chiropractic practitioners, which enables owners and veterinarians to verify credentials. The article explicitly states it does not restrict veterinarians from practicing veterinary medicine and contains an express clause that the animal’s veterinarian is not liable for compliant acts or omissions of a registered animal chiropractic practitioner. That liability shift reduces exposure for veterinarians but raises questions about third-party recourse and who bears responsibility when care crosses professional lines.
Regulatory authority and Veterinary Medical Board consultation
The chiropractic board remains the primary regulator and may adopt necessary regulations. For standards of animal care and the list of approved credentialing organizations, the board must consult the Veterinary Medical Board and supply proposed regulation text; the Veterinary Medical Board will take an informal vote at its next meeting but cannot veto the chiropractic board’s actions. The procedure creates a formal consultative channel but leaves final regulatory control with the chiropractic board, which is a significant design choice for interprofessional oversight.
Veterinarian-supervised practice exception
A chiropractor working under a veterinarian’s supervision may practice animal chiropractic without registering under this article. That carve-out preserves traditional supervisory arrangements—commonly used where veterinarians retain clinical control—and gives practices a compliance pathway for teams that include chiropractors who either lack the specified certification or prefer to operate under veterinary authority.
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Explore Healthcare in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Certified chiropractors who want to treat animals: They gain an explicit, regulated pathway to practice without veterinarian supervision if they register and can advertise their services publicly via a state-maintained registry.
- Veterinarians (limited benefit) — the statute preserves veterinarians’ independent scope of practice and removes liability for compliant acts or omissions of registered animal chiropractic practitioners, reducing malpractice exposure in collaborative settings.
- Animal owners seeking alternative musculoskeletal therapies: The public registry, required consent form, and recordkeeping obligations provide owners clearer information about practitioner credentials and a documented treatment history to share with veterinarians.
Who Bears the Cost
- State Board of Chiropractic Examiners: The board must set up a registration process, maintain a public registry, evaluate credentialing organizations, and undertake rulemaking in consultation with the Veterinary Medical Board, creating administrative and fiscal workload.
- Chiropractors without specified certifications: Those who currently treat animals but lack recognized credentials will either need to obtain certification, register and limit practice to trained species, or practice only under veterinarian supervision—reducing their market flexibility.
- Veterinary Medical Board and veterinary practices: The Veterinary Medical Board must participate in consultation on regulations and may see increased requests for records and coordination; veterinary clinics may incur administrative time to review chiropractic records and to supervise chiropractors who operate under veterinary oversight.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is whether to expand non-veterinarian providers’ autonomy to increase owner access to animal chiropractic care while trusting a chiropractic board to police safety and competence, or to prioritize veterinary control to protect animal health; the bill resolves that dilemma by granting professional autonomy to certified chiropractors but defers key standards and enforcement details to future regulation, shifting risk into the regulatory implementation phase.
The statute reassigns primary oversight of a therapy for animals from veterinary licensing to the chiropractic board, which raises implementation questions. The chiropractic board must evaluate non-veterinary credentialing organizations and may adopt standards of care, but the bill does not set minimum training hours, species-specific competency requirements, or objective clinical outcomes to guide those regulations.
That leaves substantive standards to future rulemaking, creating a period in which credential recognition and quality controls could vary widely.
The liability architecture also creates tension. The bill relieves veterinarians of liability for an animal chiropractic practitioner’s acts or omissions when those acts comply with the article, but it does not expressly state which party is liable for negligent or harmful treatment—nor does it address malpractice insurance requirements for animal chiropractic practitioners.
Similarly, while record-sharing is required, the statute does not set timelines for "timely" production, nor does it specify enforcement mechanisms for noncompliance or reporting obligations for adverse events. These gaps could produce inconsistent practices and complicate dispute resolution.
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