The Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners takes up rule review and proposed amendments to 22 TAC Chapter 184, the chapter its rules were moved into only last year, alongside a full licensing and enforcement docket of default orders, agreed orders and cases recommended for dismissal.
When: 9:00 AM CT, Friday, July 31, 2026
Where: 1801 Congress Ave., 9th Floor, Room 9.900, Austin
Governing body: Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners
Format: Full board meeting
Live video: Microsoft Teams videoconference · dial-in +1 512-596-3865, conference ID 469131993#
Full agenda: Posted agenda, July 31, 2026 (TMB) · Secretary of State notice, TRD 2026004356
The last item of substance on Friday’s agenda before adjournment is Item 23: consideration and approval of the minutes of the August 1, 2025 board meeting. That single line is the most revealing thing on the page. The Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners licenses and disciplines every acupuncturist in the state, and the business it will transact Friday — proposed orders, default orders, agreed orders, remedial plans, cases recommended for dismissal, appeals — has been accumulating since then.
Items 20 and 21 are the reason this meeting matters beyond the licensees on the docket. Both concern 22 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 184, the chapter that holds every rule governing acupuncture practice in Texas. Item 20 is framed as “rule review and proposed changes”; Item 21 goes further, describing “rule review and adoption of proposed amendments.” Under Texas Government Code §2001.039, every state agency must reassess each of its rules at least once every four years and decide whether the reasons for adopting them still exist. That review is not a formality — it is the moment when a rulebook gets reopened, and the only regularly scheduled one an agency gets.
Chapter 184 is newer than it sounds. In a January 2025 reorganization, the Medical Board renumbered its rules and moved acupuncture into Chapter 184; the acupuncture rules had previously lived in Chapter 183, which now holds physician assistants. The chapter runs from the board’s own structure (Subchapter A) through licensing and registration, including biennial renewal and continuing acupuncture education (Subchapter B), practice requirements (Subchapter C), board processes (Subchapter D), and acudetox specialists (Subchapter E).
That last subchapter is worth watching. Section 184.35 defines auricular acudetox narrowly — “an acupuncture treatment limited to the insertion of needles into five acupuncture points in the ear,” namely liver, kidney, lung, sympathetic and shen men. Under §184.36 the board certifies non-acupuncturists to perform it: licensed clinical social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, chemical dependency counselors, marriage and family therapists, licensed vocational and registered nurses, physician assistants and other board-approved licensees who complete an approved training course. Item 9E on Friday’s agenda is a report on acudetox training courses approved. Any change to who may perform acudetox, or on what training, would be made in Chapter 184.
The rest of the agenda is the ordinary machinery of a licensing board, and it is substantial. Item 6 covers referrals from the Texas Physician Health Program, the confidential, nondisciplinary program for impaired practitioners created in Texas Occupations Code Chapter 167 and administratively attached to the Medical Board, including a report on emergency referrals. Item 7 is applicants appearing in person about their eligibility for a license. Item 9 is the licensure report — acupuncture licenses issued, initial and renewed approved continuing-education providers, courses approved. Item 10 is the enforcement report, with subparts on warning letters, criminal case review, cases open more than a year, and temporary suspensions; the agenda notes there are no rehearing requests. Items 11 through 19 walk through follow-up files, dismissals, appeals, default orders, a proposal for decision, modification and termination requests, remedial plans, agreed orders and mediated settlement agreements. Item 5 is pending litigation.
The board’s composition is set by Texas Occupations Code §205.051: four acupuncturists with at least five years of Texas practice who are not physicians, two physicians experienced in acupuncture, and three public members. All nine seats are filled. As of May 2026 the Medical Board counted 1,294 acupuncture licensees — 1,027 in Texas and 267 out of state — with 895 of them graduates of the five Texas acupuncture schools. The report cautions that its totals now include licensees whose permits have expired but whose licenses have not yet been cancelled, so the count of actively practicing acupuncturists is somewhat lower.
Board members
- Donna S. Guthery, L.Ac., D.A.O.M., Bellaire — presiding officer (acupuncturist member)
- Grant E. Weidler, L.Ac., Spring — assistant presiding officer (acupuncturist member)
- Sheri J. Davidson, L.Ac., Houston — secretary-treasurer (acupuncturist member)
- Elisabeth Lee Carlson, L.Ac., Garland — acupuncturist member
- Ahmed Sheikh, D.O., Frisco — physician member
- Rey Ximenes, M.D., Spicewood — physician member
- Maria M. Garcia, Plano — public member
- Samantha A. Gonzalez, J.D., San Antonio — public member
- Deborah J. “Debbie” Weems, Burnet — public member
Roster: Texas Medical Board — Acupuncture Board