Acupuncturists throughout South Carolina could be under new regulations if a bill introduced in the state legislature by a Lowcountry representative makes it through.

Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, prefiled a bill last month designed to remove the requirement that acupuncturists be referred and supervised by a doctor or dentist. Instead, the bill would allow acupuncturists to work independently under the regulation of a newly created advisory committee within the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

Herbkersman said he proposed the change to allow acupuncture to stand on its own. The bill may have an uphill battle because an identical bill passed in the 2004 General Assembly session was vetoed by Gov. Mark Sanford.

Many other states, Herbkersman said, allow acupuncturists to practice without a doctor's supervision. "We've got to be a little progressive here," he said.

At least one local acupuncturist doesn't see the need for the change.

Mickey Vos, an acupuncturist with Hilton Head Acupuncture, said working with doctors may help people realize acupuncture is a medicine.

"I think it helps establish acupuncture as a viable treatment," said Vos, who works with the Hilton Head Health and Wellness Center. "I like to see Western and Eastern medicine working together."

Herbkersman said he has undergone acupuncture treatment for sports injuries and the treatments have helped him.

"There's so many people that I know who get it," he said.

The treatments involve putting needles into specific points in the body, Vos said. The points are designed to release the blocked energy that creates the pain or illness.

Under the bill, acupuncturists would be regulated by the newly created Acupuncture Advisory Committee and would be required to be certified by the National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncturists and Oriental Medicine. They would be issued a license to practice in South Carolina for two years.

Acupuncturists could lose their license if they misrepresent themselves as a medical doctor, according to the bill.

The state legislature passed the same bill last year, but Sanford vetoed it. That bill included new rules for regulating cardiovascular invasive specialists and anatomic pathology services.

Herbkersman said the bill was filed last month with those two parts mistakenly attached, but he was having them removed.

"Each one of them have merit and have to stand on their own," he said.

Herbkersman said those other parts, which were added in the last few days of the legislative session before the bill was passed, were the reason the bill was vetoed.

However, in a message explaining his veto, Sanford said the way the state oversees acupuncturists works and more boards aren't needed to supervise the profession. He said only one action has been filed in South Carolina against an acupuncturists in the past 23 years.

Sanford's spokesman Will Folks said that if the bill was changed to satisfy the governor's concerns, the office might support it.