During the last several years there has been a movement in California to institute regulation of massage practitioners at the state level (the State already regulates private massage schools). This movement has been controversial. Some massage industry insiders feel that the proposed bills are based on arbitrary standards that lack supporting evidence. Many people engaged in other types of bodywork have been concerned that the legislation will attempt to regulate them even though they do not practice massage. On the other hand, many practitioners of massage are outraged by the discriminatory and demeaning requirements of some city and county governments, which can include, for example, restrooms and showers, tests for syphilis and gonorrhea, peep holes for law enforcement officers, and keeping doors unlocked to permit law enforcement officers to enter the workplace unannounced. Many of the municipal codes that regulate massage businesses in California were designed to regulate not the legitimate profession of massage therapy but the sex trade (these codes, which may refer to breasts, genitals, drugs and alcohol, are sometimes referred to as “prostitution codes”). Since the current proposed bill will supposedly preempt these local codes, many massage professionals in the state that are subjected to these codes support the bill.
In 2003, Assembly Member Kehoe introduced Assembly Bill 1388, the purpose of which was to “establish the Board of Massage Therapy in the Department of Consumer Affairs to license and regulate massage therapists, as defined and massage practitioners, as defined.” The bill did not pass. Click here to view the bill.
In 2005, Senator Figueroa introduced Senate Bill 412, which did not pass. Click here to view the bill and information from professional massage organizations whose members would have been subject to the provisions of the bill.
Senate Bill 731 was introduced by Senator Oropeza in 2007. The legislation will create a private non-profit Massage Therapy Organization empowered by the State to issue certification to massage professionals using, initially, a two-tier system: a Massage Practitioner level for those with 250 hours of training (the Massage Practitioner level will be phased out December 31, 2013) and a Massage Therapist level for those with 500 hours of training. The certification will be “voluntary,” meaning that you can still practice massage without the state certification if you meet local business-licensing requirements, but you will then have to abide by the onerous municipal codes. Click here to view the current version of the bill.
