SB 1003

This bill provides for licensure of massage therapy or bodywork therapy establishments and makes other changes related to the regulation and practice of massage therapy or bodywork therapy.

The bill requires an establishment providing massage therapy or bodywork therapy to obtain a license granted by the Massage Therapy and Bodywork Therapy Affiliated Credentialing Board. The bill defines massage therapy or bodywork therapy establishment to mean a place of business held out to the public where massage therapy or bodywork therapy is regularly practiced or proposed to be regularly practiced, as further established by the board, but specifically including mobile massage therapy or bodywork therapy services and massage therapy or bodywork therapy schools. The bill exempts from the licensure requirement locations to which a licensed massage therapist or bodywork therapist who operates an out-call massage service travels and health care facilities providing massage therapy or bodywork therapy that are licensed or approved by the Department of Health Services. The bill provides for three types of establishment licenses: 1) a sole practitioner license, which entitles a single massage therapist or bodywork therapist to practice massage therapy or bodywork therapy from the location designated in the license; 2) a mobile massage therapy or bodywork therapy license, which entitles one or more massage therapists or bodywork therapists to practice massage therapy or bodywork therapy or offer to do so from the vehicle, mobile unit, or mobile facility or structure covered by the license; and 3) a multiple practitioner license, which entitles two or more massage therapists or bodywork therapists

to practice massage therapy or bodywork therapy from the location designated in the license.

The bill includes a number of requirements to be satisfied in order for an establishment to be granted a license, including that a responsible manager be designated, that the responsible manager pass an examination on state laws and administrative rules governing massage therapy and bodywork therapy, that each owner and responsible manager not have a disqualifying criminal record, and that the establishment pass a prelicensing inspection, if required by the board.

The bill includes a number of requirements for licensed establishments and requires the board to establish standards of professional conduct in massage therapy establishments and minimum standards and requirements concerning the maintenance, equipment, plans, and specifications for licensed massage therapy or bodywork therapy establishments as they relate to the public health, safety, and welfare, which may allow for inspections, in addition to those required for initial licensure or renewal of a license, in response to a complaint about an establishment or massage therapist or bodywork therapist.

The bill also modifies a number of requirements, prohibitions, and grounds for professional discipline that exist under current law, including adding references to human trafficking to provisions on mandatory reporting, automatic revocation, and disqualifying offenses, specifically prohibiting any individual from having sexual contact or sexual intercourse on the premises of a massage therapy establishment or from practicing massage therapy or bodywork therapy in the nude or in clothing designed to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of a client or other individual, and making other modifications to account for the licensing and regulation of establishments under the bill.