Senate Passes Staton’s Penalty Increase for Illegal Massage Parlors

Senate Bill 364, a bill that amends the Massage Therapy Practice Act to give the Board of Massage Therapy more power to regulate unlicensed practitioners as well as those who hire them, and clarifies power of municipalities to further regulate our practices has passed the Senate this morning 51-0. It moves on to the House for approval.

http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/senate/pressreleases.htm

SB 364 Update from the Georgia Chapter

"The author of Georgia SB 364 Senator Staton has stated to our lobbyist the he will introduce a friendly amendment on the Senate floor to achieve this for our profession. The next step is for the bill to go to the floor and then on to the House. We are watching this situation."

Source: http://amtaga.org/government_relations

Georgia Senate Bill 364 passes out of Senate Judiciary Committee: Could pass Senate as early as Wednesday

SB 364 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning with the support of the Georgia Municipal Association. The bill updates our massage therapy practice act to include more severe penalties for violations, gives the board more power over unlicensed activity rather than just for licensees, and 'clarifies' the rights of the cities and counties to regulate massage therapy establishments. (State law already allows municipalities to regulate establishment licenses, and good law writing does not recommend repeating laws in more than one section of code.) Two massage therapists attended the meeting, myself and Jane Johnson, both of whom participated in passing the original practice act. The committee appears to have made no amendments to the original bill.

This bill is part of a drive add language that helps cities crack down on prostitution and human trafficking. You will find no stronger advocate than me for getting the parlor out of massage. My fear that without limits, it will also encourage cities to bring back the old restrictive parlor laws that included $2000 business license fees, same sex only massage, prohibited massage on children, expensive annual police investigations, mandated unlocked offices, viewing windows into the treatment room, extra certifications and memberships, and prohibition against stand alone massage practices.

Without some sort of limit on municipal jurisdiction, perhaps tying it to the business licenses of other licensed or healthcare professionals, we could be revisiting those difficult days of a patchwork of qualifications for massage therapists to practice. The Illinois code, for example, limits the right to regulate massage therapy to the state.

There are two similar anti-prostitution bills also working their way through the House and Senate, HB Bill 1256 and SB 304.

I could not find a schedule for the Senate General Session, so I called the Secretary of the Senate Office. She told me there was no web published calendar but referred me to a house resolution that did not seem to contain a schedule. She did go on to say that if the committee passed it this morning, the report of the committee will be read the following session, which starts this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. At the next meeting will be the 'Second reader,' Tuesday earliest, since there is no general session on Friday or Monday. Wednesday will be the first session the Senate can pass it.

You can find your Georgia State Senator by district, by name, or by your home address. You can also find out when committees meet by consulting the Senate or House calendar. I suspect once the Senate passes it, it will be referred to committee by the House before it reaches their floor. If someone would like to clarify that, I would appreciate it.

If you would like to contact your senator and give your feedback on this bill, you would need to contact him or her before next Wednesday. There is an update on the AMTA-Georgia Chapter website, or you can contact your group, ABMP or IMA, for more guidance. There is also a discussion group on ABMP's Massage and Bodywork forum.

SB 364 Proposed amendments to the Georgia Massage Therapy Practice Act affects municipal regulation

2/10/2010

Summary

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 24A of Title 43 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to massage therapy practice, so as to provide that, upon conviction for a sexual offense, a person's massage therapist license shall be
suspended for certain time periods; to provide for reinstatement under certain
circumstances; to increase penalties for violations; to provide for local regulation in addition to state regulation; to provide for related matters; to provide an effective date and applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Among the proposed changes:

Section 1 (d)
Any person, upon being convicted a first time for a violation of this Code section, shall be guilty of and shall be punished as for a misdemeanor. Upon being convicted a second time under this Code section, such person shall be guilty of and shall be
punished as for a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature. Upon being
convicted of a third or subsequent violation of this Code section, such person shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years, a fine not to exceed $25,000.00, or both."

Section 2
(b) After notice and hearing, the license of any person licensed under this chapter who is found guilty or enters a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to a violation of Chapter 6 of Title 16 shall be suspended for not less than one nor more than two years on the first occurrence, not less than two nor more than five years on the second occurrence, and permanently on the third occurrence.
(c) A person whose license is suspended under subsection (b) of this Code section
for a first or second occurrence may apply for reinstatement after the suspension
period set by the board and pay a reinstatement fee of $1,000.00 in addition to any and all other fees that may be required."

Section 3(b)
Persons licensed under this chapter shall be subject to regulation by counties or
municipalities with regard to the operation of massage or massage therapy businesses within the jurisdiction of such counties or municipalities, the licensing of such businesses, and issues regarding health, safety, and protection of the public in connection with such businesses."

(NOTE: I spoke to Sen. Unterman regarding this section and she said that some municipalities were having trouble with illegitimate practitioners. They complained that the language in the original bill was vague. The purpose of this section is to give municipalities the power to stiffen the regulations so they can help protect our profession. When I mentioned that some municipalities were writing regulations that also made it difficult or impossible for legitimate practitioners to practice, she said those with problems also need to come forward to testify. More later.)

Section 4(c) increases makes the third violation a felony and increases the fines to not less than $25,000.00.

Sponsored By

* (1) Staton,Cecil 18th
* (2) Unterman,Renee 45th
* (3) Murphy,Jack 27th
* (4) Brown,Robert 26th
* (5) Douglas,John 17th
* (6) Chance,Ronnie 16th

SOURCE: http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/search/sb364.htm

Find your state senator:

Want to search for upcoming bills that may affect your practice?

Go to the Georgia General Assembly Legislative Search Page and search keywords
such as "massage". Many of the bills will be city charters.

Want to learn more and join the discussion?

Join the Yahoo!Group Georgia Massage Therapy Network, or if you would like to discuss this on Facebook, the AMTA-Georgia Chapter has a page. Join and ask questions, offer information, or give your opinion. Or visit the AMTA-Georgia Chapter website, contact the Government Relations Chair or Chapter President.

New School in Georgia

There's a new massage school in Georgia, the Georgia Massage School in Suwanee. It has been founded by longtim Atlanta School of Massage teachers Laurie Craig and Rick Garbowski. From their website, it is unclear what the focus of the school will be, just that it will be a 500 hour school. Best wishes for a successful startup. Their webite is www.georgiamassageschool.com. If you know them, let them know you support them.

History and Timeline of Massage Therapy Legislation

On Thursday, March 31, 2005, the Georgia Massage Therapy Practice Act (SB 110) passed the House of Representatives. On May 10, 2005, Governor Perdue signed it into law at 5:00 p.m. This act professionalized massage therapy by setting minimum standards, a minimum of 500 hours of core education from a state approved school and have passed the National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCETMB) or a similar certifying examination that is approved by the Licensing Board. A generous grandfathering provision expired on July 1, 2007. Jane Johnson (Marietta), then Chapter President Robb Doyle (Atlanta).

Members of the AMTA-Georgia Chapter were very active in getting this bill passed, as well as representatives from the Federation of Therapeutic Massage, Bodywork and Somatic Practice Organizations. Opponents of state regulation also influenced the bill.

But that was not the beginning. I remember sitting in a committee in the State Capitol Building after graduation and while I was teaching at the Atlanta School of Massage. Our student recruiter gave an excellent presentation, and the man sitting next to me commented that the Atlanta School of Massage supported this legislation because they were the only school in the state. I commented to him, a member or lobbyist for the medical board, that there was another school starting up, and soon there would be a second school.

There might have been efforts before that. The reprint below from the Illinois Chapter of the AAMM indicates that massage legislation was of interest to Georgians in the 1960's, although I do not know of any record that a bill was ever introduced.

Building an Oral History
By contributing to this blog, we can build an oral history of massage legislation in Georgia. Were you or someone you know involved? What was your or their involvement? Do you know the number or title of any of the bills that were previously introduced?

Policy on Gift Certificates

As the Christmas season has ended and clients have are redeeming those wonderful gifts of massage, perhaps this is a good time to review our policy on gift certificates. I recently participated in such a discussion, and it became clear that there are many variables that massage therapists need to clarify for themselves and their practice.

These are a few of the decisions we need to make in writing our policy on gift certificates:

1. Are expiration dates legal where you work?
2. Should you have an expiration date, and if so, for how long?
3. What happens after the expiration date? Do you still honor it, or does something change?
4. Do you honor the recipient when they want to switch services or request a refund?
5. Who 'owns' the gift? If you need to alter or refund services, should it be to the giver or to the recipient?
6. Does it risk hurting the relationship between the giver and recipient if the giver is informed that the service was not redeemed? What is your responsibility in this?
7. Do you have different policies for purchased gift certificates and donated gift certificates -- cash value, expiration dates, missed appointments, etc.?
8. What is the best balance for you and your practice between customer service and honoring your boundaries?
   

What is your policy on gift certificates?