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?

History of the AMTA-Georgia Chapter

The AMTA-Georgia Chapter posted an article on the history of the chapter. In the article, it mentioned that the Georgia Chapter was chartered in 1984, the year I began massage school. This did not sound correct. When I had contacted the national office several years back, they said told me our chapter began in the fifties, although I cannot remember the exact year they had given me. I remember the early years, but I was not here when it began. Officers that preceded me included Pam Martorano, Dana Whitfield, Jim Gabriel, Belinda Callas. Letitia Allen had mentioned that she was the first President.

For those of you who were around in those days, what do you remember? Who do you remember being involved in both the AMTA, the Georgia Chapter, and in massage therapy?