BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1238|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1238
Author: Price (D)
Amended: 8/24/12
Vote: 21
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Massage therapy
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes a number of changes to law
pertaining to the California Massage Therapy Council
(CAMTC).
Assembly Amendments delete the Senate version of the bill
which dealt with the Board of Psychology, and instead add
the current language.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1.Provides, until January 1, 2015, for the voluntary
certification of massage practitioners and massage
therapists by the CAMTC.
2.Specifies the requirements for the CAMTC to issue to an
applicant a certificate as a massage therapist,
including, but not limited to, (1) successfully
CONTINUED
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completing curricula in massage and related subjects
totaling a minimum of 500 hours, a minimum of 250 hours
of which shall be from a school approved by the council
and the other 250 hours may be secured as specified, or
(2) passing a massage and bodywork competency assessment
examination, as specified.
3.Requires the CAMTC immediately suspend, on an interim
basis, the certificate of a certificate holder, if the
council receives notice that a certificate holder has
been arrested for and charged with, among other crimes,
soliciting or engaging in an act of prostitution or an
act punishable as a sexually related crime, and to
provide notices of the suspension to the certificate
holder and any business that employs the certificate
holder, in each case, as specified.
4.Requires the CAMTC, upon request of a law enforcement
agency or local government agency with responsibility for
regulating massage or massage business, to provide
information concerning a certificate holder, as
specified.
This bill:
1. Defines an operator of a massage business to mean a
person, whether owner or nonowner, who manages or
operates a massage business.
2. Allows the use of credit unit equivalents (in
addition to hours) in determining completion of
required education for massage practitioners and
massage therapists.
3. Revises the dual path to licensure for massage
therapists by adding the following educational
requirements to the option that currently requires only
the passage of a competency assessment examination:
successful completion, at an approved school, of
curricula in massage and related subjects totaling a
minimum of 250 hours that incorporates appropriate
school assessment of student knowledge and skills.
Included in the hours shall be instruction addressing
anatomy and physiology, contraindications, health and
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hygiene, and business and ethics, with at least 100
hours of the required minimum 250 hours devoted to
these curriculum areas.
4. Requires certificates and identification cards issued
by the CAMTC to be surrendered to CAMTC by any holder
whose certificate has been suspended or revoked.
5. Allows the CAMTC to immediately suspend the
certificate of a certificate holder upon receipt of
clear and convincing evidence that the holder has
committed an act punishable as a sexually related crime
or felony, that is substantially related to the
qualifications, functions, or duties of a certificate
holder, and requires the CAMTC to consider any
available credible mitigating evidence before making a
decision to suspend a certificate, as specified.
6. Provides the holder of a suspended certificate the
right to a hearing within 30 days, and requires the
CAMTC to send notice of suspension to the certificate
holder, businesses on record with the CAMTC as
employing or contracting with the holder, and the local
permitting authority with jurisdiction over the
employing or contracting businesses, as specified.
7. Requires the CAMTC to notify a certificate holder
within 10 business days regarding the suspension or
reinstatement of a certificate for arrest charges or
acquittals, as specified.
8. Authorizes a law enforcement agency or local
government agency with responsibility for regulating
massage or massage business, upon request of the CAMTC,
to provide information to the CAMTC concerning an
applicant or certificate holder, including, but not
limited to: the current status of any application or
local permit; any history of disciplinary action taken
against the applicant or certificate holder; any
information related to criminal activity or
unprofessional conduct allegedly engaged in by an
applicant or certificate holder, including, but not
limited to, police reports and declarations of conduct;
the home and work addresses of the applicant or
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certificate holder; and, any other information in the
law enforcement agency's or other local government
agency's possession that is necessary to verify facts
or implement laws governing massage therapists.
9. Authorizes the CAMTC to deny an application or
discipline a certificate holder for a conviction of any
infraction, municipal code violation, or liability in
an administrative or civil action that is substantially
related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of
a certificate holder, in which event the record of the
conviction or other judgment shall be conclusive
evidence of the crime or liability.
10. Requires a certificate holder to display his or her
original certificate at his or her place of business.
11. Requires a certificate holder to have his or her
identification card in his or her possession while
providing massage services.
12. Requires a certificate holder, upon request at the
location where he or she is providing massage services,
to provide his or her full name and certificate number
to a member of the public, the CAMTC, or a member of
law enforcement or a local government agency charged
with regulating massage.
13. Specifies that business license fees charged to a
massage business or establishment can be no higher than
the lowest fee that is applied to other individuals and
businesses providing professional services, as
specified.
14. Makes a certified massage business owner responsible
for the conduct of all employees or independent
contractors working on the premises of the business.
15. Specifies that local jurisdictions can only ask for
information from applicants for a massage business
license that is the same as that required of other
individuals and professionals providing professional
services, as specified.
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16. Specifies that the background check that a local
jurisdiction can require of an owner or operator of a
massage establishment may include, but is not limited
to, a criminal background check, including requiring
submission of fingerprints. If a noncertified owner's
or operator's background check results in a finding
that the local jurisdiction determines is relevant to
owning or operating a massage establishment, then
specified rights to practice shall not apply to that
establishment and the local jurisdiction may regulate
that establishment in any manner it deems proper that
is in accordance with the law.
17. Specifies that nothing in statutes governing massage
therapy shall be construed to restrict or limit in any
way the authority of a local jurisdiction to adopt a
local ordinance restricting the opening of a new
massage establishment in a location in which a massage
establishment has been closed due to criminal activity.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
potential minor, absorbable increased enforcement costs to
CAMTC.
JJA:n 8/28/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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