CA State recognized massage therapy certification is in Jeopardy
This is the headline of an email I received from the Government Relations Chair of the American Massage Therapy Association California chapter today, April 9, 2010. Having just received my state (voluntary)certification after 36 years of working in the field of bodywork and healing arts I am dismayed. Ever since I moved to California in 1992, I have observed local law enforcement creating difficulties for bodyworkers to practice their profession.
I thought Senate Bill 731 was the beginning of positive change, that finally bodyworkers were going to be acknowledged and respected for the valuable work they do. It is particularly troubling to me that massage therapists and law enforcement and other first responders work so closely in the face of natural and manmade disasters, and yet are at odds when it comes to this issue. At least SB 731 was a beginning.
Apparently Assembly member Sandre Swanson has introduced Assembly Bill 1822 into the legislature and if it becomes law (albeit not until after December 31, 2015), all massage therapists will again be required to have local permits for each city in which they practice. That means that in addition to the fee paid to the California Massage Therapy Council, for fingerprinting and background checks and certification process, that they will have to pay an additional $75, or $100 or more to practice per city and to fund local background checks. Also local law enforcement would have the final say regarding whether or not to certify someone.
Under local permitting procedures, massage therapists are subjected to humiliating and unreasonable requests that have nothing to do with their fitness to practice massage therapy. I can personally attest to this.
Some people believe that this issue is being driven by fear. Fear of non-western medical health care, fear of the power of healing practices, and fear of the practitioners themselves, who are mostly women. I hope this is not the case, but I think we need to carefully examine the motives.
Is separating legitimate massage health professionals from prostitution the real reason for the the law wanting to enforce this? Or, is it profit for local jurisdictions? Or is it power? I know when my city first devised its police-run massage therapy ordinance, one of the creators of the ordinance was a business man who was not a bodyworker. As a 36 year veteran of the bodywork field, I have to question the logic of that.
Massage therapists need to be regulated like other healing professions are – by a state board, not by police departments. AB 1822 would undo everything that massage therapists, consumers, and law enforcement gained with SB 731.
If you would like to become involved in this, sadly, ongoing battle or have questions, contact the Government Relations Chair Amanda Whitehead at gr@amta-ca.org.
