As mentioned in our prior update, the Minnesota voluntary credentialing bill for massage therapists did not pass last year. However, the bill will be considered again this year in the Minnesota House of Representatives as House File 644, along with companion bill Senate File 1310. Representative Nick Zerwas is the chief author of HF 644 and there are more than 25 co-authors.
If passed, the bill would:
• Create a voluntary credential—practitioners voluntarily choosing to register would be allowed to the use the title “Registered Massage and Bodywork Therapist,” or RMBT.
• Therapists who opt to obtain the RMBT registration would then be exempted from having to obtain multiple mandatory city licenses for each locality in which they work. Their RMBT registration would allow them to work in every Minnesota locality without any additional local massage license.
Please visit the Alliance for Legislation of Massage Therapy (ALMT) website here for more details and discussion of the proposed legislation.
The legislative session begins March 8. We urge you to contact legislators now, before the session begins, to let them know you support this bill.
It is important to reach out to the legislators on the key committees, which are:
House: Government Operations, Civil Law, and Data Practices. Key legislators to reach in the House are Representatives Tim Sanders (phone: 651-296-4226; email: rep.tim.sanders@house.mn) and Peggy Scott (phone: 651-296-4231; email: rep.peggy.scott@house.mn)
Senate: Health, Human Services, and Housing (Chair Senator Kathy Sheran, phone: 651-296-6153; email: sen.kathy.sheran@senate.mn), and State and Local Government (Senator Patricia Torres Ray, phone: 651-296-4274) and Judiciary (Senator Ron Latz, phone: 651-297-8065).
We also urge you to contact the legislator for your district. Click here to locate your state legislator.
Let the legislators know that the current patchwork system of local licensing is burdensome, complicated, and expensive for massage therapists, and that a voluntary state credential would remove overlapping, redundant regulatory barriers in our profession while maintaining professional standards to ensure public safety.
We will keep you updated on the status of the bill as it progresses.
