06/03/2019
Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed into law House Bill 104 (HB104), which addresses a number of professional licenses. At the very bottom of this long bill (pages 284–285), HB104 requires an addendum to the 2016 Sunrise Assessment (i.e., massage law) to assess whether regulation of "businesses or individuals offering massage services will serve the interests of public safety pertaining to sexual misconduct and human trafficking." The report is due by January 15, 2020, and the Office of Professional Regulation is to reach out to victim organizations, police, massage therapists, and advocacy organizations. The entire bill is effective July 1, 2019.
We believe the purpose of this report will be to identify illicit human trafficking activities being conducted under the guise of massage therapy and to identify ways to modify existing massage laws to combat human trafficking.
Your ABMP Government Relations team is reaching out to the Office of Professional Regulation. We believe there are other ways to address human trafficking than overregulating massage therapists in an attempt to stamp out human trafficking.