Kansas

House Bill 2400 would have required statewide licensure for massage therapists in Kansas, but it did not receive a hearing in committee and therefore never moved forward this year.

Kansas House Bill 2400 has been introduced in the Kansas legislature and would require statewide licensure for massage therapists. The bill would go into effect at the end of the 2021 legislative cycle. Massage therapists could apply for licensure through grandfathering or an application process.

Two Kansas bills which proposed a state licensing requirement for massage therapists, SB 40 and HB 2123, carried over from the 2015 legislative session into the 2016 legislative session. Both bills failed in the 2016 legislative session, and there is no carryover into next year’s legislative session. We will keep you apprised of any future bills addressing the issue of state licensure in Kansas.  

Kansas SB 40 and HB 2123, which we have discussed in previous updates, carried over into the current legislative session.  The bills would create a system of mandatory state licensure for massage therapists in the state.  It appears unlikely that the bills will pass in the legislature this year, but we will keep you informed of important developments.

Massage Therapy Licensure Hearing Set

The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee will hold a hearing on Senate Bill 40 on Tuesday February 3rd at 1:30 PM. Senate Bill 40 is the bill supported by a coalition of massage therapists, including ABMP, to enact legislation to provide for a professional license to practice massage.

Despite significant support from individual legislators, HB 2187 again failed to pass the Kansas Legislature. As in previous years, the bill would have set minimum training requirements, defined a scope of practice, provided an avenue for consumer complaints, and pre-empted local regulations. If passed, the bill would have required massage therapists to become licensed by the state under the Kansas State Board of Nursing, and would have established a Massage Therapy Advisory Committee to advise the Board in carrying out the provisions of the Act.