Michigan

Senate Bill 788, sponsored by Senator Gilda Jacobs, has been introduced in the Michigan Legislature. The bill would establish state licensing standards for massage therapists and create a Board of Massage Therapy to implement the process. If passed, a state license would pre-empt local regulations, only one license would be needed. It is early in the legislative process, no action is needed at this time. To read the entire bill, please visit: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2007-2008/billintroduced/Senate/pdf/2007-SIB-0788.pdf The bill establishes entry-level criteria for entering the profession:
  • High School graduate or equivalent
  • Good moral character
  • 18 years old
  • Passed an exam approved by the board (including National Certification Exam)
  • Complete a minimum 500 hour supervised massage therapy program
Grandfathering - for 2 years, existing practitioners would be able to qualify for a state license by meeting one of the following:
  • For at least one year before the effective date of the law, the practitioner has been a member, as a massage therapist, of a national professional association (ABMP qualifies); or
  • Signs an affidavit that they have practiced massage therapy for at least 10 hours a week for 10 or more years; or
  • Signs an affidavit that the have practiced massage therapy for at least 10 hours a week for 3 years and has obtained 300 hours of formal training from an approved school; or
  • Has fulfilled the education requirement (a 500 hour massage therapy program); or
  • Has fulfilled the examination requirement
The bill exempts practitioners who practice Feldenkrais, Trager, Polarity, Reflexology, Reiki, Shiatsu, Rolf Structural Integration, energy workers, and movement educators as long as they don’t also practice massage therapy. The bill would require six hours of continuing education per year. ABMP has been working with the Michigan Chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) and others to advance this bill.
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