Montana SB 104 was signed into law on February 25, 2015. The law makes a purely technical change to the state’s massage therapy law by deleting the provisions pertaining to obtaining a license by grandfathering, which expired in 2012.
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North Dakota SB 2085, discussed in our previous legislative update, was signed into law on April 8, 2015. The final version of the law amends the state’s massage therapy statute by reducing the number of continuing education hours required for massage therapists in North Dakota from 32 to 24, every two years. The law also reduces the number of CE hours that can be earned remotely from 12 to nine, and requires three hours of ethics CE. No CE is required during a licensee’s initial two-year licensing period.
ABMP’s ninth biennial census of massage school programs—a comprehensive look at massage school and graduation numbers—was completed earlier this year. ABMP contacted more than 1,400 programs in our database and asked them one question: “How many students graduated from your primary massage program in 2014?”
Read the full report here: www.abmp.com/shrinking-pie2015.pdf
AR S 145 was recently introduced in the Arkansas state legislature. The bill proposes to amend the Arkansas massage therapy law by abolishing the State Board of Massage Therapy and transferring all of the Board’s powers, duties, and functions, including rulemaking, licensing, and adjudications, to the Arkansas State Board of Health. We will keep you informed of important developments on this bill.
Two new bills introduced in the Arkansas legislature, HB 1562 and HB 1589, seek to exempt practitioners of Bowen therapy and Bowen techniques from the state’s massage licensure requirement. Under these bills, Bowen practitioners would not be required to hold a state massage license to practice in Arkansas as long as they are certified by a professional or credentialing agency which (1) requires a minimum level of training, demonstr
A new bill, Oregon SB 298, has been introduced in the Oregon Senate that proposes to regulate bodywork practitioners in same manner that Oregon law currently regulates massage therapists. Under the bill, those practicing bodywork would be required to obtain a state license, just as massage practitioners are currently required to do. “Bodywork” is defined in the bill as: “any form of touch therapy that uses manipulation, movement, energy or repatterning to produce structural and functiona
Currently, massage therapists in Indiana are governed by the professional licensing standards of practice set forth in Indiana Code 25-1-11. Under a new bill recently introduced in the Indiana legislature, HB 1360, massage therapists would instead be governed by the health professions standards of practice set forth in Indiana Code 25-1-9. This change would
A new bill introduced in the Washington state legislature, HB 1252, would amend the state’s massage therapy law by imposing new criminal penalties on massage and reflexology business owners who allow unlicensed practice in their businesses. The bill states that any person who, “with knowledge or criminal negligence,” allows the unlicensed practice of massage or reflexology in his or her massage or reflexology business is guilty of a gross misdemeanor for the first violation, and a class C felony fo
Nevada AB 126, recently introduced in the state legislature, proposes to make several changes to the state’s massage therapy law. Among those proposed changes are: