A recent wave of arrests and police sting operations coast to coast targeting organized crime rings using massage therapy as a front for prostitution provided plenty of material for late-night comedians. From one end of California to the other, law enforcement agencies have arrested dozens of massage providers.
In Los Angeles County, the city of Arcadia has become so concerned about the problem that city officials imposed a moratorium on issuing new massage therapy licenses. Despite this, the city has no laws regulating massage businesses. The situation is compounded by the disturbing reality that law enforcement officials in most large American cities have linked bordellos disguised as massage parlors with the trafficking of women — often from the poorest countries in the world — in what amounts to a modern form of sexual slavery.
This all changes on Jan. Up until now, regulation of the practice of professional massage therapy has been left to local counties and cities. In larger metropolitan areas, different massage practitioners could be subject to several different sets of rules and regulations, all within a few miles. Others have no requirements at all. In some locales, massage is part of a thriving genuine therapeutic health care system. In other places, however, it is notorious for being part of the sex trade.
Orange County requires therapists to submit a set of fingerprints and pass a written test. At the other extreme, San Francisco has created a dual system that recognizes therapeutic massage practitioners on one hand and adult entertainment massage workers on the other. Legitimate massage therapists, many of whom undergo hundreds of hours of professional training, at great expense, are offended by being tarred with the brush of illegality and harassment from investigators.
My bill creates a new nonprofit statewide organization, the Massage Therapy Organization, to certify legitimate massage practitioners and therapists. Our goal is to help both massage therapists and law enforcement by setting clear, consistent statewide rules. In addition, statewide certification of massage therapy will provide consumers with recourse if they are harmed in the process of receiving a massage.
