Dear Massage Therapists & Friends of Massage Therapy:

Even though I, along with several organizations, testified against HB 3094 by Representative Harless on March 30th before the House County Affairs committee, it has reported favorably and is about to be sent to the House for a vote.  This bill equates "massage parlors" to Massage Establishments, by defining a massage parlor as a massage establishment that allows: a nude or partially nude employee to provide massage or other massage services to a customer; any individual to engage in sexual contact in the massage establishment; any individual to practice massage therapy in the nude or in clothing designed to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any individual. This bill gives the authority to "certain counties with a population of 3.3 million or more" to assess penalties (without being specific, this mainly applies to Harris County in the Houston area).

Why should we be troubled by this bill?  The legitimate massage therapists in the state of Texas have been trying to distance themselves from any link to prostitution, and this bill blatantly defines a "massage parlor" as a massage establishment that is breaking the current law.  We believe that there is no need to make this comparison, since what they are stating in HB3094 is already illegal.  To make matters worse, the companion bills, SB 1980 by Senator Dan Patrick and HB 2838 by Representative Riddle are identical and will be heard in the committees they've been referred to. SB1980 has been referred to the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, and HB2838 has been referred to the House County Affairs Committee (the same committee that passed HB3094).  If you would like to read the text on these bills, just click on the bill number that is underscored or highlighted in purple in this email. 

What can you do about this predicament?  You can contact your Representative and let them know that you are against this bill. Let them know that you do not want to be associated with sexually oriented businesses.  This is the link to find out who your representative is: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/.  When you get to that page, insert your zip code, then scroll down to your STATE Representative and Senator. If you click on the underscored link of the representative's name, you will be taken to their home page where you can get a fax number or email them directly. Of course a telephone call is also great!  Here is a sample of what I sent to my representative...of course you need to personalize it with your information! Keep it simple.

Let your colleagues know how important this message is....please forward!  Also, you don't have to be a massage therapists to complain about this bill.  Let your clients contact their representatives also.
Blessings,
Janine Ray, LMT, MTI, PDMT
Legislative Chairperson
Texas Association of Massage Therapists
www.texasmassagetherapists.com 

North Austin Massage Therapy
12741 Research Blvd. #506
(512) 331-5922
www.northaustinmassage.com
www.shaklee.net/janineray/vivix