Thamk you for the update. Robert M. Mata LMT, LMTI

--- Janine Ray <janine@...> wrote:

> On June 15, 2007, HB2644 sponsored by Rep. Rose
> became law with the
> effective date of September 1, 2007, instead of the
> original proposal
> of January 1, 2008. HB2644 will directly affect the
> massage therapy
> industry of Texas by increasing the educational
> hours to a minimum of
> 500 hours from the current 300 hours, and it
> eliminates the practical
> exam. The bill passed the House's Public Health
> Committee and the
> Senate's Health & Human Services Committee. The 80th
> Texas
> Legislative session contained three bills which will
> have a direct
> effect on the massage and bodywork professions. HB
> 1883 sponsored by
> Rep. Anchia and HB2957 sponsored by Rep. Jackson
> were left pending in
> the Government Reform Committee of the House of
> Representatives.
>
> To the dismay of the Texas Association of Massage
> Therapists (TAMT),
> Representative Rose was adamant about not allowing
> any amendments to
> HB2644. At the last minute Senator Carona proposed
> three amendments on
> the floor of the Senate; and two of those amendments
> were added to his
> bill anyway. He did protest and a conference
> committee was formed
> from members of the House and Senate, and when they
> accepted the
> amendments, the bill was sent to the Governor for
> signature. Without
> a signature or a veto, the bill became law after 10
> days.
>
> Unfortunately for the Department of State Health
> Services (DSHS), the
> amendment providing for an Advisory Counsel did not
> pass. As you will
> see reading on, the changes in the law will
> necessitate drastic
> changes to the rules and regulations by the DSHS. An
> Ad Hoc Committee
> of major stakeholders of the Massage and Bodywork
> Industry met with
> DSHS on June 15th to collaborate with the Licensing
> Division to define
> the new terms so the transition might be less
> complicated. Voluntary
> Committees are being formed to advise the state of
> the wishes of each
> group affected by the new law: Asian Bodyworkers,
> Somatic
> Practitioners, Massage School Owners, Massage
> Therapy Associations, etc.
>
> The first amendment states: "A person may not for
> compensation
> perform or offer to perform any service with a
> purported health
> benefit that involves physical contact with a client
> unless the person
> holds an appropriate license". It also states that
> "The department
> may issue one or more types of licenses not
> otherwise provided for by
> this chapter that authorizes the license holder to
> perform a service
> described by Subsection (c). The department may
> adopt rules governing
> a license issued under this subsection."
>
> This amendment has caused a flurry of questions and
> concerns
> statewide. The original intent of this amendment was
> taken from Rep.
> Anchia's HB1883. Rep. Anchia's district in Dallas
> has had significant
> problems with prostitution and human trafficking.
> The district
> attorneys and prosecutors were having trouble with
> the charges
> sticking in court because the "bad actors" in his
> district were
> calling themselves "Asian Bodyworkers" or "Asian
> Spas" or even just
> "Spas". With such classification they did not have
> to comply to the
> massage therapy licensing laws. Although the TAMT
> board of directors
> was not pleased with massage therapy being
> associated with
> prostitution one more time, they realized from the
> many complaints
> they had received through the years that this was
> not just a Dallas
> problem. Persons performing touch therapies across
> the state have
> been able to skirt the licensing issue claiming that
> they were not
> "massage therapists" but defined themselves as
> Bodyworkers, Structural
> Integration Practitioners, Somatic Practitioners or
> one of the hundred
> other bodywork techniques.
>
> Using the terminology of "physical contact for
> purported health
> benefits" is vague and open to interpretation by the
> state. Some have
> expressed apprehension over the fact that dance
> teachers, yoga and
> Pilates instructors, martial arts instructors, etc.
> will need licenses
> in order to practice. In all the meetings that I've
> had with the
> Representatives and legislative aides at the
> capitol, regulating those
> professions was never their intent; therefore I hope
> that DSHS will
> not overstep the boundaries to include those
> businesses. During the
> first Ad Hoc Committee meeting with DSHS, Dan
> Meador, the DSHS legal
> representative, explained that the law change gives
> them the right to
> establish the possibility of multiple licenses, such
> as: a massage and
> bodywork license, a massage therapy license, a
> Somatic Practices
> License, an Asian Bodywork license or even a license
> for each modality
> imaginable. Because no provision was made in the law
> for additional
> staff for DSHS to implement these changes, we don't
> believe such
> drastic changes will take place.
>
> HB2644's sole intent sought to raise the education
> standard for
> massage therapy instruction in the State of Texas to
> be equal to
> National standards. With the last minute amendments,
> the bill now has
> long term repercussions and need for clarifications.
> Although it is
> understood that those therapists currently licensed
> in Texas will
> automatically be grandfathered, I posed the question
> about
> grandfathering the other touch therapies alluded to
> in the bill. The
> DSHS staff present at the first committee meeting
> did not have a clue
> how they will go about implementing all these
> revisions. The major
> impact will be on the schools. Is the state prepared
> to approve each
> school's curriculum additions by September 1st,
> 2007? Will the
> schools be able to hire teachers for the new
> subjects in the
> curriculum (pathology, kinesiology, CPR, other
> techniques)? The
> school owners are also in a quandary as to the start
> date of their
> next sessions. The wording in the law states that a
> student
> "enrolled" before September 1st will only need to
> complete the 300
> hour curriculum. Will some schools enroll students
> before September
> 1st even though their classes don't begin until 2008
> or later? Will
> those students feel slighted or under educated if
> they miss out on the
> additional required subjects? How fast can the
> schools find qualified
> massage therapy instructors to teach the new
> subjects?
>
> The good news is that eventually the schools will
> have the option to
> expand their curriculums to offer students different
> educational
> tracks, such as specialties in Spa Massage, Medical
> Massage, Sports
> Massage, Asian Bodywork, etc. We may even see
> national bodywork and
> somatic practices schools come to Texas.
>
> Now to touch on the second amendment ! It basically
> includes harsher
> penalties for practicing without a license and more
> law enforcement
> capabilities. It also provides penalties for any
> operator,
>
=== message truncated ===




________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo!
FareChase.
http://farechase.yahoo.com/