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CAMTC Certification

As of September 2009 California massage therapists are able to become voluntarily certified through the newly established California Massage Therapy Council. The CAMTC is a non-profit organization approved by the state to issue certifications and will generally allow greater mobility for practitioners across the state. We will, however, not be "state certified" as has generally been said. We will be CAMTC certified. What are your thoughts about the new regulation? Do you plan on becoming certified?

I would like to thank Keith Eric Grant for clarifying the point that we are not becoming "state certified." I think that many of us, myself included, initially believed that to be the case.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Crystal Dawn Suovanen on November 22, 2009 at 1:41am

I guess I'm not clear on why it would be beneficial to be CAMTC certified as it wouldn't be a state certification.

Permalink Reply by Keith Eric Grant on November 22, 2009 at 2:55am

Crystal,

It is not a "state certification" because CAMTC is not a state agency. It is a private nonprofit explicitly created by state law to regulate massage within California and run under periodic legislative review. The benefit of CAMTC certification is that, by state law, it exempts the certificate holder from local licensing ordinances anywhere within California. For sole-proprietor businesses of those certified or businesses hiring only CAMTC certified persons to provide massage, SB 731 also requires that the business be zoned and licensed as per other personal and professional services -- i.e. no targeted/onerous establishment licensing.

Permalink Reply by Jody C. Hutchinson on March 8, 2010 at 9:41am

I just attended a meeting Friday with our Police Chief and Assistant City Attorney. They were wanting feedback and suggestions as they start using the new certification. They allowed us one year to get certified due to the following:
there is a six month backlog in the application process, many MTs don't have the required number of CEU hours-even though they've practiced for over 20 years, and there were less than 10 people at the meeting.
The Live Scan fingerprinting is interesting. The Chief said we "should" be able to do this at the local PD-but that person was off that day and he wasn't sure. Huh?
While I imagine this certification will make it easier on some, it seems like a lot of bother and there is little over sight with the limited staffing and budgets of local police departments. AND, if this is supposed to be voluntary! And what happens to all the MTs who insist they are state-licensed and are not actually certified by the CAMTC? What will they call themselves?
We were also told that any new business applying for a local business license would have to be certified by the CAMTC. Will someone try and challenge this due to the long processing delay?

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