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California Police Cheifs Rallying Support to Kill State Level Regulation

According to a newly out Massage Today article, California police chiefs are rallying support to kill state level regulation of massage therapy implemented last year via the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC) as passage of SB 731. While this is being framed by the police chiefs as an anti-trafficking measure, it is actually a turf battle to retain local control rather than to let massage therapy be regulated as are other health-care professions.

As noted in the article, the police chiefs' current effort is to try and get AB 1822 through the Assembly Appropriations Committee.If AB 1822 passes, it will effectively remove the exemption from local licensing laws created with the passage of SB 731. That in turn, will remove the main reason for anyone in the profession to certify with CAMTC and for the massage profession to support and be involved with CAMTC.The likely result, since CAMTC is a private nonprofit, is the likely demise of CAMTC. This would be both a regulatory mess and a huge setback for the massage profession. Please become involved and write both the Appropriations Committee and your own Assembly Person. Those aiming to pass AB 1822, are bring a tremendous amount of pressure to bear, including a manure pile of misinformation. You cannot assume all edill be well and someone else will handle this. A lot of individual voices in opposition to AB 1822 are needs to push back. Please become one of them.

ADDENDUM: Massage Today has made a formal request for the survey information supposedly showing that 9 out of 10 applicants are either known prostitutes or questionable.

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Comment by Keith Eric Grant on May 18, 2010 at 10:42am: Amanda Whitehead, government relations chair of AMTA-CA just sent me the following:

"I am really excited about the Massage Today link. What a great tool! But a note to perhaps add via your Twitter and Facebook feeds: our lobbyist has advised us that if people don't add their full name and snail mail address, their communication is likely to be ignored."

I've sent a message to Massage Today that they might also want to change their form accordingly.

Comment by Keith Eric Grant on May 18, 2010 at 10:11am: Laura's blog and the sheer amount of fabrication against the profession coming out of San Mateo and Sacramento had me thinking of Aragorn's speech before the Black Gate. An hour when the battle seemed hopeless, but still he called on the bonds between us as humans to stand and fight.

With only minor apologies, I paraphrase:

Hold your ground! Hold you ground!
Massage therapists, Massage practitioners, my colleagues!

I see in your eyes, the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come, when the courage of the profession fails. When we forsake our friends and break all bonds of professionalism, But it is not this day!.

An hour of onerous laws and abandoned tables, when our demands for truth and equatable regulation come crashing down. But it is not this day -- this day we fight!

By all that you hold dear in this good profession, I bid you stand, practitioners of Massage!

Comment by Keith Eric Grant on May 18, 2010 at 8:50am: Massage Pundit: Laura Allen points to the mendacity and need for accountability from the AB 1822 proponents.

Comment by Keith Eric Grant on May 18, 2010 at 1:23am: A sampling of letters opposing California's AB 1822 sent via Massage Today's email form.

Comment by Irene Diamond, RT on May 17, 2010 at 7:26pm: Yes, this is a really important time for Massage therapists in California. Keith, Laura, and others, do you think it will help if MTs who live in other states write in to Massage Today, the other assembly people and groups who are supporting AB1822 to let them know why AB1822 should not pass. It seems the more voices opposing it the better, am I correct?

Comment by Keith Eric Grant on May 17, 2010 at 6:35pm: Lori, double check that you didn't leave any part of the email address out or have extra stuff like a display name. If it still doesn't work, drop the Massage Today people an email and let them know. They likely are using Javascript to verify that the email has a valid email format (e.g. youname@domain.com) and nothing else. I did use it to send a message and it seemed to work okay.

Comment by Lori Foster-Nixon on May 17, 2010 at 4:55pm: Hey Keith, I tried to send a No on AB1822 comment but it wouldn't take my email address. Said it was invalid. Any suggestions? This is not a new email that I use.

Comment by Keith Eric Grant on May 17, 2010 at 4:30pm: In the California fight to save uniform, professional, state-level regulation, Massage Today added a NO on AB 1822 form. Please give it a spin. I believe it is helpful for stakeholders nationally and internationally to make opposition to AB 1822 known -- to let the author and appropriations committee members know that opposition to this bill has national and international extent as a detrimental move against the profession as a whole.

Comment by Keith Eric Grant on May 14, 2010 at 8:43am: Many thanks, Laura!

There really are enough of us to make a difference, if we get the word out AND if we unite together to respond with a loud and clear voice.

Comment by Laura Allen on May 14, 2010 at 4:47am: Please GET UP PEOPLE, and protest this! This is a black mark on our entire profession, and it amounts to a lynching for the Police Chief Association to claim that if you're a massage therapist in CA, you must be a prostitute. I am begging you to contact your legislators, contact your local police chiefs, send letters to the editor of your local paper, and take any action you can to kill CA AB 1822. Do not let the progress your state has made go down the tubes!