Oppose Massachusetts SB 2599

Oppose Massachusetts SB 2599

Restrictive licensing bill for all Bodyworkers in MA on Senate Floor Tomorrow!

 SB 2599 seeks to mandate the licensure of all bodyworkers in MA and prohibit the use of the title “bodywork” by practitioners without the new license. There are thousands of practitioners from a wide array of disciplines such as Qi Gong, Trager practitioners and many more, who would fall under the jurisdiction of this new bill, and who are practicing in MA providing much desired healing to consumers. The Senate could vote on SB 2599 as early as tomorrow so please Take Action now and follow-up with a call to your senator’s office asap!        

 The bill is being promoted as an anti-human trafficking bill; however, SB 2599 has no language about human trafficking except for the bill’s title and a provision that a member of the new licensing board be “a law enforcement representative whose area of focus is human trafficking”. That’s it – the rest of language is completely about regulating this non-harmful occupation. This bill tries to merge these two topics into one bill and it is giving the impression that bodywork has something to do with human trafficking more than other professions and persons in the culture. This bill should be stopped immediately.

There is no basis for requiring complementary and alternative health care practitioners to be state licensed with state mandated educational requirements. We need your help in vigorously opposing this licensing attempt. Take Action here to stop the bill from moving.

Massachusetts already has a very good massage law that allows bodyworkers to be exempt from licensure requirements. Click here to read current exemptions in Title XVI, Chapter 112, Section 228 Licensing of massage therapists – at part (b) . SB 2599 attempts to create a new and burdensome licensing law for these currently exempt practitioners and force them to obtain a bodywork license instead.

What you can do:

•  Take Action Here to automatically send a message to your personal legislators in the House and
• Call your Senator, find his/her office information here, and leave a message with the staff asking the Senator to vote no on S.B.

The Message: “Please vote NO on S.B. 2599, the bill to combat human trafficking, which seeks to license bodyworkers, when it comes up for a vote on the senate floor on Thursday, July 19.  Although I support efforts to strengthen human trafficking laws, I oppose S.B. 2599 because ….

–it threatens my ability to access the natural health practitioners of my choice; or

– it will cause many practitioners who can’t afford to comply with the bill’s requirements to go out of business and so it is bad for the MA economy;

or

–there is no constitutional basis to regulate bodyworkers because the state has failed to demonstrate that the practices under the bill rise to the level of harm requiring state regulation ”

• Stay in touch with NHFA (National Health Freedom Action) for updates on the bill and for ways to support Health Freedom legislation in MA. Visit the NHFA website and sign-up to receive our emails here.
• Support Health Freedom Action Massachusetts , a grassroots, non-profit, 501c4 group in MA working to pass a Safe Harbor Exemption bill that would protect access to all complementary and alternative health care practitioners in MA, like these states already do.