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OPR tells committee it will seek registration for massage establishments after rise in assault and trafficking complaints
Summary
Deputy Secretary of State Lauren Tibbitt told the Senate Committee on Government Operations that the Office of Professional Regulation is likely to recommend registration of massage therapy establishments rather than licensure, citing higher complaint volumes and serious allegations that emerged after regulation began in 2021.
The Senate Committee on Government Operations reviewed language attached to the OPR bill and heard from Deputy Secretary of State Lauren Tibbitt on OPR's recommendation to move toward registration of massage therapy establishments.
Lauren Tibbitt, deputy secretary of state, told the committee that OPR is "unlikely to recommend licensure of massage therapy establishments" this session but is likely to ask the legislature to require registration of establishments. She said the office is seeking nine months to prepare legislative language and a plan to bring back next year.
Tibbitt cited enforcement data collected since regulation began in June 2021: OPR has received 81 complaints about massage practitioners and opened 46 investigations; by contrast, physical therapists had 22 complaints and roughly 17 investigations in the same period. "We prosecuted 12 cases in massage," she said, and OPR currently has 16 massage-related cases pending; by comparison, OPR has none pending for physical therapy. Tibbitt said those volumes and the complexity of some allegations—md, including sexual assault and human trafficking—md, are driving the office's approach.
Tibbitt said registration would give OPR additional enforcement and investigative tools, including the ability to target establishments where multiple therapists work or where an establishment is owned by someone who is not a licensed massage professional. "If there are two or more massage therapists who work within the establishment... or if the establishment is owned by someone who is not a licensed professional," she said, OPR would design registration requirements around those triggers.
Stakeholders in the meeting asked about fees, how money is used, and whether registration would create duplicate costs for establishments that also register as businesses. A representative identified in the transcript as Hercules pressed whether fees would be used to investigate establishments rather than individual therapists and cited concern about a reported registration fee amount (quoted in the meeting as "$207 $75").
Tibbitt explained OPR's current fee structure for advisory professions: a $100 application fee and a $2.75 renewal fee are in place for the massage profession and were set with earlier rulemaking. She said OPR could not support a fee reduction at this time given the higher volume and complexity of massage complaints and the associated investigative costs. Tibbitt noted OPR's enforcement program is funded by licensee fees rather than the general fund and that staffing and investigative costs are high.
Committee members asked for additional data and for OPR to work with stakeholders on drafting language. Tibbitt said OPR has no objection to adding a stakeholder list to consultation requirements and that the office would include it in the next iteration of the bill. The committee did not take a final vote; OPR will return with legislative language and a plan after the requested planning period.
The committee also discussed using registration to enable summary suspension and to facilitate criminal investigative tools such as search warrants at establishments; Tibbitt said those capabilities would help OPR and law enforcement respond more effectively to human trafficking and serious criminal allegations.
No formal committee vote was recorded on the OPR amendments; the committee accepted OPR's intent to pursue registration language and further stakeholder consultation.
