Committee approves bill to join interstate massage compact, raises training hours for licensure

House Bill 232, which would authorize Georgia to join an interstate licensing compact for massage therapy, cleared the Regulated Industries Committee on a voice vote. The measure also increases the minimum training hours for licensure and creates a national data system for license tracking and incident reporting.

The bill’s sponsor told the committee the compact is already the law in other states and argued the changes would increase public access to licensed massage therapy services while improving license portability for military families and others who move between states. “This would increase it to 6 25 of massage therapy education,” the sponsor said while describing the bill’s training requirement.

Key provisions outlined in the committee include: a requirement that applicants hold a single‑state license in their home state before seeking compact privileges; an increase in required training hours from 500 to 625; passage of the national licensing examination; and a criminal‑history disqualification provision that lists offenses such as kidnapping and human trafficking as disqualifying conduct. The bill establishes a compact commission with authority to operate a data system to track licensure and incidents across member states.

Committee members asked whether the higher hours would apply to all Georgia licenses or only to compact eligibility; presenters said the increased hours would apply to all applicants. The committee moved a due‑pass recommendation; the measure passed on a voice vote with no roll‑call tally recorded in the transcript.