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Council advances ordinance tightening rules for massage and reflexology businesses after enforcement concerns
Summary
The council voted to advance an ordinance that creates a new regulatory chapter for massage/reflexology businesses, includes background checks and initial law‑enforcement inspections, and makes repeat violations a gross misdemeanor. The measure aims to help prosecutors and avoid penalizing trafficking victims.
The Spokane Valley City Council advanced an ordinance that would create a new regulatory chapter for massage and reflexology businesses, require verification of state licensing for applicants, add a background‑check requirement for certain applicants and authorize initial law‑enforcement inspections within 90 days of license issuance.
Why it matters: City attorneys and police said current criminal code phrasing made enforcement of illicit, unlicensed massage operations difficult and risked penalizing potential victims. The code rewrite moves most regulatory requirements into a business‑licensing chapter and establishes administrative and criminal tools to regulate business operators,…
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