Council advances ordinance tightening rules for massage and reflexology businesses after enforcement concerns

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, managers and persons in charge.

Deputy City Attorney Caitlin Prunty told council the proposed Chapter 5.30 incorporates Washington Administrative Code requirements legitimate massage businesses already follow, such as recordkeeping and displaying professional licenses. "The code as it's written now focuses really on unlicensed massage and now we can focus on the bad actors and the actual business operations," Prunty said. She added the new chapter broadens who can be held responsible, including on‑site managers, to avoid penalizing victims.

Detective Keyes, who has led local enforcement, briefed council on operational results and said the city has shut down a large share of identified illicit operations during recent activity. Councilmembers also heard from the Washington State Massage Therapy Association, which provided technical comments and participated in drafting the ordinance.

Penalties and process: The ordinance retains criminal penalties as an enforcement option: Prunty said a first violation of the new Chapter 5.30 would be a misdemeanor and a second violation a gross misdemeanor. The code also includes business‑license denial and revocation pathways and adds an initial law‑enforcement inspection requirement to help identify noncompliant operators sooner.

Public comment and council action: The Washington State Massage Therapy Association’s government‑relations director, Robin Blake, told the council the association supports the municipal code changes and offered continued technical assistance. Local massage therapists who testified asked that routine administrative violations (for example, a missing display copy of a license) not carry criminal penalties that could unintentionally affect compliant small operators; city attorneys said staff will refine language for the second reading to address those concerns.

Vote: Council moved to advance the ordinance to a second reading; the motion passed unanimously on first reading. Staff said additional edits recommended by stakeholders will be incorporated before the second reading and final vote.