This Commentary Was Printed in the AV Press on 08 Jan 2009 With The Headline
The Devil is in the Details
That sounds good on the surface. However, Palmdale has had a very successful massage therapist ordinance in effect for several years, and when an illegitimate operation was discovered operating adjacent to our state legislators office, Lancaster followed suit with its own ordinance.
This legislation supported by the massage industry, but was opposed by local cities. Why?
Instead of providing a minimum or maximum standard against which a local community can base its own regulations, this new state regulation not only removes any ability for local communities to regulate the massage industry whatsoever, it actually invalidates any legally established local ordinances already in effect[i].
Good grief, when the state enacted water conservation legislation, they provided a minimum standard in model language that cities could default to, if they chose, but communities were free to adopt more stringent requirements based on their local community standards. Not so with the massage industry! This legislation clearly came about to put a halt to local regulation of this notoriously abused trade. What kind of lobbying pressure did it take for the state to take such a Machiavellian position?
Training requirements are good, right? But if you read the entire bill, you find the new state law actually slashes the number of formal classroom instruction hours currently required in half, and pushes the requirement for the 500 hours of formal instruction, which Palmdale and Lancaster now require, out until the end of 2015![ii]
The state mandated background check would no longer be conducted by local law enforcement, but is relegated to the Massage Organization itself, and limited to state or federal criminal offender data received from the Department of Justice. No history of county, local or municipal code violations would be considered. Our local SheriffÕs office, which we rely on to conduct comprehensive background investigations, would be rendered irrelevant.
The Ònew and improvedÓ process for review of complaints is almost unreadable. It appears to require a Superior Court hearing to obtain an injunction to put a halt to violations, instead of the expeditious local administrative process and public hearing we now employ. Furthermore, it disenfranchises local citizens from the process by creating yet another State bureaucracy.
The City of Palmdale joined the League of California Cities Public Safety Committee in opposing this legislation, recognizing this for what it is...
Another blow against local control.
[i] ÒÉa
city, county, or city and county shall not enact an ordinance that requires a
license, permit, or other authorization to practice massage by an individual
who is certified pursuant to this chapterÉ No provision of any ordinance
enacted by a city, county, or city and county that is in effect before the
effective date of this chapter, and that requires a license, permit, or other
authorization to practice massage, may be enforced against an individual who is
certified pursuant to this chapter.Ó
[ii] Éa
minimum of 250 hours shall be from approved schools. ÉAfter December 31, 2015,
applicants may only satisfy the curricula in massage and related subjects from
approved schools.
Complete
Chaptered Bill:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0701-0750/sb_731_bill_20080927_chaptered.html