Submitted by: Jim Noriega, USTA Law and Legislation Committee Chair
USTA Law and Legislation Update – May 2018
Hello Ohio Trager Practitioners,
As you know, there has been a bill in the works to change Ohio's law governing massage therapy. This bill is SB105. Some of you know of this through the Ohio AMTA chapter that is supporting this bill, the national AMTA also supports this bill. However, this is not the AMTA's bill. It originated from the Ohio Municipal League to give townships a way to combat human trafficking/prostitution, and most of the provisions of the bill are about clarifying the authority of townships and other municipal entities to regulate massage therapy and places of business. The AMTA offered support and consultation so they could update the definition of MT and do away with the non-therapeutic "relaxation massage" that only exists in Ohio. This new definition is very broad an could easily be interpreted to include Trager Practitioners. However, there are no exemptions for Trager Practitioners or other non-massage practices that often are exempted in other states.
Elisabeth Contadino was pro-active about this and gave the AMTA-OH the recommended exemption language earlier this year (Thank you, Elisabeth!) but it was not used. I had also tried to go through the local AMTA but did not get any response.
The USTA is member of the Federation of Massage Therapy, Bodywork and Somatic Practices Organizations (Federation MBS), as is the AMTA national organization. On Monday, there was a meeting of these organizations to discuss legislation in several states. Concerning Ohio, the AMTA does not feel they can directly push for exemptions in SB105 but do not object to the other organizations seeking exemptions. There was agreement that it would be best for our organizations to work together, as we have in other states to try for exemptions - not just for Trager but for other practices as well. (If you are not familiar with the Federation, visit the website: federationmbs.org)
The bill's sponsor is Senator Andrew Brenner of the 19th District. I called his office to introduce myself and let them know that we have Practitioners in the state, we do not oppose the bill but feel it is incomplete and will send our suggestions for appropriate amendments. I did not speak to the Senator directly but his office confirmed that the suggested language changes should come there to start.
So I will be sending a letter (in coordination with the other Fed members) with the agreed upon exemption language of the Federation MBS organizations to the Senator's office. I will copy all of you on that too. Then we need for all of you to call or write in support of the changes. The other Federation organizations will be having their members do the same. We will have to see if Senator Brenner is open to these amendments to determine next steps. For reference, I have included the exemption language we are suggesting after this e-mail.
Please be aware that even if we get these exemptions placed in the new law, Trager Practitioners may still have to be licensed in some way, even if not as massage therapists. In the past, the Medical Board had decided we are practicing some form of medicine and that requires some kind of license from them. Some of you have not been licensed and not had a problem, perhaps your advertisements have not emphasized "treating" and "therapy" etc. However, with a new law in place and the attention we bring to ourselves from pushing for exemptions, Trager Practitioners may get more scrutiny. I don't think we have a choice though. The new definition of MT is very broad and we need to protect ourselves from that. We may still have to make our case to the Med. Board later.