Massage bill passes committee - Sioux Falls Argus Leader

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An empty massage room in the spa area of Envive Chiropractic Friday, Oct. 30, 2015, in downtown Sioux Falls. (Photo: Joe Ahlquist / Argus Leader)Buy Photo


A House panel has passed along a bill that would tighten and clarify the rules for massage therapists in South Dakota.

House Bill 1027 provides penalties for massage therapists who allow unlicensed practitioners to work under them, adds a handful of massage techniques to the list of regulated activities and gives police and the public the right to see a therapist’s license on demand.

The bill is part of an effort by the Board of Massage Therapy to address concerns about unlicensed practitioners.

Concerns about unlicensed massage therapists bubbled over late last year, when a Sioux Falls-based therapist came to the Sioux Falls city council, asking the city to intervene and calling the board ineffectual.

Members of the Government Operations and Audit Committee told Board Director Jennifer Stalley on Oct. 30 that they had heard concerns about erotic massage parlors operating under the radar, as well.

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On Thursday, Stalley told the House Committee on Health and Human Services that it took comments from the public and from therapists in crafting its bill, but that the board’s ability to patrol for unlawful activity is limited.

“We are not criminal law enforcement,” Stalley said. “We are regulatory.”

Two of the changes in HB 1027 are designed to address the issue, however. The provision requiring licensees to produce their license on demand would help police to act on tips without calling the board to find out the status of a practitioner, she said.

It already is a class one misdemeanor to practice massage without a license, but the bill would make it a crime to allow unlicensed therapists to work under someone with a license, as well. In 2011, investigators found several unlicensed practitioners operating under one license at Ying’s Massage in the Empire Mall.

Rep. Karen Soli, D-Sioux Falls, told Stalley she was pleased to see the board making changes, saying unlicensed practice “is something that concerns me in Sioux Falls.”

Other representatives brought up public safety in another context. Rep. Fred Deutsch, R-Brookings, wanted to know if the bill outlined the warnings therapists must give to clients who opt for services that involve walking on backs. He also raised questions about record-keeping requirements.

“I have some concerns that it doesn’t go far enough,” said Deutsch, who works as a chiropractor.

Stalley said informed consent is part of the required training for therapists, but said there is no standard consent form requirement from the board. Such concerns about that and record-keeping could be addressed through rule-making, she said.

Rep. Scott Munsterman, the committee’s chairman and a chiropractor, encouraged Stalley and the board to consider those changes, in part as a way to further establish massage as a professional service in the state.

“We do have to think about public safety more broadly,” he said.

The bill was passed along to the full House of Representatives on a 12-0 vote.

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