Bill Text: NJ S3035 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Exempts persons practicing certain techniques from the provisions of the "Massage and Bodywork Therapist Licensing Act."
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-11-14 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Commerce Committee [S3035 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-S3035-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator ANTHONY R. BUCCO
District 25 (Morris and Somerset)
SYNOPSIS
Exempts persons practicing certain techniques from the provisions of the "Massage and Bodywork Therapist Licensing Act."
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning massage and bodywork therapy and amending P.L.2007, c.337.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 13 of P.L.2007, c.337 (C.45:11-68) is amended to read as follows:
13. Nothing in the "Massage and Bodywork Therapist Licensing Act," P.L.1999, c.19 (C.45:11-53 et seq.), shall be construed to prohibit:
a. [Nothing in this amendatory and supplementary act shall be construed to prohibit any] Any person licensed to practice in this State under any other law from engaging in or using titles consistent with the practice for which he is licensed or to prohibit any student enrolled in a program of massage and bodywork therapies recognized by the board from performing massage and bodywork therapies which are necessary to his course of study.
b. [Nothing in this amendatory and supplementary act shall be construed to prohibit any] Any person from performing massage and bodywork therapies in this State, if those therapies are performed for no more than 45 days in a calendar year and for no more than 30 days in any 60-consecutive day period and provided that the person is duly licensed, certified or registered to practice massage and bodywork therapy in another state or the District of Columbia.
c. [Nothing in this amendatory and supplementary act shall be construed to prohibit any] Any person from engaging in the manipulation of soft tissue of the human body contained on hands, feet or ears, provided that the client does not remove any clothing other than shoes or socks.
d. [Nothing in this amendatory and supplementary act shall be construed to prohibit any] Any teacher from demonstrating massage and bodywork techniques while teaching a class or workshop if the individual is duly licensed by another state or possession of the United States or the District of Columbia to practice massage and bodywork therapies if that state or district of residence requires such licensure for an individual to practice massage and bodywork therapies.
e. [Nothing in this
amendatory and supplementary act shall be construed to prohibit any] Any person from
using touch, words and directed movement to deepen awareness of existing
patterns of movement in the body, or to suggest new possibilities of movement
provided that these services are not designated or implied to be
massage and bodywork therapy and the client is fully clothed.
f. Any person from practicing techniques that involve structured touch or resting hands on the surface of the client's body to affect energy fields of the body, without delivering pressure or manipulating soft tissue, while the client is fully clothed.
(cf: P.L.2007, c.337, s.13)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill exempts from the provisions of the "Massage and Bodywork Therapist Licensing Act" persons practicing techniques involving structured touch or resting hands on the surface of a client's body to affect energy fields of the body, without delivering pressure or manipulating soft tissue, while the client is fully clothed.
This bill is intended to allow current practitioners of structured touch techniques, such as Healing Touch practitioners, to continue to practice without having to be licensed as massage and bodywork therapists. Practitioners of techniques involving structured touch or resting hands on the surface of a client's body are not currently required to be licensed as massage and bodywork therapists, but the New Jersey Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy recently adopted rules that would require these practitioners to be licensed. Licensure is not appropriate for these practitioners because touch therapies differ from massage in that they do not involve the manipulation of a client's soft tissue or the removal of a client's clothing.
