Amend HB 2644 by adding the following appropriately numbered
SECTIONS to the bill and renumbering existing SECTIONS
appropriately:
SECTION ___. Section 455.151, Occupations Code, is amended
by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsections (c) and (d) to
read as follows:
(b) Unless the person is exempt from the licensing
requirement, a person may not represent that the person is a massage
therapist, massage school, massage therapy instructor, or massage
establishment unless the person holds an appropriate [a] license
under this chapter.
(c) A person may not for compensation perform or offer to
perform any service with a purported health benefit that involves
physical contact with a client unless the person:
(1) holds an appropriate license issued under this
chapter; or
(2) is licensed or authorized under other law to
perform the service.
(d) The department may issue one or more types of licenses
not otherwise provided for by this chapter that authorize the
license holder to perform a service described by Subsection (c).
The department may adopt rules governing a license issued under
this subsection.
SECTION ___. Section 455.155(c), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) A place of business is not required to hold a license
under this chapter if:
(1) the place of business is owned by the federal
government, the state, or a political subdivision of the state;
(2) at the place of business, a licensed massage
therapist practices as a solo practitioner and:
(A) does not use a business name or assumed name;
or
(B) uses a business name or an assumed name and
provides the massage therapist's full legal name or license number
in each advertisement and each time the business name or assumed
name appears in writing;
(3) at the place of business, an acupuncturist,
athletic trainer, chiropractor, cosmetologist, midwife, nurse,
occupational therapist, perfusionist, physical therapist,
physician, physician assistant, podiatrist, respiratory care
practitioner, or surgical assistant licensed or certified in this
state employs or contracts with a licensed massage therapist to
provide massage therapy as part of the person's practice; or
(4) at the place of business, a person offers to
perform or performs massage therapy:
(A) for not more than 72 hours in any six-month
period; and
(B) as part of a public or charity event, the
primary purpose of which is not to provide massage therapy. [The
executive commissioner by rule shall provide for a fair and
reasonable procedure to grant exemptions from the licensing
requirements of this chapter. The rules must provide that a person
is exempt if the person shows that the advertising or provision of
massage therapy services is incidental to the person's primary
enterprise.]