By: Rose (Senate Sponsor - West) H.B. No. 2644
         (In the Senate - Received from the House May 14, 2007;
  May 15, 2007, read first time and referred to Committee on Health
  and Human Services; May 18, 2007, reported favorably by the
  following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 18, 2007, sent to printer.)
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the requirements for a massage therapist license.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 455.156(b), Occupations Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (b)  An applicant for a license under this section must be an
  individual and:
               (1)  present evidence satisfactory to the department
  that the person[:
                     [(A)]  has satisfactorily completed massage
  therapy studies in a 500-hour minimum [300-hour], supervised course
  of instruction provided by a massage therapy instructor at a
  massage school, a licensed massage school, a state-approved
  educational institution, or any combination of instructors or
  schools, in which at least:
                     (A)  200 [(i)  125] hours are taught by a licensed
  massage therapy instructor and dedicated to the study of massage
  therapy techniques and theory and the practice of manipulation of
  soft tissue, with at least 125 hours dedicated to the study of
  Swedish massage therapy techniques [and taught by a massage therapy
  instructor];
                     (B) [(ii)]  50 hours are dedicated to the study of
  anatomy;
                     (C) [(iii)]  25 hours are dedicated to the study
  of physiology;
                     (D)  50 hours are dedicated to the study of
  kinesiology;
                     (E)  40 hours are dedicated to the study of
  pathology;
                     (F)  20 [(iv)  15] hours are dedicated to the
  study of hydrotherapy;
                     (G)  45 [(v)  15] hours are dedicated to the study
  of massage therapy laws and rules, business practices, and
  professional ethics standards;
                     (H) [(vi)]  20 hours are dedicated to the study of
  health, [and] hygiene, first aid, universal precautions, and
  cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); and
                     (I) [(vii)]  50 hours are spent in an internship
  program; [or
                     [(B)     has practiced massage therapy as a
  profession for not less than five years in another state or country
  that the department determines does not maintain standards and
  requirements of practice and licensing or registration that
  substantially conform to the standards and requirements of this
  state;]
               (2)  pass the [practical and] written [portions of the]
  state examination; and
               (3)  be at least 18 years of age.
         SECTION 2.  Except as provided by Section 3 of this Act, the
  changes in law made by this Act to Section 455.156, Occupations
  Code, apply only to a license applicant who enrolls in a massage
  therapist training program for the first time on or after the
  effective date of this Act. An applicant who enrolled in a massage
  therapist training program for the first time before that date is
  governed by the law in effect immediately before the effective date
  of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that
  purpose.
         SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act by the
  deletion of former Section 455.156(b)(1)(B), Occupations Code,
  applies only to an application for a license filed on or after the
  effective date of this Act.  A license application filed before that
  date is governed by the law in effect at the time the application is
  filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect January 1, 2008.
 
  * * * * *