BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 491

By: Thompson

Licensing & Administrative Procedures

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

According to the Texas Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice, illicit massage businesses (IMBs) serve as fronts for commercial sex operations, often involving victims of human trafficking, while operating under the guise of legitimate bodywork or massage businesses and using deceptive licensing and business practices to avoid detection. Since Children at Risk first mapped the proximity of IMBs to Texas public schools in 2018, the number of IMBs has more than doubled from approximately 689 to over 1,500. The bill author has informed the committee that in a traditional police sting operation, women who are victimized by these establishments are most commonly subjected to criminal punishment, while the owners of IMBs profit from the criminal conduct and skirt accountability. Additionally, victims forced to work in IMBs are often isolated, traumatized, terrified of their traffickers, and face language barriers that make it difficult for them to understand and trust law enforcement. Further, while local attorneys typically secure injunctions to shut down IMBs, some are able to simply re-brand and re-open nearby, rendering an injunction a temporary fix that does little to impact their profitability or long-term operations. C.S.H.B. 491 seeks to ensure that civil penalties recovered for violations of state law or rules regulating massage therapy stay within the applicable local jurisdictions to reinvest in further human trafficking investigations, victim support services, and law enforcement training and to hinder IMBs from reopening by requiring the penalties recovered by a district, county, or municipal attorney for such violations to be deposited to the applicable county's or municipality's general fund and used only for purposes of combatting human trafficking.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 491 amends the Occupations Code to require a civil penalty recovered by a district or county attorney in an action filed against a person who violates state laws or rules regulating massage therapy to be deposited to the credit of the general fund of the county where the court is located and used only for purposes of combatting human trafficking. The bill requires a civil penalty recovered by a municipal attorney in such an action to be deposited to the credit of the municipality's general fund and used only for purposes of combatting human trafficking.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 491 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute includes a specification not present in the introduced that the civil penalty recovered by a district, county, or municipal attorney in an action against a person who violates state laws or rules regulating massage therapy is to be used only for purposes of combatting human trafficking.