License All Massage Businesses

Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new article 40 to read as follows:

ARTICLE 40

LICENSING OF MASSAGE THERAPY

BUSINESSES Section 900. Definitions.

901. License required.

902. Powers of the secretary.

903. Rules and regulations.

904. Massage therapy business license; requirements.

905. License application; procedure; requirements.

906. Licenses; display; renewal; duplicates.

907. Fees.

908. Administration.

909. Denial of license; complaints; notice of hearing.

910. Penalties.

911. Judicial review.

912. Official acts used as evidence.

913. Disposition of moneys.

914. Application of article.

915. Separability clause.

§ 900. Definitions. As used in this article, unless context requires otherwise:

1. "Department" means the department of state.

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD05587-01-9

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2. "Licensee" means a person licensed pursuant to this article to operate a massage therapy business.

3. "Massage therapy" means the practice of massage therapy, as defined in section seventy-eight hundred one of the education law.

4. "Massage therapy business" means the business of providing massage therapy to the public at a fixed location.

5. "Person" means an individual, firm, limited liability company, partnership or corporation.

6. "Secretary" means secretary of state.

§ 901. License required. No person shall own, control or operate, whether as a sole proprietor, partner, shareholder, officer, independent contractor or other person, a massage therapy business without having received a license for such business in the manner provided in this article.

§ 902. Powers of the secretary. In addition to the powers and duties elsewhere prescribed in this article, the secretary shall have power to:

1. Appoint a sufficient number of assistants, inspectors and other employees as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this article, to prescribe their duties, and to fix their compensation within the amount appropriated therefor;

2. Examine the qualifications and fitness of applicants for licenses to operate massage therapy businesses;

3. Keep records of all licenses issued, suspended or revoked, or orders directing the cessation of unlicensed activities;

4. Assist the education department in the implementation and enforcement of the provisions of article one hundred fifty-five of the education law; and

5. Adopt such rules and regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this article or article one hundred fifty-five of the education law, as may be necessary with respect to the form and content of applications for licenses, the reception thereof, the investigation and examination of applicants, and the other matters incidental or appropriate to the powers and duties of the secretary as prescribed by this article and for the proper administration and enforcement of the provisions of this article.

§ 903. Rules and regulations. The secretary, in consultation with the state board for massage therapy, shall promulgate rules and regulations which establish standards for practice and operation by licensees under this article in order to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the public including persons licensed or authorized to practice massage therapy pursuant to article one hundred fifty-five of the education law when they are working within a massage therapy business. Such rules and regulations shall include, but not be limited to, the sanitary conditions and procedures required to be maintained, and the provision of service by massage therapists, masseurs and masseuses at remote locations other than such professional's home provided that such practitioner holds a massage therapy business license to operate at a fixed location or is employed by the holder of a massage therapy business license.

§ 904. Massage therapy business license; requirements. 1. Any person who receives a massage therapy business license shall operate such business at the location named in the license and in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the secretary pursuant to section nine hundred three of this article. Any or all of the practices regulated by article one hundred fifty-five of the education law may be provided under one massage therapy business license so long as each

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practitioner is licensed pursuant to article one hundred fifty-five of the education law.

2. Each massage therapy business licensee shall file and maintain during the term of the license evidence of a bond or liability insurance.

§ 905. License application; procedure; requirements. 1. a. Any person intending to own or operate a massage therapy business, shall first make application to the secretary for a license therefor.

b. Such application shall be in a form and manner prescribed by the secretary and shall contain such information as, in the secretary's judgment, is reasonable and necessary to determine the qualifications and fitness for licensing of the applicant.

c. The application shall be subscribed by the applicant and affirmed under penalty of perjury.

d. Each application shall be accompanied by the appropriate fee as prescribed by this article.

2. a. Any person, eighteen years of age or older, or any firm, limited liability company, partnership or corporation having at least one member eighteen years of age or older may apply to the secretary for a massage therapy business license.

b. Each such application for a massage therapy business license shall be accompanied by evidence of a bond or liability insurance.

3. Notwithstanding any provision contained in this article to the contrary, if any person, eligible for any license pursuant to this article, should be called to active military service at or during the time application for any license is required to be filed and license fee paid, pursuant to the provisions of this article, the period within which said application may be filed and license fee may be paid, is extended on behalf of such person, until three months after the termination of said military service.

§ 906. Licenses; display; renewal; duplicates. 1. All licenses shall expire four years from the date of issuance.

2. No license shall be assignable or transferrable except pursuant to the provisions of this article.

3. A massage therapy business license may be assigned. When the massage therapy business licensee is a partnership or a limited liability company, or a corporation, the license may be assigned upon the consent of all members of a partnership or a majority of the voting members of a limited liability company or the majority shareholders of a corporation, respectively. The application for such transfer or assignment must be accompanied by proof satisfactory to the department that the requirements provided in this subdivision have been complied with. No assignment or transfer shall become effective unless and until the endorsement has been made on the face of the license by the department and such license, as endorsed, has been returned to the assignee or transferee. All such requests for endorsements shall be accompanied by a five dollar fee. A bona fide purchaser of a licensed massage therapy business may continue to use the license of the seller for a period of thirty days from the date of the sale, provided there is endorsed on the face thereof the name of the purchaser, the date of the sale, and the signatures of the seller and the purchaser; and provided further within five working days from the date of the sale an application, in accordance with the provisions of this article, shall be presented by the purchaser to the secretary for a massage therapy business license.

4. A massage therapy business license issued to an individual or to a partnership may be used after the death of the licensed individual or

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co-partner by the next of kin or duly appointed administrator or executor in the name of the estate for a period of not more than one hundred twenty days from the date of death of such individual or co-partner provided that there is endorsed upon the face of the license certificate after the name of the decedent the word "deceased", the date of death and the name of the next of kin, administrator or executor under whose authority the license is being used; the period of one hundred twenty days aforesaid may be extended upon application to the secretary and for good cause shown for an additional period not to exceed one hundred twenty days. Any license so continued which shall expire during such period of one hundred twenty days or the extension thereof may be renewed by the next of kin, administrator or executor for the balance of such period or the extension thereof.

5. A license certificate issued pursuant to this article shall be posted in some conspicuous place in the licensed premises. At the entrance to each licensed premises or at the entrance to any place where the practice of massage therapy is conducted, a sign shall be posted which shall include the rules and regulations governing such practice and a manner in which aggrieved persons may register a complaint with the department or education department. The department shall prepare and furnish such sign to each licensee.

6. Any license, which has not been suspended or revoked, may, upon the payment of the renewal fee, be renewed for additional periods of four years from its application, upon the filing of an application for such renewal, on a form to be prescribed by the secretary.

7. Any person failing to file for renewal of a license pursuant to the provisions of this article within one year immediately following the expiration of such person's last license shall pay an additional fee of ten dollars.

8. A duplicate license certificate may be issued for one lost, destroyed or mutilated upon the application therefor on a form prescribed by the secretary and the payment of the fee prescribed therefor by this article. Each such duplicate license shall have the word "duplicate" stamped across the face thereof and shall bear the same number as the one it replaces.

9. Notice in writing shall be given to the secretary at the office of the secretary in Albany by the holder of a massage therapy business license of any change of address. The licensee shall correct the address on the license upon the filing of such notice.

10. Any licensee who fails to file any notice of change in the status of a license required by the provisions of this article shall be subject to the monetary fines set forth in section nine hundred eight of this article.

§ 907. Fees. 1. The fee for a massage therapy business license shall be sixty dollars initially and sixty dollars for each renewal thereof.

2. Fees collected pursuant to this article shall be deposited to the credit of the business and licensing services account established pursuant to the provisions of section ninety-seven-y of the state finance law.

3. The fee for issuing a duplicate license certificate, in substitution for one lost, destroyed or mutilated shall be ten dollars.

4. The fee for changing a name on a massage therapy business license shall be thirty dollars.

5. The fees set forth in this article shall be those for licenses issued for the license period of four years.

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§ 908. Administration. 1. Suspension and revocation of licenses or registrations; fines; reprimands. A license issued pursuant to this article may be suspended or revoked, or a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars payable to the department may be imposed for any one or more of the following causes:

a. Fraud or bribery in securing a license.

b. The making of any false statement as to a material matter in any application or other statement or certificate required by or pursuant to this article.

c. Incompetence or untrustworthiness.

d. Failure to display the license as provided in this article.

e. Violation of any provision of this article or article one hundred fifty-five of the education law, or of any rule or regulation adopted pursuant thereto.