Bill Text: NJ A3565 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Makes unauthorized practice of massage and bodywork therapies a crime.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-03-12 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Regulated Professions Committee [A3565 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A3565-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblyman TIM EUSTACE
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Makes unauthorized practice of massage and bodywork therapies a crime.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning unauthorized practice of massage and bodywork therapies and supplementing Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. A person is guilty of a crime of the third degree if he is required to be licensed to practice massage and bodywork therapies pursuant to the "Massage and Bodywork Therapist Licensing Act" P.L.1999, c.19 (C.45:11-53 et seq.) and P.L.2007, c.337 (C.45:11-68 et al.) and he knowingly does not possess a license to practice massage and bodywork therapies, or knowingly has had such license suspended, revoked or otherwise limited by an order entered by the New Jersey Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy established pursuant to section 14 of P.L.2007, c.337 (C.45:11-69), and he:
a. engages in the practice of massage and bodywork therapies;
b. exceeds the scope of practice permitted by the board order;
c. holds himself out to the public or any person as being eligible to engage in that practice;
d. engages in any activity for which such license is a necessary prerequisite; or
e. practices massage and bodywork therapies under a false or assumed name or falsely impersonates another person licensed by the board.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would make the unauthorized practice of massage and bodywork therapies a crime of the third degree
Currently, under the law massage and bodywork therapists are licensed to practice pursuant to the "Massage and Bodywork Therapist Licensing Act," P.L.1999, c.19 (C.45:11-53 et seq.) and P.L.2007, c.337 (C.45:11-68 et al.). This bill would make it a crime of the third degree if a person who knowingly does not possess a license to practice massage and bodywork therapies, or knowingly has had such license suspended, revoked or otherwise limited by an order entered by the New Jersey Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy: (1) engages in the practice of massage and bodywork therapies; (2) exceeds the scope of practice permitted by the board order; (3) holds himself out to the public or any person as being eligible to engage in that practice; (4) engages in any activity for which such license is a necessary prerequisite; or (5) practices massage and bodywork therapies under a false or assumed name or falsely impersonates another person licensed by the board. A crime of the third degree is punishable by a term of imprisonment of three to five years, a fine of up to $15,000, or both.
By criminalizing the unauthorized practice of massage and bodywork therapy, the bill would add these therapists to the list of professions under Title 45 of the Revised Statutes for which unauthorized activity related to their professional practice is made criminal under Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes, the Criminal Code. Those professions are: medicine and surgery, podiatry, acupuncture, dentistry, psychology, chiropractic, social work and psychoanalysis.
This bill is based on recommendations issued by the Polaris Project in their January 2018 report, "Human Trafficking in Illicit Massage Businesses."
