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This website is dedicated to
creating a favorable regulatory environment for therapeutic massage
practitioners, bodyworkers, and their clients.
Phase One - Mission accomplished!
This site was the original home for the San Francisco Coalition of
Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork Practitioners. Our group was instrumental
in helping to develop and pass legislation in 2003 moving the regulation
of massage businesses and practitioners from the Police Department to
the Department of Public Health (go
to DPH website). The new ordinance went into effect July 1st 2004.
You can use the links at the top and bottom of the page to browse some
of our history prior to passage.
Phase Two - The Ongoing Challenge
While Phase One was a huge step, issues still remained. For example,
practitioners working in home-based businesses were still not legal,
the 1,000-feet restriction between massage businesses, the lack of a
single category for chair massage businesses, and, perhaps most importantly,
the removal of all criminals trafficking in the human sex slave trace
and using massage businesses as a cover.
If you are interested in supporting these intiatives, you can add
your name to our email list, which will keep you up-to-date about
the issues and our efforts to make San Francisco a true massage-friendly
city.
This website will post all of our mailings that define the issues,
ask for your comments, and report back with the results.
For example...
Up until recently, no one was allowed to have a private practice for
massage in their home, if they were living in a residential district.
Due primarily to the efforts of the members of this website, a ruling
was obtained from the head of the Planning Commission that home-based
massage businesses were permitted, as long as the practitioner had either
a General or Advanced Practitioner permit from the Department of Public
health.
This was a huge win that has allowed hundreds of massage and bodywork
professionals to come out of hiding and advertise their services without
fear of being arrested.
Painless "To Do" list...
You can also be a part of building a "sustainable" future
for massage in San Francisco. Read about the issues below and what we
are doing about them here. Then, register your
support by signing up on our email list. And, as a suggestion for
your first step toward political activism, get all of your friends who
are massage or bodywork professionals and all of your clients, to sign
up as well.
Stay Informed! Here are some important
steps to get educated and keep up to date:
- Join our email list. The new legislation
went into effect on July 1, 2004. This site now provides information
about the implementation process and the development of new regulations
and procedures. If you would like to be kept informed of the latest
news, sign up on our email list.
- Browse the two sections below, Latest
News and Documents to bring you
up to date.
- Check out the Frequently Asked Questions
page where I try to post answers to common issues that have come up.
- Ask questions or make comments. I have added a simple forum
where you can leave your feedback and questions about the new regulations.
Check it out...
- Go to the Department
of Public Health website. There you can read about the DPH procedures
and download permit applications
Please note: This website has no affiliation with DPH. It is an independent
project of David
Palmer.
Update on the need for new chair massage
legislation
For the past 16 months I have been deeply immersed in the development
and launch of a innovative concept in the delivery of chair massage
services. This has highlighted dramatically the need for new legislation
for chair massage. Check
out the full story and leave your comments on our affiliated blog.
**Breaking news - Home Business OK**
After many months of meeting with DPH and the Planning Department, the
Planning Department ruled that home-based massage businesses do not
require one of the three business permits currently in effect (Establishment,
Solo Establishment, and Outcall). This is potentially one of the most
significant changes to occur in massage regulation in San Francisco.
You will now be able to legally work out of your residence with only
a Practitioner or Advanced Practitioner permit. We all know that the
bulk of massage in San Francisco is practiced by people working out
of their homes, so this is an opportunity for us to "come out of
the closet" and never be afraid to advertise again. You can read
DPH's statement
on the new ruling here.
**More Breaking News**
On June 7, 2005, a resolution introduced by Supervisor Fiona Ma appeared
before the full Board of Supervisors for a vote. The resolution would
have amended the planning code to require all new massage establishment
businesses be classified as "conditional use". That means
that each new applicant would have to post signs in the neighborhood
before opening up to give the neighbors a chance to come to an open
meeting of the full Planning Commission, in effect creating another
very large, and potentially expensive hoop for massage businesses to
jump through. Alerted on the day of the meeting, I sent a fax to all
of the Supervisors asking them to send the legislation back to committee
on the grounds that the massage community had no input in the discussion.
Fortunately, that is exactly what the Board did. I met withSupervisor
Ma, at her request, yesterday. Read the
report of the meeting and the exciting new changes that have been
initated.
**Final News**
I am beginning an initiative to have the regulation of chair massage
treated differently from table massage. If you are interested in reading
more about the rationale, go to
the July 12, 2005 update.
Latest news (click date to read
more)
This is a list of the emails sent to our members. The most current email
is first. Please note that some of the information in the older emails
has been clarified in newer emails.
July 14, 2005
Progress
all around
July 12, 2005
Home-Based
Massage now legal; new threat; proposed chair massage amendment
September 24,
2004
Legal
Home-Based Massage is Going to Happen!
September 13,
2004
Public Hearing releases new Rules and Regulations.
September 10,
2004
2nd Public Hearing on new Ordinance
coming up.
July 23, 2004
New procedures and forms on DPH website. Click
here.
June 28, 2004
Impressive turnout for DPH Public Implementation Workshop. Latest policies
and procedures.
June
9, 2004
Public information meeting, sponsored by the Department of Public
Health, scheduled for June 28, 2004.
June
4, 2004
No fingerprinting and other updates
March
11, 2004
Test development meeting with DPH
March
4, 2004
First meeting with DPH regarding implementation
December
2003
A time for celebration - Our massage ordinance passed!
Documents
The documents below can be downloaded in RTF format (which can
be read by most word processors) or PDF format (which requires
Adobe
Reader).
- DPH Rules and Regulations, as of Sept 10, 2004 [RTF]
[PDF]
- Fact Sheet of Major Changes [RTF]
[PDF]
- The New SF Massage Ordinance effective July 1, 2004 [RTF]
[PDF]
- The Old San Francisco Massage Ordinance [RTF]
[PDF]
- Legislative Analysis of the differences between the old and new
ordinances [RTF] [PDF]
This Website
This website is an information resource developed by David
Palmer who threw it together and attempts to keep it relevant and
useful. David is hosting it on the servers for his business website
www.touchpro.com. If something
doesn't work right on this website, blame him and drop
him an email.
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