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Permit Exemptions
If you touch people for pay in San Francisco and are not otherwise
exempted, as described below, you are probably under the authority of
the San Francisco Massage Ordinance. If you are interested in seeing
a practice exempted that is not described below (Rolfing, anyone?),
please send your rationale for exemption directly to Dr.
Johnson Ojo immediately.
- Permits are not required for practitioners who are already state
licensed or certificated in California as health care practitioners
who are performing massage as part of their health care practice.
This would include medical doctors, acupuncturists, nurses, chiropractors.
- A permit is also not required of state-licensed barbers, cosmetologist,
estheticians, or manicurists, as long as they are only doing the amount
of massage allowed in their scope of practice.
- Non-profit organizations with a legitimate federal tax exemption
are exempt from paying the filing and annual fees, however, they,
and their practitioners, still have to apply for the required permits
at the Department of Public Health.
- Dance Therapists/Teachers, Yoga Teachers, Personal Tainers, and
Martial Arts Instructors are exempt from this regulation as long as
the only touch they do is within the scope of practice of their profession.
In other words, if they try to run a massage business under the guise
one of these occupations, they will still have to get the appropriate
permits.
The City Attorney's office has reviewed information submitted about
various somatic and bodywork modalities that believe they should be
exempted. The following practices are currently exempted:
- Feldenkrais
- Polarity Therapy
- Touch for Health
- Jin Shuin Do
- Body-Mind Centering
The Director of DPH is allowed to make regulations more specifically
describing who is excluded from the law. As soon as I hear the definitive
word from DPH, I will post the approved exempt practices.
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