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September 24, 2004: Legal Home-Based Massage is Going to Happen! Greetings SFOrdinance ListMembers, In my last update reporting on the second DPH public hearing, I neglected to mention that, after the meeting, I decided to raise the one major outstanding issue for therapeutic massage practitioners: being able to legally work out of our homes in residentially zoned locations. Our original Coalition had decided to separate that issue from moving the permitting process from the Police Department to the Department of Public Health. However, we knew that this issue would have to be dealt with at some point, because most professional massage probably does operate in practitioner's living rooms. I am not certain why I made the decision, but when a reporter from the Bay Area Reporter (BAR) asked for some comments after the public hearing, I decided, "What the heck; if not now, when?" I described the dilemma of home-based practitioners and suggested that Supervisor Bevan Dufty was familiar with this issue and might be a good person to speak with. The BAR reporter, Matthew Bajko, did just that and Dufty immediately contacted the city zoning administrator, Larry Badiner, for some help. What happened next was a total out-of-left-field surprise. Bajko reported in the current issue of the BAR that: "In an email to Dufty last week, Badiner explained that Planning Code Section 204.1 allows for a "licensed professional" to operate a business out of their home. In the past, this applied to doctors who had offices at home, but Badiner explained that, with the changes in today's health services, the code's exemption has been broadened to other health care professionals" "Badiner wrote that, 'licensed massage practitioners would fall under this provision and would be allowed to operate out of their home.'" So, it turns out that the Planning Department is not the obstacle that we thought it would be. However, that is not the end of the story. Since a home-based business was never considered in the drafting of the original ordinance, there is no provision for a business license that would actually allow a practitioner to operate at home. Also in play is the question of whether the practitioner category allowed to practice at home would be the General (100 hours) of Advanced (200 hours) Practitioner permit. I have indicated to DPH that, by requiring Solo Massage Practitioner Establishments to be operated only by Advanced Practitioners the Board of Supervisors was indicating that it wanted to limit a solo private practice to more experienced practitioners. Thus, home-based work should also be limited to private practitioners. DPH is committed to working through these issues and is checking with the City Attorney's office in the next week to see what can be done without further legislation. However, if clean-up language is required for the ordinance, Dufty is now on public record as saying that he will sponsor it. One thing is certain, that DPH has no interest in having on-site inspections being a part of their job for home businesses. We are talking about a list of guidelines for hygienic operation as an alternative. A big thank you goes out to Matthew Bajko for following up on this story; to Bevan Dufty spear heading a very creative solution created by Larry Badiner; and to Rajiv Bhatia and Johnson Ojo at DPH for their ongoing commitment to bringing the largest number of massage professionals out of the legal mists and into the light of day. There will be a few weeks of confusion as all of these issues get sorted, but please bear with us for we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have also posted a new topic for feedback and questions, if you want to raise other issues around home businesses that will need to be addressed. go to http://touchpro.typepad.com/sford/. In touch, P.S. As always, please feel free to forward this email to your colleagues
or constituents and encourage them to sign up on the website so they
are kept up-to-date.
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