Even with revisions, massage therapists say key provisions in a proposed Santa Barbara ordinance aimed at stamping out prostitution still rubs them the wrong way.
Therapists and industry leaders urged the City Council’s Ordinance Committee to take more time with the proposal to work out some tight spots. On that point, the therapists got their way: The committee decided to resume the discussion Jan. 13 rather than recommend passage to the full council.
Therapists should be certified but any new law “needs to be done correctly,” said Paul Freedom, a local masseur.
The city wants to overhaul the massage law to give police more power to deal with fronts for prostitution and human trafficking. The city’s current law hasn’t been updated since 1976 and isn’t in compliance with state law.
The latest version would allow police officers to make unannounced inspections of massage studios, require fingerprinting of administrative staff and mandate that establishments provide a list of employees to the department.
Permit fees would increase from the current $25 to $275 for sole proprietors every two years and $375 for massage studios every year. Therapists would be required to have California Massage Therapy Council certification — a sore point for therapists with decades of experience who would have to seek up to 250 hours of additional training.
Yet the city has already made concessions from earlier versions of the proposal. After a hearing last month, city staff said they are willing to lift a limitation on hours of operation. They also recommended making the sole proprietor fee good for two years instead of one and underscored that unannounced inspections would occur only in reaction to complaints.
“This isn’t about raids or searches. This is about inspections,” Police Chief Kelly Gordon said. Those inspections could be a “great tool” for eliminating unsavory operators, reducing the need for time-consuming investigations. The fingerprinting requirement alone would help protect therapists and their customers by weeding out receptionists or other administrative staff convicted of sex-related crimes.
She indicated she was sympathetic to massage therapists’ concerns and recognized the value of their work.
“There’s no way you can do this job as long as I have without needing a tweak here or there,” Gordon said.
But even with the changes, therapists and industry supporters remained unconvinced that the law is ready for enactment.
Fingerprinting receptionists and other administrative workers in massage studios is an unnecessary burden, said Dustin Hoiseth, public policy director for the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce. He also took issue with the requirement for veteran therapists to have to return to school.
“How do those extra 250 hours help with enforcement of prostitution and human trafficking?” Hoiseth asked.
In urging the city to take a more careful approach to the ordinance overhaul, Katie Mickey, owner of the Santa Barbara Body Therapy Institute, said honest, ethical establishments were being targeted instead of crackdowns by police on illegal operators.
“Why is law enforcement turning a blind eye to this activity?” she asked.
In the end, the largest source of agreement appeared to be that more time and study needs to go into the proposal.
There’s some “good tools” that could bring more respect to the profession, but it could “use a little more review,” said Beverly May, government affairs director for the California Massage Therapy Council.
