02Dec2008 - The Rough Draft is ready and available to read! Click HERE to open a PDF of the draft. (You will need to have Adobe Reader downloaded on your computer to open this file. If you need to download the software from Adobe to be able to open the file, Click Here. It's a free download.) There are several groups from whom we are awaiting feedback, so there will likely be slight changes made as it goes through that process, but we wanted to get this on the site so people can see the language for themselves and see what this is going to really look like. Please also bear in mind, once the bill goes into the legislative process, we loose creative control. If there are changes so substantial that we no longer can support it, we can go to the Legislative sponsor and ask them to pull it, but we are making every attempt to make sure there is as little need for that as possible. If you would like to be a part of this process please email the ALMT and lend a helping hand. We would love to have you be a part of the process. As you read through it,
Parts where there are a "#" mean there needs to be an official statute number inserted there, and this is done by the state once the bill is officially in the legislative process.
The fees section does not currently contain what the fees will be. This is something the state plugs in based on how many practitioners we have that will be paying Licensure fees, and unfortunately, we have very little say over it. The board must be completely paid for by the profession, and the state keeps the formula to themselves. We are estimating we will pay $150-200 for a 2 year license, with renewal of the license generally being about 2/3 of that cost. This estimate is based on what other professions pay who have roughly the same number of practitioners as we think we have, and who have their own regulatory board, as we are going for.
And at the very bottom of the last page, Article 2 of the bill is just a space holder for language that pertains to other statutes throughout the MN Statute code that need to be altered to accomodate the effects of this law.
If anything doesn't make sense or you have a question, go to the Contact the Alliancepage and you can use the simple form to ask your question or raise your concern.
01Nov2008 Update- The draft is almost ready for public consumption, as it is making its way through the last few checks from other organizations who we need to have on our side, but who may request that we consider some slight tweaks in our legislation's language. As soon as it is ready, we will post it here. Read further on this page to find out how the draft was crafted.
26Aug2008 Update - The Alliance for Licensing Massage Therapists Drafting Team has been volunteering their time to craft the strongest Massage Therapist Licensure law. We have Massage Therapists, Shiatsu and Asian Bodywork Therapists, a Reflexologist, members of AMTA, ABMP, therapists who have passed the National Certification Exam and those who have passed the new Massage and Bodywork Licensing Exam.
How is it Going to Work? The Steering Committee has compiled
the legislation of all 39 states plus the District of Columbia that
have passed Massage Therapy Legislation. We are splitting those laws
down into tables by Legislative Clause. So in other words, there will
be one table with 40 different Scopes of Practice, and another with 40
different Grandfathering Clauses, and still another with 40 different
Educational Requirements. If you volunteer to be on the team, you will
get one of these tables emailed to you in a Word document on a Thursday and you will have until the following Thursday to read through the
different versions and highlight the language you like or think would
be helpful in each state's wording. You'll then save the marked up
version and email it back to the Drafting Team Leader who will compile
the parts the team likes most in each law into what our clause will
look like. If you want to sign on for another week, we'll send you
another table of a different clause the next week. For the majority of
the work, it will be completed just like that, by email. You can work
on it all at once or a little at a time when it is convenient for your
schedule. Much like taking an online class. We will ask that you get
your response back by the specified time, but otherwise, you can work
on it at your own pace.
This Seems Like a Lot of Work. Don't We Have Bills That We Have Tried To Pass Before That We Can Just Re-Vamp?
We will be using the bills that have been tried before as templates,
but the fact of the matter is those bills didn't pass. And with all we
have going for us this time around, we want to write the best bill we
possibly can, and work in the ideas that we really want. We don't want
to walk into the most fertile Legislative climate we have had in a
decade and be asking for law that has been watered-down and picked
apart. We have the opportunity to write a law that will be a model for
the 10 other states that are also working on this same front at their
own Capitols.
Also, in corresponding with the leaders of states that have passed
legislation in recent years, we have heard from several who said they
wished they had taken the time to word their legislation more
carefully. Because now that it has been enacted, they are having to
back to the Legislature and fight to change wording that they wrote
themselves! By taking the time now to do it right, we can avoid much of
that.
I'm Pretty Busy. How Much Time Are We Talking About? Per week,
we are estimating about 1-1.5 hours to work through a clause. And if
you find it takes up too much of your time, just get that response back
to us, and let us know you don't want to do any more. We'll appreciate
any amount of help you can give, even if its is only helping pick the
wording of one clause. Overall, we are shooting to have the initial draft finished by the early part of September.
I'm a Massage Therapist. What Experience Could I Have that Would Qualify Me to Write a Law? The
fact that you are a Massage Therapist, or work with Massage Therapists
is all the experience you need. You know the problems we face in our
profession. You know the intricacies of how a Professional Massage
Therapy practice operates. And most importantly, you will be the ones
who will be governed by the law that is enacted. By seeing the
possibilities evidenced by what other states have passed, with your
experiences in the field, you are the perfect person to pick the
wording of these clauses.
I'm a Massage Therapy Student/Recently Graduated Massage
Therapist. Can I Still Help With This, Even Though I Am Not Really
Started/Just Getting Started? Absolutely, provided you feel you can
do this on top of your responsibilities to your studies. Students in
Massage Therapy school and recent grads often have a verve for the
profession that we veterans wish we still had. Not to mention that
those just coming into the profession stand to be governed by this law
for the longest amount of time, since they are just at the beginning of
their careers. Current Students and Recent Grads are welcome to take
part and join the Drafting Team.
I May Have a Conflict of Interest For One Or More Of The Clauses. Can I Still Help?
It is crucial for our effort to avoid even the hint of any Conflicts of
Interest. For instance, having a school owner being a part of writing
the Education Requirements clause would be a Conflict of Interest.
There is too much of a risk our being accused of writing the law in a
self-serving way. That being said, there will be several other clauses
that pose no such conflict that this same individual could be a part of
all-the-while raising no eyebrows. If we have enough people open to
volunteering to help craft this License, we can selectively assign
people to clauses that don't get our effort into hot water.
Is There a List of the Things We are Going to Be Putting Into the Law? Check out our "The Law We Want" page on this site. This page has the majority of the clauses and
the rationales behind those clauses. Check it out, and if there is a
specific clause you would like to help with, as long as there does not
exist any Conflict of Interest, we'll try to work it out.
What If I Have Questions? On the ALMT website, there is a
Frequently Asked Questions page ("FAQ About Licensure") so there's a
chance your question may already have been asked and answered there. If
not, You can get the answer you're looking for by using
the form on the "Contact the Alliance" page. We'll try to
get back to you as soon as possible.
I Don't Have Time to Help, But I Know a Couple Other Therapists Who Might Be Interested. How Can I Connect Them With You?
Email them the address for this site, call them and give them a head's up that this is going on,
send it by signing telegram... anything to just let them know what is going
on, and that they are welcome to be a part of it.
Are There Technical Requirements for My Computer? You just need
an internet connection and the ability to open an attached Microsoft
Word document. You also need to know how
to attach your saved Response Document to your response email.
Okay, Okay, How Do I Sign On As Part of the Drafting Team? The
first step is to get officially registered as a supporter with the
ALMT. You can do that by clicking the link to the "Forms, Forms, Forms" page where you'll find a free,
easy, online registration form to fill out. On your registration,
just
indicate that you want to help write the law.
We'll be in touch soon to let you how the specifics of how it will
work.
If you have any questions, let us know. Thank you for all you do for this profession. We look forward to working with you!
