A bill to implement licensing of massage therapists and Oriental body-workers was introduced in the 97-98 session of the Minnesota Legislature. Known as HF 1135 in the House and SF 1101 in the Senate, this bill was the work of a number of massage school owners, certain massage/body-work organizations and their hired lobbyists. HF 1135 was vigorously opposed by a large coalition of body-workers in the state that stood to lose out under this bill (guess who would benefit financially...). After heated debate in the Health and Human Services committee, the bill was withdrawn from consideration without a vote.
* HF 1135 was passed from the subcommittee on Feb. 2 back up to the Health and Human Services committee. HHS will vote on the bill and if it passes, bring it to the next level (the full House, I believe). Unlike the subcommittee hearings, the committee will hold no public hearings and will vote in private. There will be no public forum to comment on the bill at this level. Please write, phone, and email!
* There will be an informational meeting at Lyndale Congregational Church, 801 W. 31st St. (at the corner of Aldrich Av. S. and 31st St.) in Minneapolis. It takes place on Monday, Feb. 9 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM CST. Some House Members will be present at this meeting. This is a last chance meeting to find out more about HF 1135, and to talk to the Representatives that will be voting on it. Don't expect any more public hearings during the House deliberations.
* It is critical that people clear their schedule to be at the House Health and Human Services Committee Meeting on Tues. Feb. 10. Rep. John Dorn is the chair. The meeting begins at 10:00 AM, breaks for session and resumes at approx. 2:30 PM. Difficult as this is, unless this bill is addressed now, we could be forced to live with it. If you haven't read the revised registration version (since it possibly may be available only by Monday, Feb 9, there's no way the average interested party could be informed), don't assume you know what the ramifications of this bill are! Please come if you can!
(Addendum, 2-9: There are a number of important amendments on the table to soften the impact of this bill that will be considered by this meeting. They include one by Rep. Boudreau that would delete many undesirable aspects of the bill. Since the amendments aren't available yet in some cases, it's difficult to assess their true impact.)
Outcome: In the face of last minute amendents, Rep. McCollum (HF 1135's sponsor) moved to "table" the bill, cutting off further discussion and voting, as well as removing the bill from consideration for the time being. It is not certain at this time what the long-term consequences of this move are, but the implications were "We'll be back!" It is also not known how this affects the proceedings in the Senate.
* It appears final consideration of the House bill by the committees involved will conclude by Feb 13th. If it passes, Senate consideration in committee will be swift, completed by Feb 20th at the latest. So make sure you include the Senate when you contact legislators, as there won't be much time to sway minds. Basically, the Senate is looking at what the House does and will take it from there.
On Feb 10, the House Health and Human Resources Committee "tabled" HF 1135, effectively removing the bill from consideration in the House this session and prematurely cutting off discussion and resolution of the issues. We are still trying to find out exactly what repercussions this parliamentary move has for the bill (or a different bill in the future) in the long run. At this time, it is unknown what actions the Senate will take on SF 1011 before Feb 20. Stay tuned!
Also, look for the city of Minneapolis to start discussing a municipal licensing bill in the near future, to cover the void left by no action at the state level.
A "kinder, gentler" version of the old HF 1135 is being reintroduced in the house, called HF0685. There is a second, alternative bill in the pipeline that appears to be worth supporting (if there has to be government involvement of some kind). Rather than just voting against the old bill, we now have an alternative bill, HF0537, that we can tell representative to vote for.
This Jan. 16 & 17 the MTMN will hold it's annual conference at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park. On Saturday Dr. Albert Schatz will be the speaker. He is the editor of the Massage Law Newsletter and has had a key role of stopping restrictive massage regulation legislation in Pennsylvania. He will be talking about dousing, energy work, complementary medicine and the future with western med., legislative alternatives and how to deal with legislative attempts.
The conference has breakdown prices. $150 for both days. $75 per day. On Sunday each of the one hour programs are available for $20 each. Contact the MTMN (contact info listed below) for more info (they have a brochure for the conference). Or just walk-in at Methodist Hospital on Jan 16-17. Registration starts at 8 AM.
There are two bills coming before the HHS Committee. The first one, the Complementary and Alternative Health Care Freedom of Access Act (HF0537 and SF0689) is the "hands off us" bill that is being supported by much of the alternative therapy community -- let legislators know you support this bill! You can get a copy of this bill online, as it was introduced on Feb 8. If you familiarize yourself with the bill (the legalese isn't all that bad), you'll be able to discuss it with legislators more credibly when you contact them.
There is a reincarnation of last year's Massage Licensure bill (known as HF1135 last year) also being submitted on Feb 11. The language of last year's version is softened somewhat, but it's basically the same old obnoxious bill. It's called Licensure of Massage Therapists and Oriental Bodywork Therapists (or something like that, HF0685, SF1042). They need to hear your opposition to this bill.
There's a public informational meeting with the Senators and Representatives behind the Complementary and Alternative Health Care Freedom of Access bill. It's held at Bethlehem Lutheran Church (in the church basement) at 4100 Lyndale Av. S. in Minneapolis on Thursday, Feb. 18, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. It's a good chance to talk with the legislators working for our community of healers and clients, and to show your support for this bill.
Not much advance notice on this meeting. This is an "author's presentation" hearing for about a dozen bills being introduced in the Health and Human Services Committee. In effect, this is a meeting to acquaint committee members with the bills (from the author's point of view). It is not a general hearing with people testifying pro/con the bills. Nonetheless, if the day job permits, it's good to lend your body in silent support of your positions. Both HF0537 and HF0685 are on the agenda, and expectations are both presentations will reach the floor this meeting. It's a good time to write letters!
In order for either bill to pass on to the full House, they must be passed by HHS before March 18 -- we have a 3 week window for this stage of the process.
The subcommittee level is really where bills get debated, amended (or sometimes rewritten), killed or passed, so reaching the subcommittee is a major milestone for the success of a bill. The subcommittee meets Wednesday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 PM (come on over after work and attend the hearings with us), starting March 3rd. It's not certain whether these bills will be heard at this meeting or a subsequent one (the agenda is still firming up), but they will come up very soon. In short, we don't have much time!
The success of the licensing bill at this level is disturbing. According to the chairman of HHS, there is no "significant opposition" that has raised its voice against HF0685. Translation: compared to pro-licensure mailings (AMTA members, etc.), our contacts with the committee aren't even a blip on the radar screen yet.
(Late Breaking News: HF0685 will not be on the agenda Mar. 3, apparently.)
The subcommittee of HHS will hold hearings on both bills on Mar. 10, 4:30 PM at the State Office Building, Room 300S. (That's the third floor of the SOB, near the elevators). There will be about one hour devoted to each bill. It's really important to show up to the meeting and lend your silent support if you possibly can! Make sure to write HHS members before this meeting!
This is your typical last minute meeting notification. The Senate HFS committee will hear the Massage Registration bill (SF1042) Monday evening, March 8, at 6:00 PM in the Capitol Building, room 123. The Freedom of Access Bill (SF0689) is apparently not on the agenda. Get involved with the Senate now, not just the House!! It's a two front battle this year!
(Outcome: Due to the midwife bill taking up so much time and a March blizzard, HFS adjourned without getting to the Massage Registration bill. It was put on the agenda for next Monday, Mar. 15, same time and place. Use this week to contact HFS.)
After a 5 hour marathon subcommittee hearing that was full of adrenalin, we have good news to report!
The midwifery bill (HF0949) "Passed" unanimously.
The freedom of access bill (HF0537) "passed" 6-1.
The massage registration bill (HF0685) was "defeated" 4-3.
"Passed" means the subcommittee recommends that the full House Health and Human Services (HHS) committee vote "yes" on the bill. The bills typically then have to pass thru one or more other House committees before March 31 in order to get to the full House floor. It's basically the first speedbump in a long process, but it's an extremely important, "make or break" vote, and it makes subsequent steps much easier. Nonetheless, it's still a marathon that could last to May, easily. So don't stop contacting legislators or otherwise supporting the bills. It's just starting...
"Defeated" means the subcommittee doesn't recommend the full HHS look at the bill anymore. Essentially, that means the bill is dead for the 1999 session. Doesn't mean we won't see "son of son of licensure" in 2000.
So the freedom of access bill HF0537/SF0689 is the only bill we're tracking. It's not certain what the Senate is going to do, but they have to act on it next week. House-HHS still has to have a full committee vote on it, which also must take place next week. After those votes, the bills have to pass thru a number of other committees in the House and Senate before March 31st. So it's a two front campaign (both House and Senate) the rest of March.
So keep writing and phoning House Health and Human Services and the Senate Health and Family Security committees the next week (especially Senate-HFS before their meeting Monday, Mar 15) in favor of Freedom of Access. I'll pass on where to go next as the situation develops.
Senator Pat Piper's office indicated to us informally that SF1042 will not be on the agenda for the March 15th meeting of Senate Health and Family Security. This effectively kills the massage bill in both houses for 1999.
Check out the March issues of these local papers for articles by Leo Cashman on the legislative situation. Cashman has been active in crusading for health care freedom for many years and is active in the MNHC. Alert others to these articles and pass them around. The articles contain good "capsule summaries" of all the health care bills before the House.
Just got word late last night about what's happening on the legislative front next week. As always, it doesn't leave us much time to act.
For starters, the massage registration bill (HF0685/SF1042) is officially dead in both the House and the Senate for the year, so don't waste your time talking to legislators about it.
The next step in the House is a vote on the Freedom of Access bill (HF0537/SF0689) by the full Health and Human Services committee. The meeting last Wed. was by a subcommittee of HHS -- their "passing" vote is basically a recommendation to the full HHS to approve the bill. This approval is not a done deal, by any means, so don't slack off in contacting HHS. Unfortunately, the meeting is scheduled for 8:00 AM (possibly a wee bit later, but don't count on it), Monday Mar. 15, which leaves us hardly any time! Leaving messages on committee members voice-mail (I don't know if staff members are there on weekends to take your call) and email are probably your best bet at this point. (Meeting room is Room 10 of SOB, the State Office Building.)
The Senate is holding off until the HHS vote. Assuming Freedom of Access passes Monday morning, the Senate Health and Family Security committee will take action in the next day or two! Again, not much time!!
By the way, it appears the Senate Judiciary committee will NOT be involved with SF0689 before the end of the month, so scratch them off the list.
STRATEGY: Contact House-HHS heavily this weekend! There's no time Monday morning to make much of a dent. If you're emailing, put all the HHS members in the "to:" list, and include all the Senate HFS members in the "cc:" list (kill two birds with one stone). Be sure to mention BOTH bill numbers, HF0537 and SF0689. If you're phoning, phone both committees, at least the chair and vice-chair, ASAP (it only takes 30-45 minutes to phone the entire committee). Letters are always the best way to make an impact -- letters to Senate-HFS will probably get there in time if you mail them right away.
Late breaking news!! Due to the heavy agenda, Freedom of Access was moved at the last minute from the morning to the evening session of HHS. Come if you can -- 6:30 PM, Monday Mar. 15, SOB-10. Gives us a few more hours to phone members!
First the bad news. Rep. Tom Huntley introduced an amendment to HF0537 that basically tears the bill in half and throws one half away. In particular, Huntley's amendment (537-A1) removes all references to "licensed health practitioners" from the bill, on the grounds that the bill was restricting the licensing boards (such as the Board of Medical Practices for doctors that went after Dr. Helen Healey some years ago) from policing their own on "scope of practice" issues. The amendment will prevent doctors, etc. from using alternative health techniques, since those fall outside their scope of practice. The amendment passed 13 to 5, with 1 abstenstion. The licensing boards out-lobbied us over the weekend. Unlicensed practitioners and consumers are still protected by the remainder of the bill.
With that amendment (and one other that clarifies some minor technicalities), HHS voted on HF0537 and passed it 13 to 6. The bill now goes to the House Civil Law Committee.
Civil Law may consider the bill as soon as Mar. 17th, no later than the 19th. It needs to pass this committee in order to make it to the full House floor. We don't have much time to make a stand here and the opposition is firming up.
Apparently, Senate Health and Family Security may have as long as Mar. 31 to consider the companion bill, SF0689. (Please note: the chief author of this bill is Sen. Janet Johnson now, not Sen. Steve Morse.) Depending upon the bill's showing in Civil Law, HFS will likely act next week. Keep up the pressure on HFS, as well. Don't wait until the last minute.
So... the most important provisions of the bill are still intact after the second speedbump. We lost the licensed practitioners in the process, but we've still got something worthwhile to support. The Civil Law speedbump is the next hurdle, then the Senate.
The agendas for meetings of the Civil Law Committee this week have been firming up the last 24 hours. My latest info is that Civil Law will hear Freedom of Access in its Friday, Mar. 19 meeting. The meeting starts at 1:00 PM in the Basement Hearing Room of the SOB. Note: The agenda is packed with bills, and the 19th is the first deadline for bills, so this is a "vote til you drop" meeting that could easily last until midnight. Pack a lunch if you come.
In the Senate, SF0689 must pass through HFS and the Judiciary Committee. There's about 30 senators in the two committees, so start in. Note: the Senate bill is the original version which includes licensed practitioners, while HF0537 was amended to remove this language. The issue may come up again much later in the process.
The dust hasn't settled yet, so stay tuned. Our observers at the Civil Law Committee hearing on Friday reports that after a favorable reception, HF0537 was "laid over" for the time being. From what I can gather so far, this is a kind of legislative holding pattern for the bill that keeps it alive, but on the back burner. The committee felt there is great merit in the bill, but that a number of technical issues needed to be ironed out yet. Rather than do a bad job quickly in the heat of the legislative frenzy, they want to have the option to address these issues in a more leisurely manner. This is considered a "friendly move" by the committee, not a set-back.
Apparently, the Senate will not have hearings on the companion bill in the next few weeks.
So, we're no longer on "red alert" and can take a more leisurely lobbying stance for the short term. Keep contacting senators and representatives in the relevant committees, in order to keep the alternative health issues on their minds. Let's build slowly but steadily on the firm foundation we've created. Congratulations on getting this far!
Stay in touch -- I'm sure the story will have new wrinkles next week.
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