Senate Passes Roegner's Bill Expanding Opportunities for Massage Therapists

COLUMBUS—The Ohio Senate today unanimously passed Senate Bill 56, sponsored by State Senator Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson), which would enter Ohio as a party to the Interstate Massage Compact(IMpact.) IMpact will enable licensed massage therapists to practice in all states that join the Compact, rather than have to get a separate license in each state.

"Joining IMpact will improve access and safety for Ohio residents, and increase license portability for the over 11,000 massage therapy professionals based in the Buckeye State, while maintaining the current high level of care," said Roegner. "It will also make life easier for military families by allowing service members or their spouses to continue to work with their current compact privilege, if the military family is assigned to a new duty station in a compact member state."

Roegner's bill requires the State Medical Board to appoint a member to the Interstate Massage Compact Commission, a joint public agency created by IMpact, to enforce the provisions and rules of the Compact.

The bill also requires Ohio to submit data regarding massage therapy licensees to the commission’s data system, including information related to licensure, adverse action, and the presence of investigative information.

Senate Bill 56 continues the work done by Senator Roegner to remove burdensome government barriers so that people are free to work in the field for which they are trained. Over the last two General Assemblies, Senator Roegner also sponsored interstate compact bills for nurses (SB 3), occupational therapists (SB 7), physicians (SB 6), physical therapists (SB 5), counselors (SB 204), and several others.