The state legislature approved a new law to regulate massage therapy late Friday, taking steps to decrease illicit massage parlors and human trafficking and give cities more control.

The Massage Therapy Reform Act replaces the original state massage law that created the industry regulating nonprofit California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC) in 2009.

The new bill, authored by Assemblymen Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, now awaits a signature from Gov. Jerry Brown before it becomes law. If signed, it will go into effect next year and will sunset in 2017.

“We are ecstatic that the bill returns local control and land use authority to be able to regulate the massage industry,” said Kirstin Kolpitcke, representative from the League of California Cities. “I think really the bill did a pretty good job of striking the balance of preserving the ability for professional massage therapists to practice and local governments to regulate those that have ill intentions.”

The previous law allowed cities to pass ordinances restricting massage therapists. However, if the massage professionals were certified under the CAMTC the city ordinance would also have to apply to all other licensed professionals.

Now, cities can pass zoning restrictions and implement other regulations for massage businesses specifically.

Several cities that have seen a massive growth of massage businesses in their cities since the original law was passed in 2008, such as South Pasadena and San Gabriel, have already talked about ways to reduce the number of businesses and more successfully weed out the “bad apples” with new city ordinances.

South Pasadena City Manager Sergio Gonzalez said that although the city would have liked to see the CAMTC be dissolved completely, he said the new and improved regulations are a “great step forward.”

“This is something we’ve been arguing for the past several years that we got our local control taken away basically by a bill that gave all the power to a nonprofit organization,” Gonzalez said, adding that staff is consulting legal counsel to develop a city ordinance regulating massage businesses.

Holden said it will be important for cities to be fair to all massage professionals while still exerting control over local land use.

“It’s not perfect,” Holden said. “When you are trying to parcel this out and shift authority back to local government, the professional operators are concerned they are going to get shipped out to industrial zones out in the middle of nowhere where they won’t get any business. That’s been their fear and concern because that’s what happened prior to the board being instituted,

“I think we’ve put together a bill that I think really moves us way down the road in making sure that massage therapy is regulated more appropriately.”

The new law also creates higher professional standards for the industry, prohibiting certified massage professionals from posting sexual advertisements, wearing suggestive clothing or engaging in sexual activity at the massage business.

It also requires certificate holders to complete a minimum of 500 hours of training. Each certified massage professional must undergo a background check and fingerprinting, and convicted sex offenders cannot apply for a massage certification through CAMTC.

CAMTC certification remains voluntary in the new law.

“I think it’s going to raise the bar, which we’ve always felt that the bar in the previous law was way too low,” said Ahmos Netanel, CEO of the CAMTC, which supported the bill. “I think consumers will greatly benefit from knowing that if the person is certified then they have met higher standards.”

The updated Massage Therapy Law will also make significant changes to the board of the nonprofit CAMTC, which some had criticized for being too heavy with massage industry advocates. The new 13-member board will include appointees from the California League of Cities, the California Police Chiefs Association, the American Massage Therapy Association, a public health official and a representative from an anti-human trafficking organization, among others.

For more information, visit www.camtc.org or www.leginfo.ca.gov.