Senate passes massage therapy bill aimed at curbing human trafficking February 6, 2026 Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, speaks on Senate Bill 132, which strengthens local control over massage therapy businesses, on the Senate floor. A high-resolution photo can be found here. FRANK FORT — A bill that would strengthen local oversight of massage businesses while toughening penalties for unlicensed practices passed on the Senate floor Friday. Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, said that the bill is not about hurting massage businesses, but rather, stopping massage businesses that are fronts for human trafficking. “Senate Bill 132 expressly authorizes cities to adopt and enforce ordinances related to zoning, occupational licensing requirements, fees, inspections, advertising, hours of operation, and sanitation,” Frommeyer said. SB 132 clarifies that state law continues to supersede any local ordinances or regulations that directly regulate massage therapists: things like therapist certification requirements, training standards, and the scope of a therapist’s practice. However, the bill makes clear that this state preemption does not extend to any local ordinances that govern how these massage businesses operate, which clarifies local authority beyond prior, narrower exceptions. “This clarification ensures that local governments can more effectively investigate complaints and address illegal activity at businesses representing themselves as massage parlors while leaving regulation of the practice of massage therapy itself with the state,” Frommeyer said. The bill also raises the penalty for practicing massage therapy without a license from a class B misdemeanor to a class A misdemeanor, and specifies that each individual massage performed without a license counts as a separate offense. Senate Minority Whip Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville, asked Frommeyer if the bill would preempt a recently passed Louisville ordinance that requires massage businesses to display posters with information regarding human trafficking and the human trafficking hotline number. Frommeyer responded that the bill would only support that ordinance, and that other communities, as a result of the bill’s passage, a might expect such ordinances in the future. Armstrong then spoke in favor of the bill, noting that it supports Louisville and other cities seeking to combat human trafficking. She also raised some concerns with the penalties section of the legislation. “What worries me particularly is that there is nothing in the bill that I see that provides preemptive protections for victims of human trafficking, and so I prefer that we add a requirement that somebody knowingly and willingly held themselves out as an unlicensed massage therapist so that we aren’t overbroadly catching those who have been trafficked,” Armstrong said. Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, said she was voting “yes” on the legislation and commented on what she thought could strengthen efforts to combat trafficking in the future. “This is a small effort as we move forward to address this issue. Something I would like to see in the future is our strengthening of the laws and efforts to prosecute not only the business owners who are involved in offering this at all, but also those who are furthering the need for the market to exist at all,” she said. The Senate voted 32-0 to send the bill to the House. The post Senate passes massage therapy bill aimed at curbing human trafficking appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less