Chapter 5.17 — MASSAGE TECHNICIANS

Sections:

• 5.17.010 Definitions.

• 5.17.020 Massage technician permit required--Exemptions.

• 5.17.030 Application--Fees--Contents.

• 5.17.040 Examination required.

• 5.17.050 Issuance--Denial--Nontransferability.

• 5.17.060 Annual renewal application.

• 5.17.070 Denial--Revocation--Suspension of permits.

• 5.17.080 New application after denial or revocation of permit.

• 5.17.090 Surrender of permits.

• 5.17.100 Operative date--Massage technicians licensed under prior law.

• 5.17.110 Other unlawful acts--Violation and penalty.

• 5.17.120 Severability.

The words and phrases defined in Section 5.16.010 and in this section shall apply and control the meaning of such words and phrases as used in this chapter: A. "Massage technician" means a person who, for any compensation of any kind, gives a massage to a person at a location that is operated pursuant to a valid massage establishment permit. B. "Applicant," as used in this chapter, means any person desiring to obtain a permit to perform massage services. (Ord. 81-6-871 § 1 (part))

A. Permit Required. No person shall engage in the business of acting nor act as a massage technician unless such person holds a valid massage technician permit issued by the city pursuant to the provisions of this section. B. Exemptions. The requirements of Section 5.17.020A shall have no application and no effect upon and shall not be construed as applying to any person designated as follows: physician, surgeon, chiropractor, osteopath, or any registered or licensed vocational nurse working under the supervision of a physician, surgeon, chiropractor, or osteopath duly licensed to practice their respective professions in the state nor shall the requirements of Section 5.17.020A apply to any treatment administered by any person licensed to practice any such art or profession under the Business and Professions Code of the state or of any other law of this state. Practical nurses or other persons not otherwise licensed by the state to practice pursuant to the Medical Practice Act, whether or not employed by physicians, surgeons, chiropractors, or osteopaths, may not give massages or massage procedures. (Ord. 81-6-871 § 1 (part))

A. Permit--Fees.

1. Any person desiring to make application for a massage technician permit must truly and correctly complete a form provided by the city. Such completed application form shall be accepted only upon a showing that the fee in the amount established by the most current fee resolution as adopted by the City Council has been paid to the city director of finance as a fee to investigate and perform an examination relative to such applicant.

2. Permits and fees required by this section shall be in addition to any license, permit or fee required under any other section of this chapter or other chapter of this code. A permit to operate a massage establishment does not authorize the performing of massages. B. Application--Contents. Any applicant for a permit pursuant to this chapter shall submit the following information:

3. The full name of the applicant, including aliases, nicknames, and any other names used. In the case of a female applicant, her full name, including her maiden name and each of her married names;

4. The present address of the applicant;

5. The two previous addresses immediately prior to the present address of applicant;

6. Written statements signed under declaration of perjury by at least five bona fide residents of the state that the applicant is of good moral character; or the identification of such individuals together with their current residence addresses;

7. Written proof that the applicant is over the age of eighteen years of age;

8. The applicant's height, weight, color of eyes and hair, driver's license number, and Social Security number;

9. Two portrait photographs at least two inches by two inches;

10. The business, occupation, and employment of the applicant for the three years immediately preceding the date of the application and the address of each and every location where such business, occupation, and employment was engaged in or performed;

11. The massage or similar business license history of the applicant; whether such person, in previously operating in this or another city or state under license, has had such license revoked or suspended and the reason therefor; and the business activity or occupation subsequent to such action of suspension or revocation;

12. Whether the applicant has ever been convicted of any of the crimes set forth in Section 51032 of the Government Code and if so, the circumstances thereof and the sentence therefor;

13. A certificate under penalty of perjury from a medical doctor stating that the applicant has within thirty days immediately prior to the date of the application been examined and found to be free of any contagious or communicable disease; and

14. Such other identification and information necessary to discover the truth of the matters specified in this section as required to be set forth in the application. C. The city may require the fingerprints and additional photographs of the applicant, and confirmation of the height and weight of the applicant. D. Applicant must furnish a diploma or certificate of graduation from an approved school wherein the method, profession and work of massage technicians is taught. The term "approved school" means and includes any school or institution of learning duly licensed by the state which has for its purpose the teaching of the theory, the method, profession, or work of massage technicians and which school requires a resident course of study of not less than two hundred hours to be given in not less than three calendar months before the student is furnished with a diploma or certificate of graduation from such school or institution of learning showing the successful completion of such course of study or learning. Schools offering a correspondence course not requiring actual attendance in a class shall not be deemed a "recognized school." Massages for consideration of any kind whatsoever shall not be provided or performed at massage schools. E. Falsification of any of the above information shall be deemed sufficient reason for denial of the application. (Ord. 2009-01-1396 § 1, 2009; Ord. 81-6-871 § 1 (part))

A. Within ninety days of the filing of an application for a massage technician permit, and after the applicant has paid the required fee and furnished the required information, each applicant shall, prior to and as a condition to the issuance of such a permit, take and pass an examination of qualifications. B. The examination of qualifications shall determine the knowledge requisite to and the ability of the applicant to properly perform a massage and shall cover the following subjects: anatomy, physiology, hygiene, and the practice and theory of manual and mechanical massage. C. The examination may include, among other things, a practical demonstration and a written test. It may, also among other things, consist of both practical and technical proficiency examinations. D. In the grading of the examination, practical demonstration shall prevail over the written test; that is, a greater number of credits shall be allowed on practical demonstration than on the written test. E. The written test shall test the competency and ability of the applicant to engage in the practice of massage. The practical portion of the examination shall require the applicant to engage in and demonstrate the techniques and the practice of massage. The examination shall require the applicant to demonstrate a basic knowledge of anatomy, physiology, hygiene and the practice and theory of manual and mechanical massage. F. The examination may be conducted by the county health department if designated as the examiner of qualifications by the city. Qualified persons shall prepare, administer and judge the examination. The city clerk shall cause notice to be given of the first such examination no later than thirty days after the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter, and from time to time thereafter as such examinations are scheduled. G. The city council may establish further standards and procedures governing the administration and grading of all examinations in addition to those established by the department of public health, and shall exercise such supervision as may be necessary to assure compliance therewith. H. Any applicant who fails to pass an examination shall not be eligible for another examination until four weeks after taking the previous examination. Any applicant who fails to pass upon the third trial shall not be again eligible until six months thereafter. (Ord. 81-6-871 § 1 (part))

The city shall grant a massage technician permit if the applicant has complied with the provisions of this chapter, if the applicant has not been convicted of any of the crimes specified in Section 51032 of the Government Code, and if the

applicant passes the examination of qualification specified in Section 5.17.040. Any permits issued under this chapter are personal to the applicant and are not transferable. (Ord. 81-6-871 § 1 (part))

Every massage technician permittee shall annually make application for renewal of his or her permit to the city and at such time shall submit a certificate under penalty of perjury from a medical doctor stating that the permit holder has within thirty days immediately prior thereto been examined and found to be free of any contagious or communicable disease. Such annual renewal application shall require an update on any and all information set forth on the application for the massage technician permit filed by the applicant, except that application for a renewal of a technician permit shall not require the passage of an examination. Such renewal application shall be accepted only upon showing that fifty dollars has been paid to the city director of finance as a fee for such renewal. If the permittee fails to deliver such a doctor's certificate, fails to provide such updated information, or fails to pay the above referenced fee within thirty days following the annual anniversary date of the massage technician permit then, the underlying permit shall be null and void and shall be revoked by operation of the terms of this section. (Ord. 81-6-871 § 1 (part))

A. The chief of police may give notice of intention to deny, revoke or suspend any massage technician permit applied for, granted or issued under the provisions of this chapter at any time for any material false statement contained in the application or for failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter or of any law of the state regulating massage technicians, or whenever he determines that the permittee has been convicted of a felony or of a crime of moral turpitude or violence or for otherwise conducting himself or herself in a massage establishment in any manner which endangers the patrons thereof or the public welfare. Any suspended permit must either be reinstated or revoked by the chief of police within a period of ninety days after the date of suspension thereof. B. Notice of any such intention to deny, suspend or revoke a permit shall be given in writing served by registered or certified mail to the permittee and shall take effect at the expiration of the fifteenth day after such mailing unless the permittee has theretofore filed an appeal therefrom to the council. C. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the chief of police may appeal therefrom to the council in the manner provided in Section 5.16.120. D. In the event no appeal is taken by the permittee, the decision of the chief of police denying, revoking or suspending such permit shall become final and conclusive on expiration of the time fixed in this section for appeal. (Ord. 81-6-871 § 1(part))

No person may apply for any permit authorized by this chapter within one year from any denial of any such permit to such person or from the revocation of any such permit issued to such person, unless the cause of the denial or revocation has, to the satisfaction of the chief of police or council, been removed within such time. (Ord. 81-6-871 § 1 (part))

Each person to whom a permit has been issued under this chapter shall immediately surrender his permit to the chief of police upon its revocation or suspension. (Ord. 81-6-871 § 1 (part))

All previously licensed masseurs, masseuses or massage technicians by the city and whose licenses are in effect as of the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter shall apply for and obtain a massage technician permit under this chapter within ninety days of the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter, and in any event permits issued prior to the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter shall be null and void after the passage of ninety days from the effective date hereof. (Ord. 81-6-871 § 1 (part))

A. It is unlawful for any massage technician, attendant, employee, patron or other person to massage or touch in any

manner the genitals or the genital area or massage or touch in any manner the female breast(s) or areola(e) of any other person upon the premises of a massage establishment. B. Every person, except those persons who are specifically exempted by this chapter, who does or practices any of the acts set forth in this chapter for which a permit is required without first obtaining a permit from the city is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished in accordance with Section 1.16.010 of the Signal Hill Municipal Code. (Ord. 81-6-871 § 1 (part))

If any word, phrase, clause, sentence, or section of this chapter is for any reason invalid, such invalidity shall not impair the validity of any other part of this chapter, and the council declares that it would have enacted all of this chapter without any such invalid part thereof. (Ord. 81-6-871 § 1 (part))