Idaho will join 43 other states and start licensing massage therapists, after Sen. Jim Hammond‘s bill was signed into law last week by Gov. Butch Otter. Therapists will have 18 months to become licensed; currently, anyone can claim to be a massage therapist and charge for the service, including criminals. “Everybody giggles about massage therapy, but really it has become a mainstream therapy for healing and for maintaining good health,” said Hammond, R-Coeur d’Alene. He said people taking a relative or family member for massage therapy – which now often is prescribed for everyone from people recovering from medical procedures to the elderly or disabled – “want somebody of high moral character … who’s well-trained.”
You can read more in my Sunday column here, which also includes info on why the governor let two other bills become law without his signature - on one, he noted a conflict of interest - and the state asking for public input on arguments for and against the two constitutional amendments that will appear on the November ballot, the Right to Hunt amendment and a one-word change regarding county misdemeanor probation services.
Betsy Z. Russell covers Idaho news from The Spokesman-Review's bureau in Boise.
Named best state-based political blog in Idaho for 2013 by The Fix
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