North Carolina HB 693: Study/Public Records & Open Meetings.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 693

Short Title: Interstate Massage Compact. (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives Warren and Riddell (Primary Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Health, if favorable, Finance, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the
House
April 3, 2025
*H693-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH AND ENTER INTO AN INTERSTATE COMPACT FOR THE 2
PRACTICE OF MASSAGE THERAPY. 3
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 4
SECTION 1. Chapter 90 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new Article 5
to read: 6
"Article 36A. 7
"Interstate Massage Compact. 8
"§ 90-637. Short title. 9
This Article shall be known and may be cited as the "Interstate Massage Compact." 10
"§ 90-637.1. Purpose. 11
The purpose of this Compact is to reduce the burdens on state governments and to facilitate 12
the interstate practice and regulation of massage therapy with the goal of improving public access 13
to, and the safety of, massage therapy services. Through this Compact, the member states seek 14
to establish a regulatory framework which provides for a new multistate licensing program. 15
Through this additional licensing pathway, the member states seek to provide increased value 16
and mobility to licensed massage therapists in the member states, while ensuring the provision 17
of safe, competent, and reliable services to the public. 18
This Compact is designed to achieve the following objectives, and the member states hereby 19
ratify the same intentions by subscribing hereto: 20
(1) Increase public access to massage therapy services by providing for a 21
multistate licensing pathway. 22
(2) Enhance the member states' ability to protect the public's health and safety. 23
(3) Enhance the member states' ability to prevent human trafficking and licensure 24
fraud. 25
(4) Encourage the cooperation of member states in regulating the multistate 26
practice of massage therapy. 27
(5) Support relocating military members and their spouses. 28
(6) Facilitate and enhance the exchange of licensure, investigative, and 29
disciplinary information between the member states. 30
(7) Create an Interstate Commission that will exist to implement and administer 31
the Compact. 32
(8) Allow a member state to hold a licensee accountable, even where that licensee 33
holds a multistate license. 34

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 693-First Edition
(9) Create a streamlined pathway for licensees to practice in member states, thus 1
increasing the mobility of duly licensed massage therapists. 2
(10) Serve the needs of licensed massage therapists and the public receiving their 3
services. 4
(11) Establish that nothing in this Compact is intended to prevent a state from 5
enforcing its own laws regarding the practice of massage therapy. 6
"§ 90-637.2. Definitions. 7
As used in this Compact, except as otherwise provided and subject to clarification by the 8
rules of the Commission, the following definitions apply: 9
(1) Active military member. – Any person with full-time duty status in the armed 10
forces of the United States, including members of the National Guard and 11
Reserve. 12
(2) Adverse action. – Any administrative, civil, equitable, or criminal action 13
permitted by a member state's laws which is imposed by a licensing authority 14
or other regulatory body against a licensee, including actions against an 15
individual's authorization to practice such as revocation, suspension, 16
probation, surrender in lieu of discipline, monitoring of the licensee, limitation 17
of the licensee's practice, or any other encumbrance on licensure affecting an 18
individual's ability to practice massage therapy, including the issuance of a 19
cease and desist order. 20
(3) Alternative program. – A nondisciplinary monitoring or prosecutorial 21
diversion program approved by a member state's licensing authority. 22
(4) Authorization to practice. – A legal authorization by a remote state pursuant 23
to a multistate license permitting the practice of massage therapy in that 24
remote state, which shall be subject to the enforcement jurisdiction of the 25
licensing authority in that remote state. 26
(5) Background check. – The submission of an applicant's criminal history record 27
information, as further defined in 28 C.F.R. § 20.3(d), as amended from the 28
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the agency responsible for retaining state 29
criminal records in the applicant's home state. 30
(6) Charter member states. – Member states who have enacted legislation to adopt 31
this Compact where such legislation predates the effective date of this 32
Compact as defined in G.S. 90-637.12. 33
(7) Commission. – The government agency whose membership consists of all 34
states that have enacted this Compact, which is known as the Interstate 35
Massage Compact Commission, as defined in G.S. 90-637.