McHenry Times

A pair of bills have been introduced in the Illinois House of Representatives in an effort to protect the public regarding massage therapists and the rules around them being issued state licenses.

According to a March 9 report by CBS 2, the news organization has been reporting for months about how massage therapy licenses are handled across the state. What they found was that a conviction of sexual misconduct, rape, prostitution and other offense that requires a sex offender registration automatically exempts someone from getting a massage therapy license. However, there are many convictions that do not come into play, including first-degree murder, aggravated battery, assault, armed robbery, theft, kidnapping and more. Illinois state Rep. Tom Weber (R-Fox Lake) was thankful for the CBS News reporting that exposed these flaws.

"Thank you so much for exposing that - and exposing that problem," Illinois state Weber said in a Zoom interview with CBS 2. “Because if you wouldn't have done that, we would have had no idea there was problem.”

He also said he was shocked someone could be convicted of kidnapping and be in a “one-on-one, behind closed doors situation.” It was also found that there was a lack of communication between the agencies receiving criminal reports and the licensing agencies.

Weber went on to introduce two bills that include updated regulations for getting a license, and make sure that felony convictions are properly reported.

House Bill 3583 requires a worker, like a licensed therapist, must go through the same background checks as health care workers.

House Bill 3584 is designed to make sure the licensing office in Illinois has records of felony convictions and also ensures that a victim knows they can file a formal complaint to the state against someone licensed by them.

According to the Illinois General Assembly website, HB3583 and HB3584 were filed by Weber in the House on February 17 and this month Rep. Jeff Keicher and Rep. Chris Miller were added as co-sponsors.