What this meant was that professional energy healing therapists, and others who may use some form of physical body contact in the course of their practices, would be forced to complete massage therapy school even though they were already appropriately trained in their respective modalities, and even though these modalities do not involve physical body manipulation, and do not resemble massage techniques or practices in any way.
Due to issues and concerns raised in the legislative committee hearings, these original bills were stopped in committee and did not move forward for vote.
Simultaneously, another bill, HB 2644, moved through committee and proceeded toward the House and Senate floors for vote. This bill, in its original form, was a straightforward change to increase the number of training hours required for a massage therapy license.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, however, proponents of the stalled massage therapy bills introduced last-minute amendments to HB 2644 and managed to obtain passage of an amended HB 2644 which now effects many of those who might be accustomed to using physical contact in a professional therapeutic practice.
As written, HB 2644 states that a person may not, for compensation, perform, or offer to perform, a service with a purported health benefit that involves physical contact with a client unless the person holds a massage therapy license or is licensed under another law to perform the service.
An additional subsection to the massage therapy statute states that the Texas Department of State Health Services may issue a license, or licenses, separate from the massage therapy license which would address other modalities such as energy healing therapy.
The DSHS Massage Therapy Licensing Program will not be creating any new forms of licensure for specialty practices during their current budgetary period. Although the amended HB 2644 allows this, the legislature provided no funding to do so.
The effective date of HB 2644 is September 1, 2007. As of this date, all individuals who offer therapeutic services for compensation will be prohibited by law from using physical contact in their practices unless they are licensed under a professional health care licensing board such as massage therapy, nursing, chiropractic, etc.
Much concern has been voiced about the ramifications of this bill from a wide spectrum of individuals, including legislative representatives, professional therapeutic practitioners, and holistic health care consumers. Therefore, it is very likely that the bill and its issues will be revisited in the next legislative session in 2009.
Energy healing therapies work with energy fields of the body and do not require physical body contact. If you practice energy healing in the aura and in the energy fields off the body, you are not in violation of this law.
Write your Texas legislative representatives and voice your concerns about the passage of the amended HB 2644 in the 2007 legislative session. Ideally, this law should be repealed. At the very least, the issue should be reconsidered with appropriate input from those who understand the practice of energy healing and the broader issues and ramifications.
Vote for legislative candidates who support holistic health freedom and who will oppose legislation that only serves the turf of a few specialized interests.
Support the Texas Health Freedom Coalition, which is working diligently to appropriately protect the rights and freedoms of holistic health care consumers and practitioners in Texas.