Statewide legislation to regulate massage therapists in Pennsylvania was approved by a state House panel on June 11, according to mainstream press reports.

“The bill, sponsored by Rep. Keith McCall (D., Carbon), calls for the licensing of massage therapists who have attended 600 hours of school in a program approved by a newly created oversight board,” according to an article published in the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. “Licensees would then need 24 hours of continuing education every two years to maintain their license.”

As of press time, a phone call from MASSAGE Magazine requesting input from the American Massage Therapy Association’s Pennsylvania chapter on this development had not been returned.