There's a state bill going around, S168, An Act Regulating Bodyworks with the intention of stopping human trafficking... and their definition of bodyworkers is so broad that it would include professional cuddlers and negatively impact all of us.
Under this bill, professional cuddlers and other holistic modalities that would be defined as bodyworkers under this law are going to have to jump through some ridiculous hoops just to be able to cuddle legally.
(copy and pasted from Section 29b):
(b) A person who desires to engage in the practice of bodyworks shall apply on a form furnished by the board that shall be signed and sworn to by the applicant. Each application shall be accompanied by payment of the fee prescribed by the executive office for administration and finance pursuant to section 3B of chapter 7.
I'm not sure what's on the application, but the fees according to Chapter 7, section 3B include a $225 initial fee and $150 annually afterwards.
Mind you, this is just so they'll LOOK at your application. No guarantee that they'll approve it. They also have a later clause in this bill saying the fee to be reinstated if you let this expire will be "no less than $100," but this law says it will be equal to 2 missed cycles to renew, so it might be more like $300
Once you submit the application and pay the fees, the bill goes on to say the standards that they look for in applicants. Here's the ones that stood out to me:
(iii) has submitted 2 professional letters of reference, with at least 1 being from an employer or professional in the bodywork or medical field;
Certified Cuddlists, Certified Cuddlers, Cuddle Sanctuary graduates and the likes would have an advantage here as someone from their programs could vouch for them, but otherwise you have to know someone else in the field to vouch for you. New people wouldn't be able to get into this work so easily. But neither may matter especially because of requirement v:
(v) has successfully completed a course of study or supervised instruction at a licensed bodyworks school that has been determined appropriate by the board;
There are no physical schools in Massachusetts for professional cuddling. There's online training, sure, and very few people in the industry offer in-person training, but none offer it on a regularly recurring basis anymore and none of them are even on the East Coast.
Also concerning is their arbitrary way of deciding how much education all bodyworkers need. The "board" will consist of three massage therapists, two other types of bodyworkers, and one consumer of massage or bodywork. Considering that there's hundreds of bodywork modalities, that's terrible representation for anyone. I would think that their standards of education for us would be much higher than what exists for cuddlers right now. We could all be deemed unfit to practice under that.
The most concerning thing I see from this is this one though:
(iv) is of good moral character, as determined by the discretion of the board;
This is the most ambiguous standard ever. I've done a lot of advocating for professional cuddling, but the board can reject you if they think you're not a good enough person? Not to mention there's still a lot of existing stigmas for professional cuddlers, so I imagine most would not pass this if the board doesn't like professional cuddlers.
So let's say you don't get your license to practice under these laws but you still do. What happens if you get caught (because under this law, they'll release a list of all licensed bodyworkers and their own code of ethics all of the newly defined professions need to abide by)?
Under the current legislation:
- If you've never been licensed or attempted getting licensure, you'll get a fine of up to $1k the first time and up to $2.5k each time after (source)
- If your license expired, got cancelled, or the likes, you'll either get a fee of up to $2.5K, up to 6 months imprisonment, or both (source)
- In either case in 1 or 2, you'll be reported to the Attorney General... and it's unclear how the AG deals with it (source)
There's way more to this bill, but hopefully you're seeing how ridiculously restrictive this is.
I know not everyone agrees with me on regulating the industry to some degree. I think it's important to do, but I also think this is overkill and going to do way more harm than good overall
So what can you do?
Bare minimum, sign this Change.org petition
You can also find out who your representative is and write them a letter or call them expressing your concerns as a practitioner or a consumer. Keep in mind, S168 is attempting to stop human trafficking (kind of like how SESTA/FOSTA was trying to), so if you do this please address and say that you appreciate the important goal of stopping human trafficking and this bill is not the answer
If you want to read more, read the bill
THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE BILL! It's S665, An Act Providing for Consumer Access to and the Right to Practice Complementary and Alternative Health Care Services.
Under this, we would be defined as "complementary and alternative health care practitioner" that would be excluded from the need for a license. Granted, it does still regulate it somewhat, but it's so minimal. It would just require us to have written disclosures we give clients. I know some of you people aren't huge fans of getting handed an official paper or something to sign, but honestly I'm okay with that if that means I get to work. There's no hearing date for this bill yet, but it gives me hope that we need to get past this hurdle first
The most extensive information I can give you for more actionable steps you can take is here
The hearing is on Monday, October 28th 11am to 4pm at the State House in the Gardner Auditorium. It's the ONLY bill on their agenda that day. If you feel comfortable being out to the public about participating in this work, your three minutes to speak here will make a huge difference. If not, even just showing up in support of the people that will be impacted by this bill would make a huge difference
Sharing any of the above information to others in MA will help too. If you know anyone off of this site that is in MA, please share this info with them too
Are you not public about being a professional cuddler or seeing one?
What about saying something about Reiki? Reflexology? Another alternative therapy you use or practice? All of those professions are dealing with similar issues as we are. You can still represent in that arena if you're worried about your reputation for being in the professional cuddle world.
I do this work fulltime and Massachusetts is my home state. I want to be able to work in my home state with the many clients I've loved seeing over the past four years. If this bill goes through and cuddling gets targeted for all these restrictions, I'd have to move states so I can keep working.
Thank you!