How House Bill 197 Provides NEW Emergency License Suspensions within Florida's Massage Therapy Industry

by: Selena Belisle, Founder/Instructor, CE Institute LLC

In order to immediately respond to the most serious claims and concerns within Florida's massage industry, House Bill 197 was enacted in 2024 to provide our government the authority to immediately suspend a license under certain circumstances. 

The department shall issue an emergency order suspending the license if there has been an arrest for committing or attempting, soliciting, or conspiring to commit, or convicted or found guilty of, or has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to, regardless of adjudication, a violation of any of the following felony offenses:

• Relating to kidnapping;
• Relating to false imprisonment;
• Relating to luring or enticing a child;
• Relating to human trafficking;
• Relating to human smuggling;
• Relating to sexual battery; 
• Relating to female genital mutilation;
• Relating to procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution;
• Relating to the selling or buying of minors into prostitution;
• Relating to forcing, compelling, or coercing another to become a prostitute;
• Relating to deriving support from the proceeds of prostitution;
• Relating to a felony of the third degree for a third or subsequent violation relating to prostitution and related acts; 
• Relating to lewd or lascivious offenses committed upon or in the presence of persons less than 16 years of age;
• Relating to lewd or lascivious offenses committed upon or in the presence of an elderly or disabled person;
• Relating to sexual performance by a child; 
  Relating to the protection of minors;
• Relating to computer pornography;
• Relating to the transmission of material harmful to minors by electronic device or equipment; 
• Relating to the selling or buying of minors;

The department shall issue an emergency order suspending the license of any licensee upon a finding of the State Surgeon General that probable cause exists to believe that the licensee has committed sexual misconduct or other public hazard. The State Surgeon General is the government office, or board, which can make a legal determination when safety to the public is jeopardized. A massage establishment that operates in violation of certain laws and rules is declared a nuisance and may be abated or enjoined, in addition to possible criminal charges.

If you have legal questions about House Bill 197 details or Florida laws and rules in general, you should consult a licensed attorney for their legal opinion. This is just one abbreviated/translated excerpt of HB197. To help prevent human trafficking within the massage establishments and make the overall massage therapy industry safer, please register for rules, laws and human trafficking prevention training at: https://ceinstitute.com/collections/mandatory