All Roll Calls
Yes: 106 • No: 6
ArkansasHB12172025 Regular SessionHouse
TO ESTABLISH THE INTERSTATE MASSAGE COMPACT IN ARKANSAS.
Sponsored By: Dave Wallace (Republican), Jason Nazarenko (Republican)
Enacted
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
7 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 4 mixed.
Massage therapists gain interstate licensing options
Arkansas joins a shared licensing system that takes effect when the seventh state enacts the Compact. A home-state multistate license lets qualifying massage therapists work in other member states, subject to those states’ practice laws. Applicants need an active home-state license, 625 training hours or an approved equivalent, and a national exam or approved equivalent. They must meet licensing-history rules, submit FBI fingerprints for a background check, and pay required fees. A felony within five years before application bars eligibility; time served is excluded, and court and rehabilitation requirements must be complete. Massage-related misdemeanors within two years also bar eligibility. Specified serious offenses, including kidnapping, human trafficking, and human smuggling, permanently disqualify applicants. Nonresidents can still seek single-state licenses, but those licenses do not authorize interstate practice.
Military massage therapists keep licensing continuity
Massage therapists on active duty, and therapists with active-duty spouses, can choose a qualifying state as their home state. They must hold a current massage license in good standing there. They can keep that designation throughout the active-duty assignment.
Commission immunity limits some civil claims
Commission personnel have immunity from civil suits for covered acts within their duties, or reasonably believed to be within them. The Commission must defend them and cover qualifying claims, settlements, and judgments. These protections do not cover intentional, willful, or wanton misconduct. Member states keep their sovereign immunity.
Massage licensing system can charge fees
The Commission can charge fees and assess member states each year to fund its work. It sets the formula dividing state assessments, covering the approved budget to the extent other revenue falls short. The law sets no fee amounts, assessment formula, or total budget, so specific household costs are not established. The Commission can accept gifts and grants, borrow money, and contract for services. It must secure funds before taking on obligations and cannot pledge a state’s credit without that state’s approval. An annual financial review by a certified public accountant is required.
State exits include temporary license protection
A state can leave by repealing its Compact law; withdrawal takes effect 180 days after enactment. It must notify Compact license holders and keep recognizing their licenses for at least 180 days after the withdrawal notice. Investigation and disciplinary reporting duties continue after withdrawal. The Commission can terminate a state for an uncured default only after exhausting other ways to secure compliance. Termination requires a majority vote of member-state delegates. A terminated state must notify license holders and recognize Compact licenses for at least 180 days after the termination notice. It remains responsible for assessments, obligations, and liabilities incurred while a member.
Massage discipline and records cross borders
The home state alone can discipline a multistate license; other member states can restrict practice within their borders. Home-state action deactivates practice permissions in other member states until the license restrictions are removed. Member states can conduct joint investigations and use cross-state subpoenas, with investigative costs recoverable where state law allows. States must share and monitor required licensing, discipline, application-denial, and investigation records through a central database. Investigative records stay within member states; states can restrict public access to certain other records. Criminal-history sharing must follow legal limits, and expunged information must be removed. Therapists using an approved alternative program instead of discipline must suspend Compact practice while participating.
Shared massage rules retain state safeguards
Arkansas’s Department of Health administers the Compact, and state executive and judicial branches must enforce it. Member states must maintain licensing, complaint investigation, background-check, reporting, and continuing-competence standards and recognize valid multistate licenses. Each member state gets one Commission delegate and one vote; the Commission meets at least annually. Meetings are public except for allowed closed sessions, including confidential investigations, personnel matters, and litigation. Commission rules become law on the dates it sets, without each state’s usual rulemaking process. Courts can block rules that conflict with state laws defining what work therapists may perform. A majority of member-state legislatures can reject a rule within four years, ending its force across all member states. Arkansas assigns its rejection authority to the General Assembly or Legislative Council. The Compact overrides conflicting state requirements only where they conflict; other state requirements remain in force.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
Dave Wallace
Republican • Senate
Jason Nazarenko
Republican • House
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 3/5/2025
Senate Vote - Wednesday, March 5, 2025 3:54:36 PM
Yes: 20 • No: 6 • Other: 1
House vote • 2/26/2025
House Vote - Wednesday, February 26, 2025 2:35:11 PM
Yes: 86 • No: 0 • Other: 3
Actions Timeline
Notification that HB1217 is now Act 267
3/12/2025HouseCorrectly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's Office.
3/6/2025HouseTO BE ENROLLED
3/5/2025HouseReturned from the Senate as passed.
3/5/2025HouseReturned to the House as passed.
3/5/2025SenateRead the third time and passed.
3/5/2025SenateReturned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass
3/4/2025SenateRead first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS-SENATE
2/26/2025SenateReceived from the House.
2/26/2025SenateRead the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate.
2/26/2025HouseReturned by the Committee Do Pass
2/25/2025HouseREPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
2/24/2025HouseAmendment No. 2 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed.
2/24/2025HousePlaced on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
2/24/2025HouseREPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
2/13/2025HouseAmendment No. 1 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed.
2/13/2025HousePlaced on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
2/13/2025HouseRead the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE- HOUSE
1/27/2025HouseFiled
1/24/2025House
Bill Text
HB1217 - Introduced
1/24/2025
Act Version
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