Today, the legislative Planning and development Committee, acting on testimony from Bridgeporters who are trying to close down as many as 19 sexually oriented massage parlors – four on Fairfield Avenue in Black Rock – voted unanimously to toughen penalties for unlicensed massage therapists. The vote was 19-0 and the bill goes should go to the Judiciary Committee before hitting the House floor.
The legislation, according to a summary, would “add ‘shiatsu’, ‘acupressure’ and ‘Thai massage’ to the list of services that may not be advertised without a license to engage in massage therapy; to provide that employers who employ unlicensed persons as massage therapists are guilty of a class C misdemeanor; and to require the Commissioner of Public Health and local health departments to investigate complaints that persons are engaging in the practice of massage therapy without a license within thirty days of receiving such complaint.”