California Senate Bill 1193, sponsored by Senator Steinberg, has passed by a vote of 5-2 in the Senate Appropriations Committee. If approved by the Assembly and Governor Brown, the bill will require that all massage businesses post a notice near the public entrance to the business containing certain information regarding human trafficking, including the contact information for human trafficking hotlines. A model notice containing the required language would be made available for download on the California Department of Justice’s website by April 1, 2013.
ABMP opposes the inclusion of massage businesses in the bill. While we believe that human trafficking is a serious problem in California, notices regarding human trafficking which are placed in legitimate massage businesses will do nothing to address the problem, and are not appropriate in such locations. ABMP wrote a formal letter of opposition to Senator Steinberg in April of this year, which you can read here.
Current information indicates that despite ABMP’s opposition, S.B. 1193 is likely to pass. The bill has been assigned to the Assembly Judiciary Committee, we will keep you updated on the status of the bill as it progresses.