Let the Sun Set on CAMTC Part II

My recent blog about CAMTC caused quite a stir. I got dozens of emails from people who have been affected by their actions and  letters of thanks from two former national presidents of AMTA. I also received an email from Joe Bob Smith, CAMTC Director of Educational Standards Division, telling me my BS meter looks like it’s a little rusty. I had given him a heads up on the forthcoming blog and CAMTC could have given their side, but chose not do so.

Today is April 4, the deadline imposed by the California Superior Court to grant petitioners who graduated from A2Z Health Massage School a provisional certification. Although the case was filed by 6 specific petitioners, the ruling from the Superior Court, dated 03/13/2025, states the following:

Petitioners’ motion for a preliminary injunction is granted as follows:
(1) By no later than April 4, 2025, the Council shall issue provisional certifications to each Petitioner. The provisional certifications shall remain effective until the final disposition of this action, subject to the Massage Therapy Act’s provisions for renewal (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 4605) and discipline (Bus. & Prof. Code, §§ 4609-4611).
(2) The Council is enjoined from withholding certification from any applicant based upon the Council’s investigation of and/or approval revocation proceedings against A2Z.
(3) The Council is enjoined from requiring any applicant to submit to any
investigatory process as a condition of certification, including interviews,
hearings, or submission of additional information, except for the sole purpose of determining whether the applicant has received the required education set forth in Business & Professions Code, § 4604, subd. (a)(2).)
IT IS SO ORDERED.

Today, I was contacted by one of the graduates who has been waiting more than a year to receive the certification for which they meet all the qualifications, whose initial contact with me was the reason I wrote the first blog. They are one of 250 graduates of A2Z whose certifications have unlawfully and unethically been held up by CAMTC. The graduate emailed CAMTC today inquiring about the certificate and including the court order, and CAMTC’s response was “Due to ongoing litigation your application has not been processed.” Bear in mind, these 250 people have all paid the required $300 fee to apply for certification, as well as paid for fingerprints/background check, and a passport photo, as well as submitting all the required paperwork.

$300 may not seem like a lot of money, but when it’s been held up for over a year and you haven’t received anything in return for it except excuses, most people would be upset over it. These graduates are particularly upset over it, because even though certification in California is completely voluntary–in theory–there are many places that will not hire a therapist without the certification, regardless of how much education they have.

CAMTC has made it a point to state how financially solvent they are. Since non-profits are on a different filing schedule than the rest of us, the latest 990 filing that is available from them on Guidestar is for 2022. Edit: it was brought to my attention that another website, ProPublica, has the CAMTC 2023 filing available. You will have to create a free account to access it. It’s quite enlightening. Since this quasi-board is not like other state regulatory agencies, they operate quite a bit differently. You will not find another massage board anywhere in the United States where there is a CEO making over half a million dollars a year. And yet, one of the arguments they use to maintain their status quo is that actual licensing will cost massage therapists a whole lot more than $300. I call BS, regardless of what anyone thinks of my BS meter.

Other professions in California have real licensing boards. Massage therapists deserve the same. 46 states, Washington DC, the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico have real licensing boards. They are not out there in left field with a “certification.”

I was on a call last night with the California Massage Schools Association with about 60 others, who are overwhelmingly supporting licensing. The keynote speaker was Laura Puryear, Government Relations representative from ABMP. She stated that ABMP and AMTA are both working towards real licensing for California. It is past time for that to happen. Puryear provided a letter template that interested parties may use to contact their legislators in California. You can download it here. 

I encourage all massage therapists, those who are currently in school seeking a career in massage therapy, and school owners to send this letter. If you don’t know who your representative is, you can find that out here. 

Furthermore, ask your massage clients to write in, too, supporting licensure for massage therapists. Time is of the essence as the next hearing on this issue happens April 29.