SB 221: Massage Therapy Practice; the number of education hours applicable to licensed massage therapists; increase

Under current Georgia law, people seeking a massage therapy license must complete a board-recognized training program of at least 500 hours combining coursework and hands-on clinical practice. This bill would raise that minimum to 625 hours, a roughly 25 percent increase in required training time before someone can become licensed. The change is made by amending O.C.G.A. § 43-24A-8, part of the chapter of Georgia law governing massage therapy practice. The bill does not change any other licensing requirements, fees, or renewal rules for massage therapists. It repeals any conflicting laws but does not state a specific delayed effective date beyond the standard process for a bill becoming law.

• Raises the minimum hours required in a board-recognized massage therapy educational program from 500 to 625 hours of course and clinical work.
• Applies this new hour requirement to applicants seeking massage therapist licensure under O.C.G.A. § 43-24A-8.
• Repeals any existing state laws that conflict with the new 625-hour requirement.
• Leaves all other massage therapy licensure requirements in that Code section unchanged.

People currently enrolled in or planning to enter massage therapy training programs in Georgia, the schools that run those programs, and the state board that oversees massage therapist licensing would all be affected by the higher hour requirement.

Prospective massage therapists would need to complete an additional 125 hours of training before they could get licensed in Georgia, which could mean more time and cost to enter the profession, while training programs would need to adjust their curricula to meet the new hour minimum.

• Section 1 amends paragraph (6) of subsection (b) of O.C.G.A. § 43-24A-8 to change the required training hours from 500 to 625.
• Section 2 repeals any laws or parts of laws that conflict with this change.

1. 2026-01-12Senate Recommitted (Senado)
2. 2025-03-04Senate Read Second Time (Senado)
3. 2025-03-03Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senado)
4. 2025-02-21Senate Read and Referred (Senado)
5. 2025-02-20Senate Hopper (Senado)

• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)Patrocinador principal
• Carden Summers (R, SD-013)
• Kay Kirkpatrick (R, SD-032)
• Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-052)

• massage therapy licensing
• occupational licensing
• professional education requirements
• Georgia licensing boards