(1) It shall be the responsibility of a massage therapy establishment to verify the current license of any and all persons practicing massage therapy at the location of or on behalf of the establishment. Failure to comply is subject to penalty assessed by the board of not less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) and not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per offense.

(2) No person may advertise massage or practice massage for compensation in this state unless he is licensed as a massage therapist by the board. No person may use the title of or represent himself to be a massage therapist or use any other title, abbreviations, letters, figures, signs or devices that indicate that the person is a massage therapist unless he is licensed to practice massage therapy under the provisions of this chapter. A current massage therapy license issued by the board shall at all times be prominently displayed in any place where massage therapy is being practiced.

(3) The following are requirements for licensure:

(a) An applicant must be eighteen (18) years of age, or older, on the date the application is submitted.

(b) An application must provide proof of high school graduate equivalency.

(c) An applicant must be of legal status not only to receive a license, but also to work in the State of Mississippi with that license.

(d) An applicant must supply proof of current certification in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid of at least eight (8) hours of training, including practical testing, and supply documentation of familiarity with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

(e) All required fees for licensure must be submitted by the applicant.

(f) Any and all requirements regarding good moral character and competency, as provided for in this chapter and in accepted codes of ethics, shall be met.

(g) An applicant must have completed an approved continuing education course on communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS information and prevention.

(h) The applicant’s official and certified transcript(s) from the applicant’s massage therapy school. The transcript must verify that the applicant has completed a board-approved training program of no less than the minimum requirement for supervised in-class massage therapy instruction and student clinic, with a minimum grade requirement of “C” or better in every course of instruction, as stated for school requirements.

(4) The following pre-act practitioners are exempt from having to take any examination for licensure, but must fulfill all other requirements as stated in this chapter, except for the requirements in subsection (3)(h) of this section:

(a) Those having more than three hundred (300) documented, board-accepted in-class hours of massage therapy education before January 1, 2001.

(b) Those having more than five (5) years of professional massage therapy experience and a minimum of one hundred fifty (150) hours of approved massage therapy education.

(c) Those having no formal training, but who have successfully passed the National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.

(d) All grandfathering exemption allowances as stated in this subsection (4) shall end on July 1, 2002, for nonstudents, and on June 1, 2003, for students who were enrolled in a part-time massage school curriculum on July 1, 2001. Individuals may apply for a license until the grandfathering exemption ends, but may not practice massage beyond the allowed grace period as provided for in Section 73-67-37 unless a valid massage therapy license or provisional permit is obtained. Except as provided in subsection (5) of this section, all other pre-act practitioners and anyone not practicing massage therapy before January 1, 2001, must take and pass the licensure examination and follow the requirements in this chapter to practice massage therapy for compensation in Mississippi.

(e) Students enrolled in a massage therapy curriculum of at least five hundred (500) hours on July 1, 2001, who complete graduation from the same curriculum.

(5) Any person who has practiced massage therapy for a period of more than twenty-five (25) years before March 14, 2005, who is employed as a massage therapist by a YMCA or YWCA authorized and existing as a nonprofit corporation under the laws of this state on March 14, 2005, is exempt from having to take any examination for licensure, but must fulfill all other requirements as stated in this chapter, except for the requirements in subsection (3)(b), (d), (g) and (h) of this section. Persons exempt under this subsection may apply for a massage therapy license until January 1, 2006, but may not practice massage therapy after January 1, 2006, unless a valid license is obtained.

(6) Certificates of registration issued by the board before July 1, 2008, shall remain valid as licenses until the next renewal period.

(7) An applicant must have successfully been cleared for licensure through an investigation that shall consist of a determination as to good moral character and verification that the prospective licensee is not guilty of or in violation of any statutory ground for denial of licensure as set forth in Section 73-67-27.

(a) To assist the board in conducting its licensure investigation, all applicants shall undergo a fingerprint-based criminal history records check of the Mississippi central criminal database and the Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history database. Each applicant shall submit a full set of the applicant’s fingerprints in a form and manner prescribed by the board, which shall be forwarded to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (department) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Identification Division for this purpose.

(b) Any and all state or national criminal history records information obtained by the board that is not already a matter of public record shall be deemed nonpublic and confidential information restricted to the exclusive use of the board, its members, officers, investigators, agents and attorneys in evaluating the applicant’s eligibility or disqualification for licensure, and shall be exempt from the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983. Except when introduced into evidence in a hearing before the board to determine licensure, no such information or records related thereto shall, except with the written consent of the applicant or by order of a court of competent jurisdiction, be released or otherwise disclosed by the board to any other person or agency.

(c) The board shall provide to the department the fingerprints of the applicant, any additional information that may be required by the department, and a form signed by the applicant consenting to the check of the criminal records and to the use of the fingerprints and other identifying information required by the state or national repositories.

(d) The board shall charge and collect from the applicant, in addition to all other applicable fees and costs, such amount as may be incurred by the board in requesting and obtaining state and national criminal history records information on the applicant.