Urgent help needed! (Cross post)

[subk]

I’ve crossed posted this since I have such a short time frame! Hope that’s ok.

Tennessee law says that you must be a license vet to perform equine massage therapy. The state has recently decided to enforce that law and some equine massage therapists are receiving cease and desists letters under threat of prison! There is a bill, SB849 in the State Senate Commerce Committee late this afternoon (and will most likely get pushed to tomorrow) to repeal that law.

PLEASE if you live in TN or have shown horses in TN or MIGHT ever one day show horses in TN make a call to support the bill. Since this is “commerce” the idea that someone might not travel here because they can’t access massage therapy while showing here would be meaningful.

Requiring a vets license for equine massage is like requiring a medical license for human massage!! It will make it very difficult to find a massage therapist and if you can find one they will be very expensive.

Here’s what you need to say:
“Please support SB849 in Commerce Committee today.” Then add you personal opinion or thoughts (or not.)

Here’s who you need to call:
Sen. Jack Johnson 615 741-2495
Sen. Bill Ketron 615 741-6853
Sen. Jim Tracy 615 741-1066
Sen. Bo Watson 615 741-3227

Thanks guys, y’all are the best!

[vineyridge]

It may also violate federal anti-trust laws. There is a US Supreme Court case that is directly on point, IIRC, that had to do with North Carolina Board of Dentistry requiring dentists to do teeth whitening.

From Fortune:

The Supreme Court weighed in on the matter in a closely-watched case earlier this year about North Carolina dentists, who had used the licensing process to squelch shops that offered cosmetic teeth-whitening operations. The court’s February decision, which went against the dentists, is now poised to have ripple effects in other industries, including the tech sector.

The NYTimes article on the case.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/b…oard.html

[vineyridge]

I’ve just done a search on Findlaw in the Tennessee Code for “Equine Massage Therapy”, and nothing specific came up. I also searched the Tennessee Code for " “Massage Therapy” +veterinary", and nothing came up. If this prohibition is merely a rule from the Tennessee Vet Board, it would likely fall afoul of the North Carolina case and violate federal anti-trust law.

I hope the legislation passes, but if it doesn’t there is an alternative. The Massage Therapists can file a complaint with the FTC.