Dear Supporters,

Thank you to everyone who has signed and shared this petition. Your engagement is making a real difference. Since launching this campaign, new information has come forward that every massage therapist, educator, regulator, and legislator needs to know.

A recent meeting with the Georgia Board of Massage on December 5 had a presentation from AMTA President Cindy Farrar and National GR representative Christine Hoober revealed major errors, misunderstandings, and public-safety risks in the revised massage compact that AMTA and CSG are now promoting.

This is from my personal recorded transcript that on Google docs you can request here:

• AMTA admitted that CSG wrote the language for the proposed changes. When CSG asked AMTA about what changes they wanted, they referred the CSG to a webpage as the basis for compact language.  This is language that will be used in a nation wide bill. That requires more input from the professional stakeholders and more careful thought than what a webpage offers. CSG is not in the business of writing language for compacts. Their job is to create the legal framework. The content should come from the profession and already has been worked on for a few years with the IMpact.
• AMTA approved language that misnames exams—potentially excluding thousands of therapists. The language uses the term NCBTMB which is an organization - not an exam. There have been many exams created by the NCBTMB.
• AMTA pushed for putting technical content into statute, which every healthcare compact expert says will break uniformity.
• The revised compact introduces a “2-year licensure” pathway that regulators say is a known trafficking vulnerability.
• The AMTA survey had  Only 500 respondents out of 105,000 members. That is a 0.48% response rate — less than half of one percent. That is NOT being a member driven association.
• The survey was flawed and mislead respondents and did not use any of the professional survey standards. AMTA also has failed to mention that they did this behind the back of FSMBT creating further division in the profession.
• CSG and AMTA admitted this revised compact was drafted without the original stakeholder group that built the IMpact model.
• These findings confirm what many of us suspected: The revised compact is not safe, not accurate, and not developed through accepted healthcare compact standards.
• AMTA has said they have long supported license portability (See their 2015 position statement) yet have not offered any plan to implement this.
• AMTA has been repeatedly told the the changes will be and should be handled in rule making and not statute. They could actually remedy this with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which is a formal agreement between two organizations.

  It is not legally binding like a contract, but it is an official commitment that both parties intend to cooperate in good faith.

Why this matters
The decisions AMTA and CSG are making right now will shape the future of our profession for decades. If this flawed compact moves forward, we risk:

• Two competing compacts across the U.S.
• Confusion in state legislatures
• Lowered standards
• Loopholes for illicit operations
• Loss of trust in massage therapy as a healthcare profession
• The original IMpact compact—developed by regulators, educators, SMEs, and stakeholders over two years—remains the ONLY safe and legitimate compact structure.

Write a simple letter like this. Google doc  You can reference this petition and follow up.

Contact CSG and ask them to work together with FSMTB and AMTA to support IMpact. 
Grant Minix - gminix@csg.org

Contact the CSG Director  https://www.compacts.csg.org/contact-us 
Dan Logsdon - dlogsdon@csg.org

Contact the Defense Department Liaisons
Tammie Perreault Tammie.L.Perreault.civ@mail.mil
Northwest Regional Liaison Northwest Region AK, ID, MT, OR, WA, WY

Sarah Stein Director. sarah.k.stein4.civ@mail.mil
 https://statepolicy.militaryonesource.mil/about 


Contact AMTA President - Cindy Farrar cfarrar@amtamassage.org

Sign and Share this petition! 

Thanks for your support!

Julie Onofrio, LMT