(225 ILCS 57/15)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027)

Sec. 15. Licensure requirements.

(a) Persons engaged in massage for compensation must be licensed by the Department. The Department shall issue a license to an individual who meets all of the following requirements:

(1) The applicant has applied in writing on the prescribed forms and has paid the required fees.

(2) The applicant is at least 18 years of age and of good moral character. In determining good moral character, the Department may take into consideration conviction of any crime under the laws of the United States or any state or territory thereof that is a felony or a misdemeanor or any crime that is directly related to the practice of the profession. Such a conviction shall not operate automatically as a complete bar to a license, except in the case of any conviction for prostitution, rape, or sexual misconduct, or where the applicant is a registered sex offender.

(3) The applicant has successfully completed a massage therapy program approved by the Department that requires a minimum of 500 hours, except applicants applying on or after January 1, 2014 shall meet a minimum requirement of 600 hours, and has passed a competency examination approved by the Department.

(b) Each applicant for licensure as a massage therapist shall have his or her fingerprints submitted to the Illinois State Police in an electronic format that complies with the form and manner for requesting and furnishing criminal history record information as prescribed by the Illinois State Police. These fingerprints shall be checked against the Illinois State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history record databases now and hereafter filed. The Illinois State Police shall charge applicants a fee for conducting the criminal history records check, which shall be deposited into the State Police Services Fund and shall not exceed the actual cost of the records check. The Illinois State Police shall furnish, pursuant to positive identification, records of Illinois convictions to the Department. The Department may require applicants to pay a separate fingerprinting fee, either to the Department or to a vendor. The Department, in its discretion, may allow an applicant who does not have reasonable access to a designated vendor to provide his or her fingerprints in an alternative manner. The Department may adopt any rules necessary to implement this Section.

(Source: P.A. 102-20, eff. 1-1-22; 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22.)