Government Relations

NC BMBT License Renewal Update

On Friday, October 25, 2024, the Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy met in an emergency meeting after a prior meeting on Oct 17 and discussed hurricane relief for the western part of the state and potential tropical cyclone 8 relief in the east.

We are happy to report that the late fee of $75 is now moved to January 1, which is the day after licenses expire on Dec 31. You must pay your fee of $100 and upload all CE by midnight on 12/31. One cannot work in 2025 until your license is renewed. If the BMBT discovers you worked without a current license, you will receive a letter of reprimand and a fine.

If you know you can’t complete your CE by 12/31, then request an exemption using Guideline 2.5.

2.5 Extension of time to complete continuing education. Pursuant to Rule .0303(a), a licensee who has been unable to complete the required number of hours of continuing education for license renewal due to serious extenuating circumstances may make application to the Board for an extension of time to complete the necessary hours. Such application may only be made by a licensee on a one-time basis and may be granted only at the discretion of the Board. The number of incomplete hours of continuing education at the time of license renewal shall be added to the total number of hours required in the following licensure period. (Adopted June 19, 2003)

The Board has directed staff to accept anyone in the affected counties for relief using this. You do have to pay your renewal fee on time and upload any CE hours already taken. You will then have two more years to obtain all past and future required hours.

AMTA-NC is in the process of scheduling several free webinars which we will notify members of when each class is definite, and registration is open. There are also several providers who have announced free classes on their own websites.

AMTA-NC is committed to helping our members and all licensees obtain their required continuing education to renew on time.

An additional reminder for establishment licenses – these are also due by midnight on December 31. There is no provision for late renewals for 2024. There is a rules revision in process for future years.

Announcement regarding Licensing Establishments

In 2018, the Board developed rules to implement licensing of establishments. The rules were approved by the Rules Review Commission at its September and October 2018 meetings. Due to receiving 10 or more letters of objections to the proposed rules, the rules were required to be reported to the NC Legislature in 2019 for review. The Legislature adjourned on November 15, 2019 without disapproving any of the Board’s proposed rules and the rules regarding licensure of establishments were effective that day. You can review the rules by going to the Practice Act and Rules tab on the Board’s website www.bmbt.org.

The Board will be working on collecting information and identifying all establishments in North Carolina that offer massage or massage and bodywork therapy services to make sure they apply to become licensed by the Board. PLEASE REVIEW AND UPDATE YOUR EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION BY GOING TO THE ‘UPDATE YOUR RECORD’ PAGE ON THE BOARD’S WEBSITE. Below is the link to that page:

https://bmbt.org/mtpages/Information_Update.html

The Board estimates licensing of establishments will begin shortly after July 1, 2020 and will take six to twelve months to complete initial licensing.

BMBT News and Announcements

2019 BMBT Meeting Minutes