The Board of Regents approved regulations to implement the statutory requirement (§7807 of the Education Law) that became effective on January 1, 2012, requiring 36 hours of mandatory continuing education for re-registration of licensed massage therapists every three years. The requirement was phased in during the first three years, so that those re-registering during that time period were only required to complete the number of hours of continuing education attributable to the number of months from January 1, 2012 until their registration due dates, e.g. registration on June 1, 2012 would require six hours of continuing education. There is a provision for a one-year conditional registration for persons who for good cause have not completed the required hours.
Effective December 2014, Chapter 498 of the Laws of 2014 was enacted and amended in March 2015 by Chapter 10 of the Laws of 2015 authorizing persons who are licensed and in good standing in another state or country to do demonstrations of massage therapy techniques during the mandated massage therapy continuing education courses that take place in New York State. This applies only to those entities, and their authorized providers, that are approved by our Department to provide continuing education courses and only to those courses that have been accepted as meeting the requirements. It is up to the continuing education provider to obtain verification of the licensure status, including “good standing,” of the person who is offering the course and doing the demonstrations.