---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MASSAGE AND BODYWORK."
description: "Section 1 of this Act revises the definition of “massage establishment” by repealing the exemption for all business establishments licensed under other chapters of Title 24. This exemption allows a massage practitioner to work in a licensed cosmetology shop that does not hold a massage establishment license. In that situation, the cosmetology shop can have an identified professional-in-charge responsible for the operation of the cosmetology shop and its employees, but that individual is not responsible for the massage practitioners. This means that the professional-in-charge responsible for the cosmetology shop cannot be held responsible for the wrongful actions of a massage practitioner, which adversely impacts the disciplinary process. With this exemption repealed, a cosmetology shop offering massage services is required to have both a massage establishment license and a licensed massage practitioner as the professional-in-charge responsible for the actions of all massage practitioners providing services on the premises."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "152"
identifier: "HB 386"
citation: "Delaware HB 386 (152)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brian Pettyjohn", "John \"Jack\" Walsh", "Nicole Poore", "Sophie Phillips"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 7
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2024-05-07"
last_action: "2024-08-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6cb3763d-1de3-4031-bbf9-7b7205252bc1"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=141294"
source_hash: "0ba49a8b893c6bf842546e0f3f2a4319e939578eb085df3d21081c3b9f8f6531"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware HB 386 (152) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MASSAGE AND BODYWORK.

Section 1 of this Act revises the definition of “massage establishment” by repealing the exemption for all business establishments licensed under other chapters of Title 24. This exemption allows a massage practitioner to work in a licensed cosmetology shop that does not hold a massage establishment license. In that situation, the cosmetology shop can have an identified professional-in-charge responsible for the operation of the cosmetology shop and its employees, but that individual is not responsible for the massage practitioners. This means that the professional-in-charge responsible for the cosmetology shop cannot be held responsible for the wrongful actions of a massage practitioner, which adversely impacts the disciplinary process. With this exemption repealed, a cosmetology shop offering massage services is required to have both a massage establishment license and a licensed massage practitioner as the professional-in-charge responsible for the actions of all massage practitioners providing services on the premises.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=141294&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB386)

## Votes

- SM — **37–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Brian Pettyjohn — primary (person)
- John "Jack" Walsh — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Sophie Phillips — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2024-05-07** Introduced and Assigned to Sunset Committee (Policy Analysis & Government Accountability) Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-05-14** Reported Out of Committee (Sunset Committee (Policy Analysis & Government Accountability)) in House with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-05-23** Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 4 ABSENT `passage`
- **2024-05-23** Assigned to Legislative Oversight & Sunset Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-18** Reported Out of Committee (Legislative Oversight & Sunset) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-06-26** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2024-08-29** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6cb3763d-1de3-4031-bbf9-7b7205252bc1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).