---
type: "Bill"
title: "RELATING TO MASSAGE THERAPY."
description: "Requires the board of massage therapy to adopt and enforce sanitation rules for massage therapy establishments. Repeals existing statutory language that classifies unlicensed activity as a petty misdemeanor in favor of existing statutes that treat unlicensed activity as a misdemeanor. Increases the fines for violations of the laws regulating massage therapy. (HD2)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/hi"
legislature: "Hawaii Legislature"
session: "2020 Regular Session"
identifier: "SB 2878"
citation: "Hawaii SB 2878 (2020 Regular Session)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Massage Therapy", "Massage Therapy Establishments", "Rulemaking Authority", "Fines"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["KOUCHI"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 36
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2020-01-23"
last_action: "2020-09-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8ad8abbc-b809-414f-9d43-520f154a2456"
source_url: "http://capitol.hawaii.gov/Archives/measure_indiv_Archives8-12.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=2878&year=2020"
source_hash: "614ac0a057de367cc57da25b52d184bd29841f76e6ecae31277f7e77e929fe87"
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-hi"]
---

# Hawaii SB 2878 (2020 Regular Session) — RELATING TO MASSAGE THERAPY.

Requires the board of massage therapy to adopt and enforce sanitation rules for massage therapy establishments. Repeals existing statutory language that classifies unlicensed activity as a petty misdemeanor in favor of existing statutes that treat unlicensed activity as a misdemeanor. Increases the fines for violations of the laws regulating massage therapy. (HD2)

## Version chain

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

1. **SB2878** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2020/bills/SB2878_.HTM)
2. **SB2878_HD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2020/bills/SB2878_HD1_.HTM)
3. **SB2878_HD2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2020/bills/SB2878_HD2_.HTM)

## Votes

- The committees on IAC recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. — **3–0** (pass) · upper
- The committee(s) on CPH recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- The committees on CPC recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- The committees on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. — **14–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- KOUCHI — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-23** Introduced. `introduction`
- **2020-01-23** Passed First Reading. `reading-1`
- **2020-01-27** Referred to CPH, JDC. `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-07** The committee(s) on CPH has scheduled a public hearing on 02-11-20 9:00AM in conference room 229.
- **2020-02-11** The committee(s) on CPH recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes in CPH were as follows: 6 Aye(s): Senator(s) Baker, S. Chang, Nishihara, Ruderman, L. Thielen, Wakai; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Fevella. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-02-14** Reported from CPH (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2810) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading and referral to JDC.
- **2020-02-14** Report adopted; Passed Second Reading and referred to JDC.
- **2020-02-21** The committee(s) on JDC will hold a public decision making on 02-25-20 12:30PM in conference room 016.
- **2020-02-25** The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes in JDC were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) K. Rhoads, J.Keohokalole, Kim; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 2 Excused: Senator(s) Gabbard, Fevella. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-02-28** Reported from JDC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3140) with recommendation of passage on Third Reading.
- **2020-02-28** One Day Notice 03-03-20.
- **2020-03-03** Report adopted; Passed Third Reading. Ayes, 25; Aye(s) with reservations: none . Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House. `passage`
- **2020-03-03** Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 413). `introduction`
- **2020-03-05** Pass First Reading `reading-1`
- **2020-03-09** Referred to IAC, CPC, FIN, referral sheet 36 `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-09** Bill scheduled to be heard by IAC on Thursday, 03-12-20 9:30AM in House conference room 430.
- **2020-03-12** The committees on IAC recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 5 Ayes: Representative(s) Ohno, D. Kobayashi, Kong, Nishimoto, Takayama; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Gates, McDermott. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-03-13** Reported from IAC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1083-20) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to CPC.
- **2020-03-13** Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on CPC with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Gates, McDermott, Thielen excused (3). `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2020-06-22** Bill scheduled to be heard by CPC on Wednesday, 06-24-20 10:00AM in House conference room 325.
- **2020-06-24** The committees on CPC recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 6 Ayes: Representative(s) Takumi, Ichiyama, Cachola, Kong, Onishi, Matsumoto; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 5 Excused: Representative(s) Aquino, Belatti, Cabanilla Arakawa, Har, Mizuno. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-06-25** Reported from CPC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1210-20) as amended in HD 2, recommending referral to FIN.
- **2020-06-25** Report adopted. referred to the committee(s) on FIN as amended in HD 2 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cabanilla Arakawa, Matayoshi excused (2).
- **2020-06-26** Bill scheduled to be heard by FIN on Monday, 06-29-20 2:00PM in House conference room 329.
- **2020-06-29** The committees on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 14 Ayes: Representative(s) Luke, Cullen, Eli, Gates, Hashimoto, Holt, Kitagawa, B. Kobayashi, Nakamura, Nishimoto, Todd, Wildberger, Yamashita, McDermott; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Matayoshi. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-07-01** Reported from FIN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1248-20), recommending passage on Third Reading.
- **2020-07-01** Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and none excused (0). Transmitted to Senate. `passage`
- **2020-07-02** Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 375). `introduction`
- **2020-07-02** Deferred One Day 07-06-20.
- **2020-07-06** Senate agrees with House amendments. Placed on the calendar for Final Reading on 07-08-20.
- **2020-07-06** One Day Notice 07-08-20.
- **2020-07-08** Passed Final Reading. Ayes, 22; Aye(s) with reservations: none . 0 No(es): none. 2 Excused: Senator(s) English, Keith-Agaran.
- **2020-07-08** Received notice of Senate agreement and Final Reading (Sen. Com. No. 630).
- **2020-07-10** Enrolled to Governor. `executive-receipt`
- **2020-09-15** Act 064, 09/15/2020 (Gov. Msg. No. 1169). `executive-signature`
- **2020-09-15** Act 064, on 09/15/2020 (Gov. Msg. No. 1169). `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8ad8abbc-b809-414f-9d43-520f154a2456`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Hawaii legislature records).