republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-1537.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "The California Massage Therapy Council."
description: "Existing law, the Massage Therapy Act, until January 1, 2022, establishes the California Massage Therapy Council, and tasks it with, among other things, issuing certificates to practice as a massage therapist and approving massage therapy schools. Existing law authorizes the board of directors, which governs the council, to establish fees for initial certification, and renewal of certification, in an amount sufficient to support the functions of the council."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 1537"
citation: "California AB 1537 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["The California Massage Therapy Council."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Low"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2021-02-19"
last_action: "2021-09-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/51e2a6aa-f771-4ed1-84f1-cc9eae05bccc"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1537"
source_hash: "7760de8415b2b145fc5571c45df2b446b0b5bc3b4e63657df56d6b44020d12eb"
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-ca"]
---

# California AB 1537 (20212022) — The California Massage Therapy Council.

Existing law, the Massage Therapy Act, until January 1, 2022, establishes the California Massage Therapy Council, and tasks it with, among other things, issuing certificates to practice as a massage therapist and approving massage therapy schools. Existing law authorizes the board of directors, which governs the council, to establish fees for initial certification, and renewal of certification, in an amount sufficient to support the functions of the council.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/19/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1537&version=20210AB153799INT)
2. **04/26/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1537&version=20210AB153798AMD)
3. **09/16/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1537&version=20210AB153796CHP)
4. **AB1537** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1537)
5. **09/07/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1537&version=20210AB153797ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1537 Low et al. By Roth — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1537 Low Assembly Third Reading — **76–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Low — primary (person)
- Arambula — coauthor (person)
- Berman — coauthor (person)
- Bloom — coauthor (person)
- Chen — coauthor (person)
- Chiu — coauthor (person)
- Cunningham — coauthor (person)
- Flora — coauthor (person)
- Fong — coauthor (person)
- Gipson — coauthor (person)
- Grayson — coauthor (person)
- Holden — coauthor (person)
- Irwin — coauthor (person)
- McCarty — coauthor (person)
- Medina — coauthor (person)
- Megan Dahle — coauthor (person)
- Mullin — coauthor (person)
- Salas — coauthor (person)
- Ting — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-19** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2021-02-20** From printer. May be heard in committee March 22.
- **2021-02-22** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2021-03-11** Referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-26** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on B. & P. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-27** Re-referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (April 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-29** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2021-04-29** Ordered to second reading.
- **2021-05-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-06** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1333.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-05-06** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-19** Referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee`
- **2021-07-12** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (July 12). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-13** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2333.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-02** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2021-09-10** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2021-09-16** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-16** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 179, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/51e2a6aa-f771-4ed1-84f1-cc9eae05bccc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).