Panel restores local licensing tools for massage businesses to address illicit operations

Representative Gonzales, the prime sponsor, told the Transportation, Housing, and Local Government Committee HB 12‑57 corrects unintended limitations created by a 2024 law that constrained local licensure programs for massage facilities. The bill, he said, broadens the definition of illicit massage businesses to include crimes beyond human trafficking, removes a restriction that local ordinances be no more restrictive than state law, and eliminates a statutory cap on administrative fees.

“Local regulation is a powerful tool to address these concerns,” Gonzales said, describing examples where local licensing led to enforcement and closures. Co‑sponsor Representative Rudenow said the bill restores flexibility used effectively by municipalities.

Trevor Vaughn, manager of licensing for Aurora, described the city’s 2018 ordinance, saying it removed nearly two dozen illicit operations and provided a template adopted elsewhere. “Human trafficking is very difficult to prove,” Vaughn told the committee, arguing that local licensure and denial/revocation tools give municipalities a practical path to action when criminal proof is elusive.

Municipal advocates including Elizabeth Haskell of the Colorado Municipal League testified that HB 12‑57 restores authorities municipalities had before the 2024 law and protects legitimate massage businesses by removing illicit operators. John Meeks (Colorado Springs) spoke in an amend position about technical clarifications on which employees must be fingerprinted; sponsors offered an amendment (L1) to exempt hotel/resort spas from fingerprinting requirements, which the committee adopted without objection.

Vice Chair Stewart moved HB 12‑57, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; the motion passed unanimously. Sponsors said the bill does not mandate new programs but returns local tools to protect communities and vulnerable people.