L.A. Backs Changing Massage Parlor Law

This story was published in tandem with a segment for KCET's award-winning TV show "SoCal Connected." Watch it here now.

The Los Angeles City Council approved a resolution today in support of a state bill giving local entities the ability to regulate massage business.

Assembly Bill 1147 would give local governments the right to approve zoning and land use permits for massage parlors and the ability to crack down on parlors that may be acting as a front for prostitution. Statewide regulatory power over massage parlors currently resides mostly under the California Massage Therapy Council.

"If you take zoning laws away from a local jurisdiction, you tie their hands and they can't serve the public," Council member Bernard Parks told Video News West.

L.A.'s resolution, however, does request a change in AB 1147: to eliminate a provision stopping municipalities from creating local laws prohibiting locked doors at parlors.

Last year, a "Socal Connected" investigation looked at how the Los Angeles neighborhood of Eagle Rock and the city of Huntington Beach were grappling with enforcing the current law and the issue of prostitution.

Today's resolution passed with an 11-0 vote.