ORANGE, Texas — The Orange City Council passed an ordinance aimed at cutting down on potential human trafficking operations, that pose as massage businesses.
The city council met on Tuesday, April 23 to consider an ordinance that would create strict regulations for massage parlors in the city.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: the video above was from a 6 p.m. broadcast, before the decision was announced)
This comes after a series of January raids at seven massage parlors in Orange, Bridge City and Vidor as part of investigations into human and sex trafficking.
"The governor signed a bill called House Bill 3579, that severely restricts how cities can regulate massage establishments. So this ordinance follows state law and is compliant with state law. But what it does, the ordinance defines what is a massage establishment," said City of Orange Director of Planning and Community Development Kelvin Knauf.
City building official Marvin Benoit says the ordinance will keep people living in the city safe.
"We just want to make sure that these businesses, when they do come in, that they are in fact legitimate state licensed, and they're going to be safe for the public to go in and out of and use their facilities," Benoit said.
City leaders and the Orange Police Department helped council members define the term the city will use for "massage parlors". However, the city has not shared the definition with 12News at this time.
The city did share a number of restrictions from the ordinance:
- Restrictions on the hours of operation.
- Businesses will only be allowed to be open from 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
- This aims to target overnight stays.
- The city will be allowed to perform random and routine inspections.
The city will also require each massage therapist to be licensed by the state and for the licenses to be displayed publicly.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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