5.44.020 DEFINITIONS.

For the purposes of this chapter, unless the particular provision or the context otherwise clearly requires, the definitions in this section shall govern the construction, meaning, and application of words and phrases used in this chapter.

(a) "Business" includes, but not by way of limitation, everything about which a person can be employed, and means that which occupies the time, attention, and labor of men and women for the purpose of producing a livelihood or profit, and connotes the efforts of men and women by varied and diverse methods of dealing with each other, to improve their individual economic conditions, and for the purposes of this chapter shall include, without limitation, the advertising and soliciting of massages. The term "business" includes, but is not limited to, a massage practitioner who is the sole owner, operator and employee of a massage business operating as a sole proprietorship, as well as a massage establishment which employs massage practitioners and therapists.

(b) "California Massage Therapy Council" or "CAMTC" means the massage therapy organization formed pursuant to Business and Professions Code Section 4600.5.

(c) "Certified massage practitioner" means any individual certified by the California Massage Therapy Council as a certified massage therapist or as a certified massage practitioner pursuant to California Business and Professions CodeSections 4600 et seq.

(d) "Client" means the customer or patron who pays for or receives massage services.

(e) "Compensation" means the payment, loan, advance, donation, contribution, deposit, exchange, or gift of money or anything of value.

(f) "City Manager" means the City Manager of the City of San Mateo, and his or her authorized representatives or designees.

(g) "City registration certificate" means a registration certificate issued by the Chief of Police upon submission of satisfactory evidence that a massage business employs or uses only certified massage practitioners pursuant to this chapter.

(h) "Chief of Police" means the Chief of Police of the City of San Mateo, and his or her authorized representatives or designees.

(i) "Employee" means any person employed by a massage business who may render any service to the business, and who receives any form of compensation from the business.

(j) "Health Officer" means the person appointed by the City of San Mateo pursuant to the California Health and Safety Code or his or her authorized representatives or designees.

(k) "Massage" or "massage therapy," means and refers to any method of treating the external parts of the body for remedial, health, or hygienic purposes for any form of compensation by means of pressure on or friction against, or stroking, kneading, rubbing, tapping, pounding, or stimulating the external parts of the body, with or without the aid of any mechanical or electrical apparatus or appliances; or with or without supplementary aids, such as rubbing alcohol, liniments, antiseptics, oils, powders, creams, lotions, ointments, or other similar preparations commonly used in this practice; or by baths, including but not limited to Turkish, Russian, Swedish, Japanese, vapor, shower, electric tub, sponge, mineral, fomentation, or any other type of bath.

(l) "Massage business" means any business that offers massage therapy in exchange for compensation, whether at a fixed place of business or at a location designated by the customer or client through outcall massage services. Any business that offers any combination of massage therapy and bath facilities—including, but not limited to, showers, baths, wet and dry heat rooms, pools and hot tubs—shall be deemed a massage business under this chapter. The term "massage business" includes a certified massage practitioner who is the sole owner, operator and employee of a massage business operating as a sole proprietorship.

(m) "Operator" or "massage business operator" means any and all owners of a massage business.

(n) "Outcall massage" means the engaging in or carrying on of massage therapy for compensation in a location other than the business operations address set forth in the massage business's City registration certificate.

(o) "Owner" or "massage business owner" means any of the following persons:

(1) Any person who is a general partner of a general or limited partnership that owns a massage business.

(2) Any person who has five percent or greater ownership interest in a corporation that owns a massage business.

(3) Any person who is a member of a limited liability company that owns a massage business.

(4) Any person who has a five percent or greater ownership interest in any other type of business association that owns a massage business.

(p) "Person" means any individual, firm, association, partnership, corporation, joint venture, limited liability company, or combination of individuals.

(q) "Practitioner" or "massage practitioner" shall be used interchangeably and mean any person who administers massage to another person, for any form of consideration (whether for the massage, as part of other services or a product, or otherwise).

(r) "Reception and waiting area" means an area immediately inside the front door of the massage business dedicated to the reception and waiting of patrons of the massage business and visitors, and which is not a massage therapy room or otherwise used for the provision of massage therapy services.

(s) "Registration" means the registration required by this chapter to operate a massage business.

(t) "School of massage" means any school or institution of learning that is recognized as an approved school pursuant to Business and Professions Code Division 2, Chapter 10.5, as currently drafted or as may be amended.

(u) "Police Chief" means the Police Chief of the City of San Mateo and his or her authorized representatives or designees.

(v) "Sole proprietorship" means and includes any legal form of business organization where the business owner (sometimes referred to as the "sole proprietor") is the only person employed by that business to provide massage services.

(w) "Solicit" means to request, ask, demand or otherwise arrange for the provision of services.