June 2021 AMTA IOWA chapters newsletter

#amtaiowa #iloveamtaiowa

Hello my fellow AMTA members:

I hope that you are safe and well. In case you have not received a COVID 19 vaccine as of yet, the vaccine is now available to all adults who wish to have it. To find out where the closest clinic is to you, call your local health department or look on the IDPH website to find out which one would be closest to you.

As discussed at our virtual annual meeting the AMTA-IA board consists of:

President Robert Campbell
Board Member 1 Holly Rasmusson
Board Member 2 Karen Sindelar
Financial Administrator Pam Burnikel
Secretary Jeanna Tellin

Delegate Ken Swenson

Committees & Delegates

Awards Chair Cynthia Haack (Will be stepping down)
Convention/Events Chair Holly Rasmusson
Advisory Chair Ken Swenson
Educational Chair Karen Sindelar
Government Relations Chair Rachel Brown
Membership Chair Soraya Wagner
On-line Elections Chair Soraya Wagner
Social Media Chair Hannah Buffington
Digital Media Chair Alexander Collins

Elections for the following positions were held online: Board Member 1, Financial Administrator, and Delegate
The results are as follows:
Board Member 1 Holly Rasmusson
Financial Administrator Pam Burnikel
Delegate Karen Sindelar

Congratulations to you all.

This year’s AMTA-IA financial report was also discussed at the virtual annual meeting as well.

Fiscal Year 20/21 Income

Budget Actual
$82,100 $25.577

Fiscal Year 20/21 Expenses

Budget Actual
$127,441 $13,639

Net Change
($45,341) $11,938

Fiscal Year 21/22 Income

Budget Income Budget Expense
$50,508 $72,580

Net Change
(22,072)

This year along with the coalition to stop human trafficking, the AMTA-IA sponsored HF 452 to the Iowa legislature. This house file passed both houses unanimously and on May 20th was signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds. This law will empower local law enforcement to enforce state laws and regulations specific to the massage therapy industry. This law will not cancel out any ordinance that has already been established within a city but will provide for a statewide consistency to ensure that the massage therapist performing the massage is licensed.

In other government related news the governor has extended the emergency proclamation through June 26, 2021.

The current licensure renewal requirements are as follows:

1. If your license expired between March and December 2020, you can complete all online continuing education, and you have until June 30, 2021 to renew.

2. If your license expires between January 1, 2021 and the end of the Proclamation period (currently set at June 26, 2021 but may be postponed), you can complete all online continuing education, and you have until 60 days after the end of the Proclamation period (which would currently be Aug 26, 2021) to renew.

3. If your license expires after the end of the Proclamation period (currently set at June 26, 2021 but may be postponed), you have to renew as normal which includes hands-on continuing education.
Meritorious Award

This year’s recipient of the Meritorious Award has not only done so much for this chapter this year, but also for all LMT’s around the state. Particularly this year with all of the pandemic changes and difficulties. She has kept our members informed about all of the legislative and government regulations and was a vital part of getting our HF 452 started and passed into law. She works tirelessly with our lobbyist Advocacy Strategies, and sends out emails constantly while the Iowa congress is in session. And, even though it has been trying and a headache at times she pushes on with a relentless determination. Rachel Brown you are this year’s recipient and I want to personally thank you for all the hard work that you have done.

The last thing that I wanted to cover in this article is at our virtual annual meeting I announced that in September our chapter will be having a vote on our standing rules to get us into compliance with our national organization. Many of our standing rules are not in alignment with the national organization and are somewhat outdated. This vote will be an online vote and we will be getting the information out to you within the next couple of months about dates, so be looking for them.

I hope you all have a fantastic summer.

Robert Campbell, LMT
AMTA-IA Chapter President

I have some great news! We will be having an in person convention in March. The dates will TBA as I am just beginning working on details. So please like us on Facebook as that is where the details will be posted first. It will be great to see you all! Have a great summer see you in Spring 2022.
Holly Rasmusson
Board Member/ Convention Chair
 

I am delighted and honored to accept the position of Delegate for the Iowa Chapter of the AMTA. The first meeting of the Assembly of Delegates (AOD) will be held online in August. Iowa has two delegates. Ken Swensen and I will both be representing Iowa and attending the virtual meeting.

As Delegates, Ken and I may assist our members by proposing topics for discussion through various AOD channels. If you have concerns or discussion topics for AMTA, please contact Ken or I with your ideas. To help facilitate clarity, the AOD discussion proposal form is available on the AMTA National Website. Here is also a link to it.

https://www.amtamassage.org/globalassets/documents/chapters/discussion-topic-proposal-form_2021.docx.pdf

We look forward to being Iowa’s voice for our members.

Karen Sindelar