LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Louisville Metro Council is considering a new ordinance aimed at tightening regulations on massage parlors, a move city officials say could help combat human trafficking and illegal activity.
Metro Councilman Jeff Hudson met WDRB at the driveway of a massage parlor recently shut down by the city, highlighting the challenges officials face.
“It’s a little more than prostitution. It’s human slavery. You’re buying a human being, bringing them to this country and forcing them into labor,” Hudson said. “This ordinance helps to shut down the facilities that are accommodating that.”
Currently, Louisville has few rules governing massage parlors. Fifteen years ago, the city stopped issuing permits and licenses for these businesses, eroding the ability to regulate them effectively.
“Over the years, we’ve lost the capability to even issue a license or a permit,” Hudson said. “This ordinance helps to correct that.”
If passed, the ordinance would require massage parlors to operate under a city-issued license, including background and criminal checks for owners and partners. It would also mandate that parlors close from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily, ensure staff and therapists are fully dressed with no see-through clothing, and maintain a detailed registry of clients and services for inspections.
Louisville Metro Police officer Dan Marsden, a resource officer familiar with problematic massage parlors, said the ordinance could make illicit operations more difficult.
“I would say hope it makes the customer uncomfortable and I hope it makes businesses uncomfortable. They are doing things the wrong way," Marsden said. "You know, if you’re doing things the right way, you have nothing to worry about."
Metro officials estimate there are currently 35 to 40 known problematic massage parlors in Jefferson County, but suspect the actual number is much higher. Hudson said the city has been investigating these businesses for over a year.
“When I first started, I was surprised at what’s going on. But the more you dig into it, the uglier it gets,” he said.
The ordinance will first be reviewed by the Public Safety Committee next Wednesday and could reach the full Metro Council the following Thursday. If approved, the new regulations could be in effect by the end of the year.
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