County Councilmembers introduce bill aimed at preventing human trafficking in spas 

13 spa owners charged with illegal massage operations since June 2024

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July 22, 2026 11:02 a.m.

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The Montgomery County Council introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at addressing human trafficking by preventing spas from being open by people with human trafficking or prostitution-related offenses. 

“This bill grew directly out of conversations that we have been having at the county’s human trafficking prevention committee,” Councilmember Dawn Luedtke (D-Dist. 7), who sponsored the bill, said on Tuesday. “Trafficking in the labor or sex context doesn’t always occur or look the way people expect it to. It often occurs in businesses that appear perfectly legitimate until you look a little deeper.” 

According to County Council documents, Bill-34-26 was developed in consultation with the county police who said that the department has issued 40 citations to 25 spas and charged 13 spa owners with felony offenses related to abetting illegal massage operations since June 2024.  

“This bill would aid in our ongoing effort to combat human trafficking by helping prevent repeat offenders from reopening and continuing their illegal operations within the County,” Sgt. Melissa Maines of the county police department’s Vice and Intelligence Unit said in a press release. 

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The bill would require applicants for a bodyworks establishment license to disclose all corporate officers and business managers to the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS would then be prohibited from issuing a license if a corporate officer or business manager has been convicted of, pleaded guilty to, or otherwise been found responsible for human trafficking or prostitution-related offenses.  

According to the documents, spa applicants would be ineligible if a corporate officer or business owner previously owned a spa where the license was revoked.   

“Some of the same individuals who end up getting cited and they shut down that particular business, they just pop up as a new LLC, but it’s the same people in a different part of the county and apply for another license and the cycle starts over again,” Luedtke said Tuesday. “And that’s what this is aimed at attempting to close that gap.” 

A public hearing for the bill is scheduled for Sept. 15 at 1:30 p.m. 

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The bill was co-sponsored by President Natali Fani-González (D-Dist. 6) and Councilmembers Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) and Sidney Katz (D-Dist. 3). On Tuesday, Council Vice President Marilyn Balcombe (D-Dist. 2) and councilmembers Shebra Evans (D-At Large), Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1), Will Jawando (D-At Large), Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5) and Laurie-Anne Sayles (D-At Large) also asked to be added as co-sponsors to the bill.  

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine