Agenda Date: 10/06/2026
Subject:
Title
Ordinance 18-2026: An ordinance on first reading, repealing and reenacting Title 3, Chapter 11, of the Littleton City Code regarding massage establishments to comply with recent state legislation governing massage facility licensure and fingerprint-based criminal history record checks
Body
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From: |
James L. Becklenberg, City Manager |
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Prepared by: |
Laurie Matta, Finance Director |
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Presentations: |
N/A |
PURPOSE:
Council has consistently prioritized public safety and a fair, well-administered regulatory environment for Littleton businesses. State law now requires every local government with a massage facility inside its boundaries to establish a local process ensuring that operators, owners, and employees submit to fingerprint-based criminal history record checks. Littleton's existing massage establishment regulations were adopted in 1978 and predate recent state legislative mandates. This ordinance repeals and reenacts Title 3, Chapter 11 in its entirety to bring the city into compliance with state legislative requirements.
LONG-TERM OUTCOME(S) SERVED:
Safe Community; High-Quality Governance
DISCUSSION:
The City of Littleton is a home rule municipality with authority to license and regulate businesses operating within its city limits. C.R.S. § 30-15-401.4, as amended by House Bill 24-1371, Senate Bill 25-146, and House Bill 26-1257 requires a local government with a massage facility in its jurisdiction to establish a process ensuring fingerprint-based background checks are conducted for operators, owners, and employees, performed in accordance with C.R.S. § 24-33.5-424.5. The ordinance is written to take effect on or after August 13, 2026, so that it is governed by C.R.S. § 30-15-401.4 as amended by HB 26-1257.
BACKGROUND:
The following summaries provide a brief background on the recent legislation:
• HB 24-1371 ("More Uniform Local Massage Facilities Regulation"), signed June 6, 2024, required mandatory background checks. The bill requires every county, city and county, and municipality, with a massage facility in its boundaries, to adopt a local process ensuring the required checks are conducted. It also prohibits certain persons with disqualifying convictions or sex offender registration obligations from being owners or employees.
• SB 25-146 ("Fingerprint-Based Criminal History Record Checks") aligned Colorado's record check laws with federal requirements and extended the compliance deadline for existing operators, owners, and employees from October 1, 2025, to July 1, 2026. It also established the name-based judicial record check as the required follow-up where a fingerprint check returns an arrest without disposition.
• HB 26-1257 ("Local Regulation of Massage Facilities") signed May 4, 2026 and effective August 12, 2026, expands the City’s authority. The bill broadens the definition of an illicit massage business beyond human trafficking-related offenses, permits additional local grounds for denial, revocation, or suspension, removes the $150 cap on the license fee, and declares prevention of illicit massage businesses to be a matter of mixed statewide and local concern.
Littleton's current Title 3, Chapter 11 dates to 1978. It contains no fingerprint-based background check process, no defined disqualifying offenses, no exemption for state-licensed massage therapists, and none of the other requirements and limitations now set out in C.R.S. § 30-15-401.4.
Staff from the Finance Department, the City Attorney's Office, and the Littleton Police Department developed the proposed chapter jointly and coordinated with the CBI to approve the form before Council at public hearing.
Prior Actions or Discussions
N/A
FISCAL IMPACTS:
The ordinance sets the initial and renewal license fee at not more than $150.00, consistent with C.R.S. § 30-15-401.4(4)(a)(II) as it existed prior to HB 26-1257, with annual inflation adjustment permitted. The fee is not based on the number of employees. Applicants, owners, prospective owners, employees, and prospective employees pay all costs associated with their own fingerprint-based checks. Council should be aware that HB 26-1257 removed the statutory $150 cap; retaining it is a policy choice reflected in this draft, and council may direct staff to revisit the fee structure through the annual fee schedule if cost recovery proves insufficient.
Administration will be absorbed within existing Finance Department and Police Department resources. Implementation costs are limited to forms and process development, staff training on the handling of criminal history record information, and CBI/FBI coordination. Based on the number of facilities currently operating in Littleton, license revenue is expected to approximately offset direct administrative cost. No supplemental appropriation is requested.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval on first reading. Adoption is required for the city to comply with C.R.S. § 30-15-401.4, and the state compliance deadline for existing operators, owners, and employees has already passed.
ALTERNATIVES:
1. Council may amend the ordinance prior to second reading.
2. Council may decline to adopt the ordinance and leave the 1978 chapter in place. This alternative is not recommended: the city would remain out of compliance with a state mandate, would lack the defined disqualifying offenses and enforcement tools the state framework supplies, and would continue to apply licensure requirements to state-licensed massage therapists who state law now exempts.
PROPOSED MOTION:
Proposed Motion
I move to approve Ordinance 18-2026 repealing and reenacting Title 3, Chapter 11, of the Littleton City Code regarding massage establishments to comply with recent state legislation governing massage facility licensure and fingerprint-based criminal history record checks on first reading, and to set the second reading and public hearing for October 20, 2026.