While Lewisville police were engaged in controversial undercover operations at massage businesses in , city leaders and lawmakers were sounding the alarm in Austin.
State Rep. Ben Bumgarner, who represents southern Denton County, had authored a bill to address the issue. At a hearing of the House Committee on Licensing and Administrative Procedures, he told his fellow lawmakers, "We have a serious human trafficking issue going on in the City of Lewisville. Part of the problem, he and Deaver testified, was that it took too long to shut down illicit massage businesses.
Under Bumgarner's House Bill , which passed the Legislature and was signed into law in , police can contact the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation about a suspected illicit massage business and the TDLR can issue an emergency order to shut it down.
The emergency order forces the business to temporarily close for six months to give the agency time to investigate potential trafficking and offer services to potential victims. After six months, TDLR can allow the business to reopen or revoke its license. Since the law took effect in September , the agency has issued 16 emergency orders across the state, including at establishments in Burleson, Denton and Garland.
However, Lewisville has not benefited from the provision it fought to get passed. It has yet to ask the TDLR to investigate any of its massage businesses. Instead, leaders are using the other part of the law, which gives cities more power to close massage businesses where prostitution or trafficking arrests are made. In Lewisville, any massage business that wants to reopen in that location must apply for a special use permit, which can only be approved by the city council.
