California tanning laws for salon owners

Who regulates tanning in California

The Filante Tanning Facility Act of 1988, Business and Professions Code 22700 to 22708, covers any business that gives people access to a tanning device. It has no license and no inspection schedule. It names the Department of Consumer Affairs as the place to send injury reports. If your tanning rooms sit in a barbering or cosmetology establishment the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology licenses, that board can inspect your tanning records and issue notices to appear for infractions its representatives witness (7414.1 to 7414.6). There, an infraction carries a fine of $250 to $1,000 (7414.2).

The board may also adopt regulations for tanning in the establishments it licenses (7414.6). The regulations printed in its 2026 Act and Regulations booklet include none on tanning, but the official California Code of Regulations site could not be opened on 2026-09-29, so the full code of regulations was not searched. Check it before relying on this page for anything a regulation might add.

A first violation is an infraction, and each later one is a misdemeanor. Each day counts separately, and a civil penalty of up to $2,500 a day can be added (22708). Section 22706 was last amended by SB 746, effective January 1, 2012. A search of the Legislature's bills for 2023-24 and 2025-26 found none that amends the Act as of 2026-09-29. One bill touches the online age-check rule described below: AB 2076 would amend Civil Code 1798.99.1, and it was presented to the Governor on August 31, 2026 with no action recorded as of 2026-09-29. Ask your city or county about local business permits.

Checking age and ID at the desk

1. Ask every client for a driver's license or other government-issued ID with a date of birth and a photograph. That is the proof of age the Act accepts (22706(b)(4)).
2. Under 18: refuse UV tanning. A parent's permission does not change this.
3. Record the date of birth from the ID so later visits check against it.

The under-18 ban covers ultraviolet tanning devices only. The Act sets no age for spray tans. Civil Code 1798.99.1 also requires anyone selling UV tanning in or into California, online included, to take reasonable steps to confirm the buyer is of legal age. For the federal side, see the FDA's under-18 proposal and its withdrawal.

Before the first session, and every new year

• Give the client the written warning statement with the seven warnings in 22705(a), covering eye damage, burns, premature aging and skin cancer, photosensitizing foods, cosmetics and medications, and who should avoid UV tanning.
• Have the client sign an acknowledgment that they read and understood the warnings and agree to use the eyewear you provide (22706(b)(1)).
• Keep the acknowledgment until the end of the calendar year. Current customers must renew it at that point, so have each returning client sign again before their first session of the new year.
• Show each client how to use the handrails or floor markings that keep the manufacturer's exposure distance (22706(a)(3)).

Every visit

• Have a knowledgeable operator on site whenever you are open.
• Hand out properly sanitized eyewear before each UV session, and do not start a session for anyone who will not wear it.
• Set the time from a remote timer the client cannot reach. Timers must be accurate to plus or minus 10 percent.
• Keep every session at or under the manufacturer's maximum exposure time.
• Keep the salon at or below 100 degrees Fahrenheit (22706(a)(6)).

The Act sets no gap between sessions, so any 24-hour rule is your own policy. See the 24-hour tanning rule and tanning bed timer rules.

Signs, advertising and injuries

Post the DANGER: ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION sign, worded exactly as 22705(b) sets out, where every person using a UV device can see it. You may add the line that spray-on and sunless tans are not subject to the same effects. Do not claim, in person or in promotions, that UV tanning is safe or free from risk or has any known health benefits (22705(d)). More in tanning salon advertising claims.

When a client is hurt badly enough to need medical attention, report it to the Department of Consumer Affairs, give the client a copy, and send a copy to the FDA. The Act sets no deadline, so do it promptly and keep your copy.

How TanVision helps

With TanVision's consent forms, clients sign on their own phone or a tablet. The salon writes its own wording and questions, so the form can carry California's seven warnings and the eyewear agreement. Each signed record keeps the signature and the exact wording. A session cannot start without a signed statement and a date of birth on file.

Signed forms do not expire, so there is no yearly re-sign reminder: each January returning clients sign again through the same link, and the new record is filed beside the old one. With a USB 2D barcode scanner, Scan ID reads the barcode on the back of a driver's license or ID card, fills in the date of birth so later visits check against it, warns when the card has expired or the client is under your minimum age, and records the day the ID was checked. Staff still compare the photo with the person.

The minimum age is 18 by default. If a parent signs the form for a client under 18, say for a spray tan, TanVision records guardian consent. California allows no UV tanning under 18, so set Minors and UV rooms to No at Settings > Tanning rules: check-in then refuses UV rooms to any client under 18, even with guardian consent on file, while the consent still opens spray rooms. At Yes, the default, consent lets that client start any room, UV included, with only a warning.

Exposure safety refuses a typed time above the room's maximum, and the limits follow the salon's own settings, capped at each unit's maximum. Each client record shows recent visits, newest first, with the date, room and minutes. Compare other states on the tanning laws by state page, including New York.