Missouri tanning laws for salon owners

What Missouri law covers

Missouri has one tanning statute, RSMo 577.665, added in 2014 by House Bill 1411, and one rule under it, 19 CSR 20-12.010, which took effect on April 30, 2015. Together they cover a single subject: consent for clients under 17. The statute's duties and fines could not be enforced until the rule with the state consent form was adopted (577.665.5), so they have applied since that date.

A search of the Revised Statutes of Missouri for "tanning" on 2026-09-29 returned only 577.665 and an unrelated section on tanning animal hides. Searches for "sunlamp", "tanning device", "tanning facility" and "tanning bed" returned only 577.665. The state's radiation-control sections cover ionizing radiation and expressly leave out ultraviolet light (RSMo 192.400). Across the Department of Health and Senior Services' rules (Title 19 of the Code of State Regulations), only the consent rule mentions tanning, and none of the 14 chapters of the cosmetology and barber board's rules (20 CSR 2085) does. So we found no state license, inspection, training, eyewear, timer, lamp or record requirement. We did not check other agencies' rules or city and county ordinances.

On 2026-09-29 the Revisor's site showed 577.665 in its 2014 form only, and the Code of State Regulations chapter was still the version dated March 31, 2015. No House bill or resolution from the 2025 or 2026 regular session (3,870 records) mentions tanning in its title. We did not search Senate bills; the Senate's bill-list pages for those years returned "not found".

Clients under 17

1. Record every client's date of birth before their first UV session.
2. Under 17: before the first session, the parent or guardian comes to the salon in person and signs the state's Tanning Consent Form for Persons Sixteen and Under. A form sent home and brought back does not meet the in-person rule.
3. Keep the signed form, and have the parent sign a new one each year. The statute says "annually" without defining it, so a new form within 12 months of the last one is the cautious reading.
4. 17 and over: the statute sets no consent rule.

The form comes from the Department of Health and Senior Services, and the rule requires every facility to use it. The web address printed in the rule returned a "not found" page on 2026-09-29, but the form itself is printed in the rule on the Secretary of State's site. Each tanning session without a valid form is a separate violation, so one missed signature can add up quickly: $100, then $250, then $500 for each later violation.

The consent rule covers equipment that emits UV light. Spray tanning is outside it, although a salon can set its own age policy. For how other states treat spray, see spray tan DHA safety.

Everything else is your own policy

With no state statute or health rule we could find on eyewear, timers, lamps, session gaps or records, those follow your equipment's labeling and your own written policy. Our guides compare what other states require: eye protection, timers, lamp replacement, the 24-hour rule and recordkeeping. The federal rules for tanning equipment are covered in FDA tanning bed regulations.

How TanVision helps

With TanVision's consent forms, adult clients sign the salon's own warning statement on their phone or a tablet, and 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. For UV rooms, exposure safety refuses a typed time above the limit or the room's own maximum; the limits follow the salon's own settings, capped at each unit's maximum.

For clients under 17, keep using the state's paper form. TanVision records that guardian consent is on file, but that consent never expires and there is no re-sign interval, so the yearly re-signing has to be tracked at the desk. TanVision also cannot confirm that the parent signed in person. With Minors and UV rooms at Yes, the default at Settings > Tanning rules, guardian consent on file lets a client under the salon's minimum age (18 by default) start any room, UV included, with only a warning; at No, check-in refuses them UV rooms. Client records show each client's consent status and recent visits, newest first. Compare other states on the state list.