New Key State Legislative and Regulatory Developments
The week before Thanksgiving finds five state legislatures in session. To this end, a very brief summary of state legislative and regulatory developments of interest to cosmetology schools follow below.
In Pennsylvania, HB 246 was unanimously passed by the House of Representatives (197 to 0) on November 9th. As previously reported, the bill modifies the qualifications for barber-teacher licensure by stating that an applicant shall be at least eighteen years of age, be a high school graduate or its equivalent, and either have had five years' experience as a licensed barber in a licensed barber shop or shared shop, or 500 hours of training "under a licensed teacher in a licensed barber or cosmetology school as a teacher-trainee, which hours shall be in addition to the hours necessary to qualify for a license to practice barbering. The training shall be limited to teaching methods and need not be specifically related to barbering."
The bill will also provide a pathway for a manager-barber licensee who possesses a minimum of three year of experience as a manager-barber by January 1, 2015, and no record of disciplinary action, to become a licensed barber-teacher without meeting additional training and examination requirements. Furthermore, the measure states "an individual currently holding both a cosmetology license and a barber's license may obtain a barber-teacher license if the individual completes the training and examination required for licensure as either a barber-teacher or a cosmetology teacher." Finally, the bill addresses licensure reciprocity for barbers and barber-teachers. Accordingly, it will allow barbers or barber-teach licensed in another state with "substantially the same requirements as Pennsylvania" to be licensed without an examination provided that a "mutual reciprocal agreement has been executed between the state licensing boards."
Upon arrival in the Senate, HB 246 was referred to the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.
On the regulatory front, the State Board of Cosmetology in Mississippi has released a proposed rule on November 13, 2015 to make technical clarifications, correct errors and update board policy. For schools, the proposed rule would eliminate the option for a "preliminary on-site visit" to determine the "suitability" of the proposed location, floor space and equipment. Additionally, the proposed rule would give instructors full discretion to plan the 70 "Unassigned/Open" clock hours in theory and/or skill/practical as need of student dictates.
For additional details and the full text of the proposed rule, please see links below.
Finally, Colorado’s Division of Private Occupational School indicated in a letter to the General Assembly that it intends to "align the Division’s rules with the Office of Barbering and Cosmetology who dictates the rules and regulations governing licensing standards for this industry." More specifically, the Division will be promulgating rules requiring schools who have computed their programs and courses in credit hours to implement a clock hour conversion in accordance with recently enacted SB 106.
Accordingly, "schools who are invested in maintaining the current method of calculating credit hours and all schools who have to make the initial changes to a new calculation method will need to revise and resubmit their programs and stand alone courses to the Division to comport with new calculation method as of July 1, 2015." See page 2 of the Department of Higher Education’s 2016 Regulatory Agenda for additional information.