New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) conditionally vetoed a hair braiding deregulation bill late last month. Assembly Bill 3754 was returned to the legislature on August 27 with amendments proposing the establishment of a hair braiding specialist license requiring a 40-hour course of instruction, with courses “teaching sanitation, decontamination, and infection control” for applicants that can demonstrate three years of hair braiding experience, and a 50-hour course of instruction for other applicants.
In his veto message, Governor Murphy indicated that it was important “to balance opening economic opportunity with maintaining consumer protections. Just as those who provide hair braiding services are primarily African-American women and African- and Caribbean-immigrant women, the primary consumers who utilize hair braiding services are African-American women and African- and Caribbean-immigrant women. I want to ensure that, by rolling back regulatory requirements for hair braiders, we do not expose those who use hair braiding services to harm.
Accordingly, I believe a more equitable approach to balancing regulatory relief with consumer safety is to reduce – rather than remove – the requirements necessary for hair braiding licensure. We can accomplish this by…
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