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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2019 - 2020
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 5, 2018 02:06 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Anthony H. Williams |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Natural Hair Braiding License Reform |
| In the near future, I will be introducing legislation to remove unnecessary and burdensome requirements for the licensing of natural hair braiders in Pennsylvania. My bill will eliminate the license entirely, removing the onerous prerequisite that natural hair braiders complete 300 hours of instruction at a cosmetology school prior to examination and licensing. This legislation will not affect customer health and safety requirements for practitioners. Prior to 2010, natural hair braiders practiced without license in the Commonwealth. Since that time, twenty-five states have adopted legislation to remove cosmetology school requirements for natural hair braiders. Last year, practitioners testified to the New Jersey state legislature that they were required to spend 1,200 hours and $18,000 in tuition to be instructed in methods they’d been practicing since childhood and which had been passed down through many generations. Their testimony prompted the legislature to unanimously remove those requirements and convert licenses to permits. Pennsylvania should unburden our own small business owners of this costly regulation while preserving the positive benefits of examination and consumer safety granted by licensure. Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation. If you have any questions or concerns, you may contact my legislative office in Harrisburg at 717-787-5970. Thank you. |
Introduced as SB291