Cosmetologists attending the May 6, 2024 meeting of the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology express their extreme displeasure with HB-930, which would reduce the number of hours required for a cosmetology license from 1,500 to 1,000.
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UPDATE: 5/7/24 @ 5:34 p.m.
Rep. Ventrella returned HB-930 to the calendar with notice given that it will be brought back up for debate on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.
UPDATE: 5/8/24 @ 4:32 p.m. Rep. Ventrella, after a bombardment of opposition from self-interested cosmetology schools, was forced to offer an amendment which called for a “hair design only” license at 1,000 hours. That bill did pass 60-39. CLICK HERE to see how each Representative voted. Ah, what the heck! Let’s present the vote as an embedded photo now:
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We have previously mentioned on this blog that we observed Gov. Jeff Landry, on March 7, 2024, serve as the keynote speaker for The Pelican Institute’s Solution Summit. We stressed just how impressed we were with Landry’s ability to connect with a wide swath of Louisiana voters in making himself seem to be nothing more than an “ordinary Joe” who caught a few breaks in life and wound up Governor.
During his presentation, which lasted no more than about 16-20 minutes at most, Landry stressed his key initiatives both for the then-upcoming Legislative Session as well as for his term as Governor as a whole.
One point Landry drove home hard was that Louisiana is a state licensing too many occupations and also imposing too many restrictions and barriers for those possessing strong ambition and seeking to work in Louisiana.
We can only say that his six newly-appointed Cosmetology Board Members apparently did not get the memo entailing Landry’s impressive speech! Sound Off Louisiana‘s founder, Robert Burns, has attended both meetings (April 1, 2024 and May 6, 2024) that have been convened since Landry completely replaced the entire Board with the exception of one Member, Jill Hebert.
Burns, who has monitored that Board for nine years beginning when he received a flood of complaints from Vietnamese manicurists, has openly stated that, “this particular group of appointees is the most anti-business group I’ve seen yet. In fact, they are so bad in that regard that I really wish we could bring back John Bel Edwards’ members.”
Sound Off Louisiana site visitors may recall that, last year, there was a bill filed to reduce the number of hours required for licensure from 1,500 to 1,000; however, that bill sought to tie the reduction to an accompanying 60 percent increase in licensing fees overnight. We make no apologizes for absolutely lampooning then-Gubernatorial candidate Richard Nelson for cavalierly voting in favor of the license fee increase. Nelson has landed on his feet as Louisiana’s Revenue Secretary and, should he pursue being Governor again down the road, we trust he’ll make it clear that his vote on raising the licensing fee was a huge mistake.
We called the tying of the two measures together nothing short of “blackmail” for which we again make no apologizes whatsoever and stand by our stand that, if accompanied by a license fee increase, we wholeheartedly stand against the reduction in licensure hours. Quite frankly, the Louisiana Cosmetology Board has demonstrated an extreme propensity to block free enterprise initiatives such as its absurd licensure requirement for hair braiding (for which it has spent an ungodly amount of money in legal fees fighting in court) and shutting down creative ideas such a mobile salon designed to assist female residents in nursing homes with being able to easily and conveniently have their hair done. To provide them with yet more revenue to engage in further such acts should abjectly disqualify any public office holder from being reelected (or seeking higher office as was the case with Nelson) in our humble opinion!
Fortunately, it’s 2024, and State Rep. Lauren Ventrella (R-Greenwell Springs) has sponsored HB-930 which is a repeat of 2023’s efforts to reduce the licensure hours from 1,500 to 1,000 but this time without any accompanying increase in licensure fees (again, what we unapologetically call “blackmail”).
Ventrella presented her bill before the House Commerce Committee on April 22, 2024, and we have to say it was our first exposure to her, and we were blown away! She goes straight to the heart of the matter, does not mince her words, and is, at least in our opinion, a very effective and dynamic presenter and speaker! At this time, let’s take a look at six minutes of highlights from both her presentation and that of Jeremy Aydell, who is a highly successful businessman owning 16 Sports Clips locations throughout Louisiana and who also is a CPA holding a Master’s Degree in accounting from LSU (full disclosure: Burns is also an inactive CPA). Here’s what they had to say in presenting this year’s bill:
4/22/24: Highlights of Ventrella and Aydell’s presentation of HB-930.
We want to again stress just how impressed we are with Rep. Ventrella’s performance on the video above! We will also point out that, as both Ventrella and Aydell stress, students incur massive debt to attend school for this protracted period. They make references to graduates being loaded down with an average of $16,000 of debt; further, later in the video, Ventrella stressed that her own legislative assistant, who strongly supports the bill, indicated that she personally was loaded down with $27,000 in debt upon graduation from Cosmetology School. Also, Aydell pointed out that tuition often runs, “from $20,000 to $30,000 to attend Louisiana Cosmetology schools.”
Aydell also stressed what economics professors refer to as “opportunity costs,” which is the foregone income from being in school so long. Economics professors often reference “opportunity costs” of attending college itself, and that “opportunity cost” is what the student could have earned in the workforce if attending college had been foregone. If those funds that would have been earned working were instead invested at a reasonably safe rate of return and then those cumulative earnings are combined with the debt often incurred to attend college, the true final cost of attending college is utterly staggering. Aydell superbly applied the same concept of “opportunity costs” to the added four months of earnings that these students lose out on by being left out of the workforce just to obtain the additional 500 hours required for licensure.
We also want to stress that Aydell was lampooned (we believe very unfairly as he is seeking nothing more than obtaining well-qualified workers to employ and expand and generate revenue and taxes from those employees) last year for his mere expressing of support for the reduction in hours.
Now, as we indicated, we attended both Cosmetology Board meetings since Gov. Landry completely overhauled the prior Board in replacing six (6) of its seven (7) Members. The second such meeting was yesterday, Monday, May 6, 2024, and let’s just say Landry’s appointees apparently did not get the memo of his presentation on March 7, 2024 to make Louisiana a more business friendly state because they made it known in no uncertain terms that they do not support any reduction whatsoever in the 1,500 hours presently required for a license! None!
Now, Board Members, and particularly Executive Director Steve Young, had sharp words of criticism for Louisiana House Commerce Committee Chairman Daryl Deshotel (R-Marksville) in asserting that he did not provide them equal opportunity to speak at the hearing. In short, they felt they were given the shaft. Young led the criticism of Deshotel, which we find ironic given that, when Young was seated at the witness table and Deshotel asked if he had anything he would like to say, Young responded with, “No.”
Now, we don’t believe anyone should get the shaft and be stifled, so to speak. Accordingly, we now present an unedited 16-minute video clip of Board Members and audience members stating their steadfast resolve to adamantly oppose Ventrella’s bill and ensure its defeat. Here is that 16-minute unedited video:
5/6/24: Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology Members and audience members express their stern opposition to Ventrella’s bill.
Now, there’s one thing we feel compelled to point out. At the April 1, 2024 Board Meeting, one small school owner expressed concern that students were going to Texas, getting licensed, and then seeking a license in Louisiana through reciprocity! Gee, what a creative way to get around the 500 extra hours! Here’s that question being posed and the response provided by the Board, which we think is absolutely priceless!
4/1/24: A small school owner expresses concern over prospective students going to Texas, getting licensed (via Texas’ 1,000 hour requirement) then returning to Louisiana to get licensed through reciprocity.
The following states have already reduced the required number of hours for a cosmetology license to 1,000: Texas, New York, California, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island. Further, Virginia’s licensure requirement will drop to 1,000 hours effective January 1, 2025.
We will soon know if Louisiana takes the next step toward joining these other states, which experts tell us represent 45 percent of all licensed cosmetologists, as Ventrella’s bill is scheduled for floor debate later today (Tuesday, May 7, 2024). While we are publishing this feature prior to that debate, we will update it after the debate concludes and provide a link for the votes cast by members of Louisiana’s House of Representatives.