Rev. Freddie Lee Phillips, Jr., (right) continues to vent his frustrations that the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) has completely ignored his Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request which he submitted (by asking Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns to do so in order that he could continue his school bus route yet get the request in as soon as possible) on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. Rev. Phillips vented his continued frustrations at the June 1, 2025 meeting of the Louisiana Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee.
The following video constitutes highlights of the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee meeting of Sunday, June 1, 2025 pertaining to HB-326 by Rep. Butler and her quest for a license fee increase of $400,000/year (down from its original $1 million a year increase):
June 1, 2025 Louisiana Senate and Fiscal Committee testimony on HB-326 by Rep. Butler.
On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, Rev. Phillips contacted the Cosmetology Board and spoke with Ms. Tisha Butler, who serves as the coordinator for everything that is done at the Board. Thereafter, he contacted Burns and asked that Burns submit this email to Sen. Mizell (copied to everyone he asked to be copied) asking for ANY assistance he could get in obtaining the costs of building repairs and technology enhancements. The contents of the email:
From: Robert Burns <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2025 1:12 PM
To: ‘[email protected]’ <[email protected]>
Cc: Freddie Phillips <[email protected]>; ‘[email protected]’ <[email protected]>; ‘[email protected]’ <[email protected]>; ‘[email protected]’ <[email protected]>; ‘[email protected]’ <[email protected]>; ‘Tisha Butler’ <[email protected]>; ‘[email protected]’ <[email protected]>
Subject: FW: Public Records RequestSen. Mizell:
Rev. Freddie Phillips (225-229-3341) has asked me to send this email to you to evidence the fact that (as demonstrated by email below), just as you guided him to do at the Senate Commerce Committee hearing of May 21, 2025, he made public records request of the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) in order to be able to review the same documents which the panel of Senators was able to review at that hearing.
As Rev. Phillips pointed out, he has been requesting numbers regarding the amount and justification thereof of the fee increases being sought by the LSBC going all the way back to his testimony asking for it at the House Commerce Committee meeting, yet he remains frustrated that he has no such documentation to review the amounts disclosed during the Senate Commerce Committee testimony of HB-326 on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
Rev. Phillips informed me that, at approximately 10:30 a.m. this morning, he contacted via phone Ms. Tisha Butler, the recipient of the email below, to inquire why he has not received any documentation in fulfillment of the request below.
Rev. Phillips indicated that Ms. Buter told him, “I had nothing to do with the preparation of any material sent to the Senators and am unaware of what documentation was provided to them.”
When Rev. Phillips asked to speak with Steve Young so that he could obtain more information on why he had not received the material, Ms. Butler, according to Rev. Phillips, indicated that Mr. Young, “is not in the office today.”
When Rev. Phillips asked how the below public records request was handled, he states that Ms. Buter said that, “I reached out to attorney Morris regarding your request, and she has not responded back to me.”
I have made my own sentiments known that I do not believe ANY license fee increase is appropriate under these circumstances and that the LSBC should simply proceed as is for the next two years and do EXACTLY what you instructed them to do and seek a performance audit. Contrary to Senate testimony presented by Mr. Young, there is no question whatsoever of the LSBC’s ability to continue to operate for those three years, and it most certainly will not, “go out of business without a license fee increase.”
Rev. Phillips asked me to relay in this email that, in his opinion, given all of the flaws made public in the LSBC’s quest for what was originally over $1 million a year in increased license fees, that a $400,000 a year increase is unjustified and he therefore respectfully requests that, at a minimum, and Amendment be offered on the Senate Floor to sunset the $10 increase after two years, which would still generate $800,000 and readily permit the LSBC do demonstrate good faith in seeking the performance audit you have recommended during that two-year period.
All of the people Rev. Phillips requested to be copied on this email have been so copied, and I’ve taken the liberty to copy my own Senator, Franklin Foil, along with Sen. Miguez as well.
Thank you for taking the time to consider this matter, and any assistance you may be able to provide in assisting Rev. Phillips (and me) in being able to view the documents reviewed by the Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee on May 21, 2025 would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Robert Edwin Burns, founder and author
SOUND OFF LOUISIANA
From: Robert Burns <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2025 11:26 AM
To: ‘Tisha Butler’ <[email protected]>
Cc: Freddie Phillips <[email protected]>
Subject: Public Records RequestTisha:
By way of this email, I respectfully request all of the documentation submitted to the Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee for its meeting of a few hours ago, May 21, 2025. Thank you, and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Robert Edwin Burns, founder and author
SOUND OFF LOUISIANA
Now, regarding Burns’ testimony regarding this “Board Resolution” to no longer require a permit for microdermabrasion of July 25, 2022, we supplied that document to the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Members at the specific request of Ms. Kristen Ruel (and she gave permission for her name to be used).
Ruel asserts that she was “punished” by then-Chairman Edwin Neill because of her stiff opposition to the Neill-sponsored bill to increase from 500 to 750 the number of hours required for obtaining an “advanced esthetics” designation.
Obviously, no Senator wanted to touch the issue of how the Board could somehow waive a statutory requirement for having such a permit. Why? Because either they were charging for a permit without the statutory authority to do so, or (much more likely) they simply utilized a “Board Resolution” to no longer require the permit which cannot simply be done via a Board Resolution!
Ruel added:
Debbie Villio, the representative, who presented this bill, of the additional 250 hrs., contacted us the girls, via text and asked, are you telling me, Edwin Neill owns, Aveda and the Neill corporation and is the Chairman of the Board of Cosmetology. Well, yes, we replied. Debbie, had no idea of Edwin Neill’s position.
This is when she withdrew, the bill.
Edwin, contacted me via cell phone asking me to stop from fighting this and I said, I can not.
Once this bill was stopped. The Board punished me.
Edwin, announced at the next meeting, that microdermabrasion permits were no longer needed in the State of Louisiana. This permit was an additional $25.00 per person income for the board, to do microdermabrasion in the State of Louisiana. You needed to be certified from a manufacture for this certificate and that was me. Once students took my microderm class, they signed up for all my classes stating that they learned more from me in 6 hours, then they did in 6 months of school.
That was my punishment for standing up for what I believed in.
When Burns testified at the Senate Commerce Committee meetings of May 14, 2025 and May 21, 2025 that he gets an absolute plethora of complaints against this Board from the licensees it oversees, that is precisely what Burns meant!
We’ll see if the Full Senate goes along with this $400,000/year license fee increase (or, as per Rev. Phillips, “blank check without any documentation whatsoever,”), but one thing we can state with certainty: if they do, those voting in favor of it will anger some cosmetologists across the State of Louisiana! That much we know for certain!