Sound Off Louisiana

Screen shot of Adrian Powe’s 2/18/25 Facebook post lamenting the alleged adverse impacts he endured from the Mississippi Cosmetology Board once it merged with the Mississippi Barbering Board, with our sources indicating that his frustrations arise from that Cosmetology Board and that the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) engages in similar, and according to some complaints we’ve gotten in the last week, worse, practices in Louisiana.

As we pointed out in our most recent feature, the LSBC, during its last two appearances before the Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee, provided plenty of comedy for folk who have keen awareness of accounting principles as folk representing the LSBC demonstrated their complete and total lack of comprehension of even the most basic of such accounting principles.

We pretty much expected that commentary because it’s merely stating the obvious.

What we were not expecting is the fresh wave of complaints we’ve gotten from folk displeased with current operations of the LSBC with particular focus on the inspections taking place by LSBC inspectors.

We want to ensure all who have complained that we have made extensive notes of the complaints, and we commit to commencing with public records requests to begin the process of substantiating the substance of those complaints.

Obviously, those individuals complaining to us are adamantly opposed to any additional license fee increase when it comes to the LSBC hiring even more inspectors to engage in what those who have contacted us have complained of as constituting abrasive inspection tactics.

Further, at least if one set of allegations is true, it constitutes criminal activity very similar to Winn Johnson’s act of selling exam answers for $500 per exam taker.

We will begin our quest for the public records to more fully investigate the claims of those individuals who contacted us but, in the meantime, we’ve been directed to a Facebook Post by Adrian Powe on February 18, 2025 wherein Powe expressed frustrations regarding Mississippi’s regulatory framework, particularly after the merging of the Mississippi Cosmetology Board and the Mississippi Barbering Board.

Our problem is that, as we’ve expressed in the past, Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns has been off Facebook since early February of 2021 (read into it what anyone may desire as to why he abandoned Facebook at that particular time period), so he can’t view it.

Nevertheless, a good friend was gracious enough to play it for Burns over this extended Memorial Day Weekend and, furthermore, Burns was able to create an audio file of Powe’s commentary and capture a screenshot of Powe’s Facebook post.

Accordingly, we are going to utilize an improvised method to present Powe’s frustrations on trying to become a barber in Mississippi.

Sources tell us that his quest has been made far more difficult because the Mississippi Cosmetology Board is causing much of the same type problems as the LSBC does as it relates to blocking young entrepreneurs from being able to practice a profession free from governmental agency harassment.

So, here is our improvised replication of Powe’s Facebook post:

2/18/25 Facebook post by Adrian Powe venting frustration at what he has endured by the Mississippi Board of Cosmetology in the aftermath of its merger with the Mississippi Barbering Board.  Our sources indicate the problems originate with the Cosmetology Board in Mississippi and that the LSBC has even worse oppressive tendencies and has inspectors who have engaged in problematic actions for which we’ll be making public records request to attempt to substantiate.

So, what is ahead is a strong focus on the Louisiana Senate and whether or not it ends up granting a “blank check” for $400,000 a year in estimated license fee increases.

Those increases would, according to testimony last week before the Senate Commerce Committee, facilitate spending $1 million plus on a building worth barely half that.  The fact that such an irresponsible outlay (which we contend should not be made with the existing building sold and the LSBC leasing new facilities) is a one-time expense apparently didn’t sway the Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee from recommending approval of the increase permanently!

Further, according to sources who spoke with us in the aftermath of the Senate Commerce Committee presentations over the last two Wednesdays, any surplus funds would be utilized to hire more inspectors  to “wreak even more havoc” upon cosmetologists in this state similar to that experienced by Powe in the video above.

We’ll let everyone know how it plays out on the Floor of the Louisiana Senate!

Rev. Freddie Lee Phillips stresses what he contends are “inflated figures” by the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) in its quest for a $1 million a year license fee increase.

When we published episode one of the LSBC’s quest for $1 million a year, we got feedback from a number of former colleagues with whom Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns worked who excel at accounting concepts.  The comments we received entailed an “unparallelled lack of knowledge” of even the most basic of fundamental accounting concepts by folk representing the LSBC.

One former colleague said the video of the prior feature was “unbelievably comical” that a State Board could be expected to be taken seriously given the “clownish, amateurish, and completely embarrassing” performance that those affiliated with the LSBC put on.

On Wednesday, May 21, 2025, an encore performance was necessitated after the Senate Commerce Committee instructed those folk to return with actual numbers of what matters like building repairs and computer technology upgrades would actually cost.

Amazingly, those “estimated costs” (and we’ve made public records requests to obtain the documentation provided to the Senators), just so happen to total (almost to the dime) the available cash that the LSBC holds.  That is to say, the technology components of $700,000, when combined with an estimated $1,050,000 in building repairs (on a facility not worth anywhere near that much), just so happen to barely exceed the LSBC’s available cash on hand.

We consulted with two (2) IT experts, both of whom informed us that the LSBC should absolutely outsource that function to one of many license-management vendor products.  One of the two said, “This is not the business that the Cosmetology Board should be in.  It’s hard for me to fathom why nobody has apparently even explored outsourcing the management of their license responsibilities!”

Regarding the building repairs, that estimated cost came in at $1,050,000.  In addition to Burns being an inactive CPA for 35 years, he was also a real estate broker for 10 years from 2003-2013.  Even without that real estate broker designation, however, common sense would dictate that nobody possessing any financial management skills whatsoever (of which the LSBC appears to possess none) can justify spending $1,050,000 on a building worth nowhere near that much!

We made a few calls to current commercial real estate brokers to obtain information relevant on the LSBC’s building.  Here are our findings:

11622 Sun Belt Ct, Baton Rouge, LA 70809

Office

6,000

Sq Ft

Year Built

1984

Land Use

Store/Office (mixed use)

Multi Parcel

No

APN / Tax ID

257311

And here is a recently-sold available comp:

Property Information

Recently Closed 3/6 Closed / Public Record • Sold Date: 3/6/2025, Public Record

Closed Price

$702,505

Closed Date 3/6/2025

Office

Type

6,458

Sq Ft

SOUTHERN EARTH SCIENCES INC

Type

Office

Year Built

1985

Land Use

General Use

Stores/Mixed Use

Overall Use

MIXED USE

Multi Parcel

No

Tenants Count

Tenants Avg. Days In

Business

20 years and 26 days

APN / Tax ID

257303

So, we have a slightly larger comp which sold for $702,205 on March 6, 2025, so a ball park figure of the LSBC’s building’s market value should approximate $650,000 – $675,000, yet here is a state agency, with the full blessing of an entire membership of the Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee, ready to charge full steam ahead and spend over $1 million on such a facility!  Un-freaking-believable!  Only in government are such grossly-irresponsible investment decisions made!

Once those improvements are complete (which we contend should never be made and the building instead sold after the LSBC does what most state agencies do and lease, not own, its office space), the assessor should substantially increase its valuation, leading to an astounding increase in the LSBC’s annual property tax bill!

With all that in mind, lets provide the highlights of today’s Edition Two of the three-ring-circus of a Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee meeting of May 21, 2025 entailing this massive fee increase being sought by the LSBC (it should, if nothing else, provide yet more comic relief):

May 21, 2025 Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee meting pertaining to the LSBC’s massive $1 million a year license fee increase.   CLICK HERE to see Chris Guidry’s commentary on the LSBC and CLICK HERE to watch his presentation to the LSBC.

So, that’s it folks!  All that’s left to see is if the full Louisiana Senate gives its blessing to this measure, particularly under these conditions!

Rev. Freddie Lee Phillips (right) expresses his concerns that the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) is seeking for the Senate Commerce Committee to provide a “blank check” to them and expresses his frustration that the LSBC provided no hard numbers whatsoever at the House Commerce Committee when he testified stating that those numbers should be provided.

What happens when you show up at a Senate Commerce Committee seeking a $1 million a year fee increase, yet you can’t even respond to very basic financial questions by two State Senators, Sen. Joseph Bowie, Jr. (D-NO) and Sen. Patrick Connick (R-Marrero)?  The following video demonstrates what happens perfectly:

May 14, 2025 Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee meeting during which the LSBC sought a $1 million a year fee increase but could not answer even the most basic of questions posed by Senators Bowie and Connick.

As Burns testifies on the above video, all of the numbers he presented to the Senate Commerce Committee came directly from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s website for the audit for FYE 6/30/24.

As he has so consistently done at Board meetings, LSBC Executive Director Steve Young has painted a totally false picture of the LSBC’s finances in which he has consistently said, “Without this fee increase, we’ll be out of business in two years.”

Were Young’s statements even remotely accurate (they are not), the accounting firm who produced the above-linked audit report would have been required to add a paragraph after its unqualified opinion expressing concern over the LSBC’s “ability to continue as a going concern.”

Obviously, Young knows almost nothing about financial statements, nor does he demonstrate even the remotest ability to properly analyze them.  Burns, as an inactive CPA (for 35 years), a former FDIC bank examiner, and former credit analyst at several Baton Rouge area banks, has literally analyzed thousands upon thousands of company or nonprofit audit reports over his 61-year life.

Since the Committee will give the LSBC another shot next Wednesday (May 21, 2025), we’ll see if they want to take Burns up on his challenge and provide a CPA willing to refute the testimony Burns provided in the above video.