State Rep. Rhonda Butler testifying before the House Commerce Committee on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 during which she uttered complete falsehoods regarding the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC).
The following table illustrates historical efforts by the LSBC to enact a license fee increase:
| Year of Proposed Increase | Sponsor of Proposed Increase | Applicable Sound Off Louisiana Coverage | Ultimate Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015: (increase from $25 to $40, or 60%). | Former Louisiana State Rep. Stuart Bishop | None because the blog had not yet been formed; however, Burns was included on conference calls initiated by Vietnamese manicurists who were very upset with the proposed increase, and Burns heard Bishop respond to those upset manicurists with this VERBATIM quote: "If I had this to do over, I wouldn't touch this thing with a 10-foot pole." | The bill fell 13 votes shy of even passing the Louisiana House |
| 2017: (another attempted increase from $25 to $35, or 40%). | Former Louisiana State Rep. Sherman Mack | CLICK HERE to see how Executive Director Steve Young and then-Chairman Edwin Neill III, without ANY Board approval, sought the increase; furthermore, they sought to somehow circumvent Louisiana Statute and create a situation wherein the Board could increase fees by mere Rule Promulgation WITHOUT the need for Legislators to have to approve a fee increase bill (we are NOT kidding)!! | Realizing he had nowhere near the needed votes, Mack was at least smart enough never to bring it to a vote of the Full House of Representatives. |
| 2018: (another attempted increase from $25 to $35, or 40% along with a plethora of other related fee increases). | Former Louisiana State Rep. Robert Johnson | Because we were informed that, with Johnson as the sponsor, the bill was "dead on arrival," we didn't bother with covering the matter. | CLICK HERE to see Johnson's bill fall a whopping 27 votes short of full House of Representatives passage. |
| 2022: (another attempted increase from $25 to $35, or 40% along with a plethora of other related fee changes). | Current State Rep. Rhonda Butler | Again, having been told by sources we know to be reliable that the bill would, "never pass the House," we refrained from reporting on this attempt just as we did for Johnson's effort in 2018. | CLICK HERE to see how Butler, like Mack from 2018, sensed the bill would fail miserably and refrained from seeking a vote of the full House of Representatives on her bill. |
| 2023: (another attempted increase from $25 to $40, but a reduction in out-of-state license fees from $50 to $40, and the bill had a "companion" bill to reduce hours for licensure). | After Butler was allegedly initially asked to sponsor the bill, the ultimate sponsor became former State Rep. Mary DuBusson, who was later defeated that same year (2023) by Brian Glorioso by a margin of 57-43. | CLICK HERE to watch a video of the all-time most buffoonish presentation by a Louisiana Legislator we have ever witnessed in all our years of following the Legislature! | CLICK HERE to see how DuBusson managed to pull it off with six (6) votes to spare with many legislators, including then-Representative Richard Nelson saying they had been "duped" and did not realize they were voting for a fee increase. Fortunately, the Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee bailed their asleep-at-the-wheels colleagues in the House out by declining to ever give EITHER of DuBusson's deceptive bills a hearing before the Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee. |
| 2025: (swinging for the fences, they seek a rise from $25 to $50, or 100% incrase). | Current State Rep. Rhonda Butler | This feature and several to come including a resurrection of our Republican Wall of Shame (RWS) in which we will place on prominent display EVERY Republican Legislator who votes for this initiative! | Passed House Commerce, 15-0. Awaits vote on full House Floor. CLICK HERE for Committee composition. |
As indicated on the table above, State Rep. Rhonda Butler, a former Cosmetologist, once again stepped up to the plate to carry a bill to raise cosmetology license fees.
When she did so, she uttered one flat-out falsehood along with another falsehood unless LSBC Executive Director Steve Young uttered a falsehood directly into our camera at the most recent LSBC meeting, and we would emphasize that he has steadfastly said the same exact thing repeatedly to the Board Members.
Specifically, let’s watch Butler’s testimony before the House Commerce Committee on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 during which she indicated that the Board, “has not had a license fee increase in 41 years.”
4/22/25: Butler testifies that the LSBC, “has not had a fee increase in 41 years.”
Now, here is video of LSBC Executive Director Steve Young stating that the last fee increase was in “1996,” which, by our math, is 29 years, not 41!
LSBC Executive Director Steve Young states that the last fee increase was in “1996,” which would be 29 years, NOT 41 years!
The next falsehood by Butler is entirely attributable to her apparent trust in Young when we could have told her falsehoods come out of his mouth with regularity!
Specifically, Butler apparently swallowed Young’s contention that the LSBC’s recent enrollment in the AG plan for Member liability protection is “mandatory.” The statement is FLAT-OUT false, and Young either knows, or dang well SHOULD know, that his statement is FALSE!
What is galling beyond words is that Young would also falsely state to a Legislative Fiscal Analyst, as reflected in this Fiscal Note revealing the measure would raise almost $1 million a year, that the increase is needed to help cover “mandatory insurance costs.”
Young has stated publicly in meetings that the AG program is “mandatory” when it is totally voluntary, and Young knows that but utters the falsehood anyway!
In fact, he strongly discouraged LSBC Members from enrolling in the program at the Board’s regular January meeting; however, upon one Member, Michael Anderson, reading that declining to enroll in the program may subject Members to “personal liability,” the Board called a special meeting to “reconsider” whether it wished to enroll in the program, and they took a vote to enroll in the program. If one has the option and in fact has to take a formal vote of whether to enroll or not, how in the round world is that “mandatory?”
Nevertheless, Butler, who would be well advised to start paying attention to Sound Off Louisiana features rather than relying upon Young to give her accurate information, repeated Young’s falsehood as she testified before the Commerce Committee:
Butler FALSELY states that the LSBC was “mandated” to join the AG “insurance program.”
Here’s the proof that Butler was merely uttering a falsehood she heard directly from LSBC Executive Director Steve Young as he falsely told the LSBC Members that “insurance” (which it is not an insurance program), offered by the AG’s Office is “mandatory.” Young made his false statements at the March 10, 2025 LSBC meeting:
March 10, 2025: LSBC Executive Director FALSELY states that the AG program was “mandated” upon the LSBC Members.
Now here’s one for the books. Here’s video of Young stating the total cost for a new website and making all the building repairs would be a one-time $250,000 – $300,000 expense, yet he is seeking a $972,000/year recurring fee increase:
Young tells Rep. C. Denise Marcelle that the LSBC needs, “probably around $250,000 – $300,000” to make the necessary upgrades, yet the Fiscal Note for his bill calls for a whopping $972,000/year RECURRING fee increase.
We will be presenting a link for the presentation of HB-326 (the massive fee increase) at the end of this feature, and it will depict Butler bemoaning and crying about how “broke we are” (and we object to her use of the word “we” so many times as if she is a Member of the LSBC)!
What Butler fails to note is that the LSBC could have funded ALL of the one-time building expenses if it had merely done like Mississippi 20 years ago and deregulated hair braiding, which would have conservatively raised about $125,000/year for the last 20 years (or a whopping $2.5 million). Instead, Butler doesn’t even mention the fact that, instead of obtaining that $2.5 million in revenue, the LSBC actually spent $157,000 in legal fees fighting hair braiders being able to operate. Who was the beneficiary of that $157,000? Why, the young lady seated to Butler’s right, LSBC attorney Sherri Morris, no less!
Accordingly, excuse us if we have no sympathy whatsoever for any financial plight Young or Butler complains about. It’s a case of misplaced financial priorities. For that reason, as we state in the table above, we do plan to reintroduce the Republican Wall of Shame to place on prominent display any Republican legislator who votes to approve this patently absurd request for this massive fee increase.
As for Butler, we would have to grade on the curve to award her an “F” on her testimony, so her grade is officially “F-.” Her testimony is based on pure 100 percent emotion, and it is not even remotely reflective of the facts when it comes to the LSBC, which is a body we have been monitoring, attending meetings, and recording those meetings for a decade now! We humbly submit that our knowledge is far, far, more integral than that of Rep. Butler!
In conclusion, here are other anti-free-enterprise acts this agency has inflicted upon the citizens of Louisiana:
3. Consistently fighting Vietnamese manicurists over California license reciprocity.
5. Repeatedly incurring legal fees to fend off Rep. Julie Emerson’s hair braiding bills.
6. Shutting Nelda Dural’s small cosmetology school down and informing her she would have to remit $50,000 to get it back open. She had little choice but to file for bankruptcy.
8. Incurring yet more massive legal fees as the Institute for Justice sues on behalf of hair braiders.
On # 11 above, the matter was litigated in Federal Court, and Federal Judge Brian Jackson openly stated that the LSBC had, “unquestionably engaged in Constitutional Rights violations” when, on a Saturday morning, then-LSBC-inspector Sherry Stockstill entered a nail salon demanding that, “everybody freeze, nobody move.” Her command was equally applicable to customers as it was to salon employees.
It is undisputed that Stockstill then demanded that the owners/managers of the salon place themselves in an office (i.e. “false imprisonment”) while she, without a search warrant or possessing any legal authority to engage in any of these actions, began plundering through the drawers at the facility, all while the customers and staff had to “not move!” [CLICK HERE for the litigation].
That litigation was settled out of court, but it is demonstrative of the kind of tactics routinely deployed by the LSBC, yet we don’t see Butler mention the first word about how “we” got into the mess she asserts this Board is now in from a financial standpoint.
Beyond all of the above, the other problems with the Cosmetology Board include employee Winn Johnson selling exams for licensure for $500 a pop. Then there was the closure of Jennifer Menard’s mobile salon to serve nursing home residents. Then there is the fact that the Board did absolutely NOTHING about Board Member Kevin Martin permitting unauthorized “observers” into his public school classroom and reportedly charging $5,000 under the table to gain credit toward a license.
As any Member of the House is aware, whenever a Representative presents his (her) bill, it is very common for other Representatives to use the infamous, “Did you know……..?” line of questioning.
Should this bill actually make it to a vote in the Full House (past history has indicated that has been too much of an uphill climb, and we believe it should be this year as well), there is certainly plenty of material depicted above through which any Representative could quiz Butler on in terms of those infamous, “Did you know……..?” lines of questioning! We can’t wait to see video of this bill’s presentation when and if it is called for formal debate.
CLICK HERE for the presentation of HB-326 in its entirety, which is a video causing anyone who knows the facts and past history of the LSBC to literally want to throw up.
We steadfastly maintain that ANY Republican Legislator who votes in favor of this absurd fee increase given all of the material above (and we could supply more) deserves to be booted out of office, and we will certainly strive to do what we can do to ensure that transpires! After all, DuBusson is no longer around, is she?
If you end up having to publish any republican wall of shame don’t forget to display the freaking lying governor of this state Landry — he has to sign it to become law — and it will just be another time he screwed us like the sales tax hike and insurance rate through the damn roof.
karl more than just the sales tax check your netflix that another 2.10 and then she act like another 2 a month not gone matter maybe not to her all i can say
Landry is a walking disaster for this state who lies every other sentence he utters. Trump has more grit to cut government waste in the tip of his little finger than dufus Landry got in his whole body.
Oh, there’s plenty of “did you know?” questions to be posed of Butler on the House Floor, and I bet she knew none of it. If she did and stayed silent on all the abuses outlined by Burns then her failure to inform that committee of the boards issues is worse than her shooting from the hip on time since last fee increase and ignorance about any insurance being mandatory.