CCST OPPOSES ADVERSE
COSMETOLOGY INSTRUCTION BILL
Two things you can count on late in the legislative session... aggravation and exhaustion among legislators and stakeholders AND late-night tricks from the opposition. Sadly, both are front and center in Austin as we conclude the 86th Legislative Session.
Of note is
House Bill 2843
. This
bill, as amended, would reduce the number of required hours for cosmetology instruction from 1,500 to 1,000.
Messages against this bill are outlined below. If you have a
cosmetology
program and would be willing to reach out to legislators, please respond to
lisa@ccst.org
.
Less Training is Not Better:
Cosmetology is best learned through practice and application. Students must be given adequate time to learn in a real, clinical salon setting. This is best done in school, under the supervision of seasoned instructors. This ensures we have properly trained professionals who are ready to enter the Texas workforce and are confident at the start of their career.
Threatens Consumer Health and Safety:
The beauty profession requires the most skin-to-skin contact of any profession except for the medical field, which is why cosmetology is a required state occupational license in all 50 states. Cosmetologists deal with sharp instruments, hazardous chemicals and contagious diseases. There is universal agreement that licensure requirements are appropriate for occupations where lack of regulation would be harmful to the public. The notion of linking safety to licensure was highlighted by nearly every witness at a hearing held on June 20, 2018 before the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, House Education and Workforce Committee.
Erodes Income and Worker Protections
: Licensed occupations ensure greater income, better employment rates for women and minorities, better working conditions, and more full time work. These workforce incentives cannot be overlooked in reform efforts. Broad deregulation efforts risk eroding standards that are of significant benefit to worker income and advancement. Texas should proceed cautiously with deregulation to ensure that it does not create adverse employment conditions.
Stymies Career Longevity
: 1,000 hour programs most often teach to the test and at best prepare students solely for a license, but do not graduate students who are salon ready and prepared for a career. Students who enter the profession unprepared are missing the techniques and soft skills necessary to be successful in the industry long term. This will cause job churn, create dead end jobs and lead to a lack of upward mobility. Graduates of 1,000 hour programs are often forced to work as "assistants" or "apprentices" before they are permitted to work as a full cosmetologist. Frequently, they have to pay out of their pocket for additional education after graduation. These add-on classes are not eligible for student financial aid programs. This means that students don't have access to federally subsidized student aid programs (such as Pell Grants) to help pay for the classes. Also, the secondary classes are not regulated by state agencies so there is little in the way of consumer protections for students who enroll.
Hinders License Portability
: Reducing the Texas standards to 1,000 hours will hinder license portability with contiguous states and the majority of the other states across the country that are currently at 1,500 hours. As an example, the impact on military spouses leaving and coming to Texas would be significant.
- One often-cited study on cosmetology hours was done on a small sample of states and the author stresses that the results should be interpreted with great caution.
- Massachusetts graduates at 1,000 hours must work for two years, supervised by a licensee, before they can work on their own.
- The only true 1,000 hour state is New York. 1,000 hours may work in this smaller, densely populated state for certain types of employers with specialties such as men's haircuts only, but the lower requirement doesn't satisfy the needs of the entire industry.
- Texas' smaller towns and rural communities, encompassing the self-employed and small business owners, are much different than NY or MA, and require folks to have a broad range of skills in hair, skin and nails.
National Average is Trending Up Not Down:
1,544 hours is the current national average. 37 states require 1,500 - 1,600 hours. The states with less than 1,500 hour requirements, such as Montana and Nebraska, are moving to 1,500 hours.
