H.B. 189 is bad in many ways

Editor’s note: Another Viewpoint is a column The News-Herald makes available so all sides of an issue may be aired. State Rep. Ron Young, R-Leroy Township, represents House District 61.

I’m convinced that if Ohio House Bill 189 becomes law, it will negatively impact 70,000 people who work in Ohio’s mostly woman-owned cosmetology industry, along with their customers and our state’s economic welfare.

On the surface, this bill would initially appear to make it easier for people to become a licensed cosmetologist in Ohio by reducing the hours of training required to earn a license. However, there is more than meets the eye.

Our state requires 1,500 hours of training, which includes hair, esthetics and nails. H.B. 189 would cut that down to 1,000. One glaring problem with that change is cosmetologists would be less trained and severely limited to where else they could work in our country. Only two other states, New York and Massachusetts, require as few as 1,000 hours of training. If H.B. 189 becomes law, an Ohio-licensed cosmetologist couldn’t get a job anywhere else, except for these three states.

H.B. 189 would especially hurt small, home-grown salon businesses that rely on Ohio’s thorough licensing training to hire work-ready, high-quality practitioners. These small salons don’t usually have the infrastructure or resources to invest to provide new employees with the quality training they would have received to get their Ohio license. Additional in-house training would almost certainly focus on the specific salon’s needs and operations, not on widely accepted licensing standards, further reducing the cosmetologist’s marketability across the industry and nation.

Larger national chains can afford to hire less trained workers at lower wages and then provide them with extra training that relegates them to working at a national chain. Once they are hired, these larger firms typically have their employees sign noncompete agreements that lock them into employment with that particular employer. Lower pay, limited professional training, lack of mobility and a subpar license that limits employment opportunities outside Ohio would severely diminish career growth and mobility.

Perhaps even more importantly, there are safety concerns that come with decreasing the amount of training that H.B. 189 proposes. Cosmetology is a very technical discipline. On a daily basis, cosmetologists use dangerous chemicals that can be linked to reproductive damage, respiratory problems and cancer. Because of increased exposure, nail techs are most at-risk. According to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit advocate for human and environmental health, “the intensity of exposure for salon workers is 1,200 times the average American.”

Every day, tens of thousands of Ohioans get salon treatments. Cosmetologists must be properly trained to ensure the safety of their clients to avoid extremely dangerous injuries and diseases. Without proper training, customers can be exposed to many toxic chemicals and possible infections. Additionally, when proper sanitizing is not practiced, customers reported contracting serious, potentially deadly, conditions, such as hepatitis.

Negative impacts have already been seen in New York. Letitia James, the New York City public advocate, stated, “The lack of education and information provided to the workers in these jobs (nail salons) increases that risk.” A recent survey of 100 New York City salon employees conducted by the Committee for Occupational Safety and Health showed 37 percent reported skin problems and eye irritation, 57 percent reported allergies, and 18 percent reported asthma.

Bills similar to H.B. 189 recently failed in Texas, Iowa and Idaho. Oregon just conducted a comprehensive competencybased study, and recommended a licensing curriculum of 1,500 training hours for hair only. Ohio’s current 1,500-hour license covers not only hair, but also esthetics and nails. Why would we want to jeopardize the welfare of small businesses, cosmetologists, and the health and safety of their customers?

I’ve spoken to both the supporters and opponents of the bill, read reports and carefully considered the issues.

Cosmetology is a licensed and very technical profession requiring proper training to protect Ohio’s salons, practitioners and clients. We can’t afford to sacrifice the training. It is the Ohio General Assembly’s responsibility to ensure such training in our state is world class.

State Rep. Ron Young