Conn. may license nail technicians
Proposed law would put state in line with other 49
Connecticut is now the only state that does not license its nail technicians and estheticians.
But that may change if state Reps. Jillian Gilchrest, D-West Hartford, and Fred Camillo, R-Greenwich, have their way.
The lawmakers have filed a bill to amend state law to require estheticians, eyelash technicians and nail technicians to meet minimum education requirements and get a license. The proposed law would also say any business offering nail or esthetic services must be managed by a licensed nail technician or esthetician.
“As the former chair of our state’s Trafficking in Persons Council, I saw firsthand how Connecticut’s unregulated nail salon industry makes us a hotbed for human trafficking,” said Gilchrest. “By licensing nail salons and estheticians we enact much needed work protections for employees, protect the public health of consumers, and professionalize a booming industry.”
Licensure of nail technicians and estheticians would be overseen by the state Department of Public Health. The department already licenses and regulates barbers, cosmetologists, tattoo artists, massage therapists, perfumists, dieticians, dentists, doctors, nurses and other professions.
Connecticut required manicurists to be licensed from the 1950s until 1980, according to the Office of Legislative Research. In 1999, the General Assembly passed a law reestablishing licensure for nail technicians, but it was never implemented and was repealed in 2001.
Since 2002, about a dozen bills on regulating nail salons or nail technicians have been filed, but most did not receive a public hearing.
This year, a Republican co-sponsor could signal the measure will get bipartisan support.
Camillo said he does not favor “big government,” but after speaking to a Greenwich esthetician, he worried that not licensing these professionals was a “public health and public safety issue.” He will be prepared to rebut those who call it an “anti-business bill,” he said.
Licensing nail technicians was a suggestion of the women’s policy committee that advised Gov. Ned Lamont’s transition team in December.
The bill does not specify licensing fees or education requirements, but Camillo said he thought proposal could bring in money for the state.