McDonnell proposes to drop regulation of hair braiders, but not professional wrestlers
By Norman Leahy | Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 | Economics, Policy, VirginiaThe press release from Gov. McDonnell’s office regarding his government reform priorities for the next General Assembly session is not the sort of document that will light up the faces of limited government fans.
Yes, the myriad small changes will save money (about $2 million per year) and 19 state boards and commissions will actually disappear — if the General Assembly agrees to it.
But there was one item that was particularly interesting:
3 Professions De-Regulated
Hair braiders
Mold Inspectors and Remediators
Interior Designers
Well, great. Why the state found it necessary to regulate hair braiders in the first place is a mystery (or not…regulation lessens competition, and if one fears competition, getting the state to raise barriers to entry is a time honored way to squelch it).
But what other professions does Virginia regulate? According to the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, more than 30 professions and over 300,000 individuals and businesses fall under some sort of state regulation.
These include architects, contractors…and professional wrestlers.
The state conducts exams for each regulated profession (except professional wrestlers, which is probably fine, as Bobby “The Brain” Heenan would have cheated anyway).
But back to the proposed liberation of hair braiders from under the state’s regulatory thumb. Barring a last-minute plea from the power comsetology lobby, braiders will no longer have to take state tests on both the practical and theoretical sides of the job (cost for both – $155). They will also, presumably, be able to skip the educational requirements.
But their fellow “Estheticians,” including folks who do nails, waxing, tattooing and body piercing — in addition to the barbers and cosmetologists — will still have to take and pay for tests as well as pay yearly fees (which have gone up because “the General Assembly expanded the Board’s responsibilities to include regulatory programs for wax technicians, tattooists and body piercers, hair braiders, and estheticians.”).
So let’s give half a cheer to the Governor’s government reform council for deciding to free the hair braiders from this bureaucratic morass. But let us also wonder why on earth this same commission saw fit to leave the body waxers and nail filers behind.
And the professional wrestlers, too.
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About the author
Norm Leahy has written about Virginia and national politics online since 2002, beginning with One Man's Trash (OMT), and continuing through Bacon's Rebellion (both the blog and the e-zine), Sic Semper Tyrannis, NBC12's Decision Virginia, Richmond.com and Tertium Quids. He is the chief blogger at "The Score" and a producer of "The Score" radio show as well as being a Washington Post contributor.
Comments
11 Responses to "McDonnell proposes to drop regulation of hair braiders, but not professional wrestlers"
Let your hair down and relax, Leahy.
Norman,
If you think deregulating hair braiding is a laughing matter, maybe you ought to price it.
Let me tell ya something. Just when McDonnell thinks he’s got all the answers, I change the questions. What you have here is someone who likes who does his hair, and who likes who designs his house, but when it comes to professional wrestling, he’s out to lunch, man.
Let’s see if McDonnell got the guts. Put up a steel cage. I’ll meet him in the middle of the ring, and whoever walks out gets his way. I win, no wrestling regulations. I lose, and Bobby can have all the free hair braiding he wants.
See you in Richmond!
Let the buyer beware
“Caveat Crew-Cut”?
This is a funny post but someone needs to look into how Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation handles some of their business. Check out MMA fighter Ben Saunder’s experience the department from a show in Harrisonburg last year:
http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/mma.cfm?go=forum_framed.posts&forum=1&thread=1590497&page=1
Chris that was very interesting to read, thank you for posting the link. It sounds like the fighters are not very pleased with us (Virginia).
Norm,
It seems that the idea behind the regulation is to guarantee that the consumer receives a quality product or service by ensuring that the “professionals” have a minimal level of education/experience. If that’s the case, I guess I’m not such an opponent of regulation that sets a bar of a minimum level of work or service.
While hair braiding seems relatively mundane; it’s interesting that you’ve written in opposition to regulation of hair braiders but there have been a few guest posts in support of regulation of interior designers. If one is regulated for a product or service provided how do we decide which are and which aren’t?
Not to mention, it seems that mold inspectors and remediators should have some level of regulation.
After reading numerous e-mails from Climategate-2, perhaps climate scientists need to be regulated by the State of Virginia.
Professional wrestling v. hair braiders.
I agree on the hair braiders. Pro wrestlers however do things that can be legitimately dangerous both to the athletes and to the audience (the use of fire or dives into the crowd, for example). So there’s some benefit to that…although it does put Virginia at a competitive disadvantage with other states who have looser rules when it comes to attracting Pay Per Views.
[...] a $1.5 billion budget gap. The only real criticism (if that) in the blogosphere took place at Bearing Drift, where Norm Leahy submitted a piece that ended up mostly focusing on the deregulation of hair [...]
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