CT Dem State Rep That Claims To Champion Women Hits Women-Dominant Industry With Massive Gov't Regulations

John Romero | June 6, 2019
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Yesterday, the Democrat-dominant state of Connecticut decided to put up entry barriers for low-income individuals to enter the nail salon industry. State Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, who championed the legislation, said she was happy fighting to “legitimize” the growing industry.

Proponents of the bill also say the new regulation will help fight human trafficking and protect consumers in the nail salon industry.

In an article posted in NBC Connecticut, and the reply section of Gilchrest’s tweet, many have doubts over the bill and its aim.

In the NBC article, one salon owner goes into how this bill would only be erroneous regulation but would also do nothing for the industry:

'The health department is already in charge of regulating these businesses for the purposes of public health. The format for inspection already addresses salons and spas for proper sanitation and guidelines that are already in existence,' said Tara Swagger, owner of Taraesthetics. 'Many industry professionals have voiced serious concerns when learning about the proposed language and how this will affect their businesses in terms of financial costs.' 

Even Connecticut’s Department of Public Safety said that the bill would take effect too soon and would lead to people seeing interruptions in their services and income in trying to comply with the new law.

The law will raise annual inspections fees by $150. So now salons will owe the government $250 for those inspections, and biannually each nail and eyelash technician, as well as estheticians, will owe the state $100 to get approval to work. It also requires that they all have a high school diploma or GED.

On top of all that, all the people trying to enter the profession must take an exam, and for estheticians, complete 600 hours of supervised work in the state, nail technicians 300 hours, and eyelash technicians 200 hours. This compares to the only 150 hours required to become an EMT in Connecticut.

The need for government approval to enter a market leads to protecting established players in an industry and prevents new people from entering the market, hampering competition and mobility. While Rep. Gilchrest’s Twitter bio says she is, “Raising women up”, she's doing the opposite by weighing them down with government regulation.

(Cover Photo: Flickr / Wonderlane)
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