Salamata Sylla, an immigrant
from Senegal to the United States, will not have to take 1,600
unnecessary hours of utterly irrelevant cosmetology training in
order to keep operating her hair-braiding business in Washington
State. It’s another victory for the lawyers at the Institute for
Justice, fighting similar licensing regulations across the
country designed to protect established businesses from competitors
in the guise of public health or safety.
Sylla’s case is particularly notable in that it shouldn’t even
have happened in the first place. According to the Institute for
Justice, the state’s Department of Licensing determined in a
similar case in 2004 that hair-braiders do not need cosmetology
training. But they concluded that battle with a non-binding policy
statement. That’s obviously bureaucratic-code for “Enforce it if
you think you can get away with it.”
They targeted Sylla in 2013, and not only did she fight back,
she’s gotten an apology from the Department and an agreement to put
an actual administrative rule on the books exempting hair-braiders
from the training. The Institute for Justice praised the decision
but warned that it will keep watching to make sure they actually
follow through and create the exemption in writing. The Institution
for Justice is also fighting similar regulations right now in
Arkansas and Missouri.
Below, Reason TV documented a similar, and similarly successful,
fight against these unnecessary licensing regulations in
Mississippi:
from Hit & Run http://ift.tt/1uFTqin
via IFTTT