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Reynolds’ decision on bill could lead to dismissal of licensing lawsuit
['Clark Kauffman', 'More From Author', '- March']
Date: 2022-03-15 00:00:00
A bill that awaits the signature of Gov. Kim Reynolds could result in the dismissal of a lawsuit over the constitutionality of Iowa’s licensing laws.
In December, a Texas company filed a civil rights lawsuit against the state of Iowa for requiring that hair-threading professionals undergo 600 hours of training to become licensed. Arsah Enterprise Inc., which does business in Iowa as The Perfect Brow Bar, operates a threading salon at Jordan Creek Mall in West Des Moines and calls the training that’s required by the law “useless.”
The company sued the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Iowa Board of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences to prevent them “forcing the owner of a small business to close his operation because of an unconstitutional occupational licensing system.”
The lawsuit describes threading as an “an ancient grooming technique that uses a strand of cotton thread to pluck unwanted hairs” from eyebrows and other areas of clients’ bodies. It alleges that despite the simple nature of threading and the lack of risk to the public from its use, the state imposes “an onerous occupational licensing scheme on individuals who wish to perform threading.”
Under Iowa law, a threader must be licensed by the Iowa Board of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences as an esthetician. Licensure as an esthetician requires an individual to undergo 600 hours of education in esthetics, which can cost more than $12,000, according to the plaintiffs.
“These hours are pointless for a prospective threader, however, because esthetics programs in Iowa do not provide any training to students in threading,” the lawsuit claims. “The students must simply pay for and complete a course of instruction that has no relevance to their desired occupation.”
The company also claims the licensing scheme for threaders is disproportionate to the training requirements imposed for other occupations where human life and safety are at risk. For example, the plaintiffs note that an Iowa-licensed EMT needs only 110 hours of classroom instruction.
The lawsuit seeks a court order that will permanently block the board and Department of Public Health from enforcing any of their licensing requirements related to threading.
Arsah Enterprise is represented by Alan R. Ostergren, the former Muscatine County prosecutor who is now the president and legal counsel of the Kirkwood Institute, a privately funded organization that describes itself as a “conservative public-interest law firm dedicating to promoting the rights of Iowans.”
In a recent court filing, Ostergren noted that the House and Senate recently passed, without a single dissenting vote, a bill that would specifically remove threaders from the law that requires a license for hair removal. Should Reynolds sign Senate File 2119 into law, he told the court, the issues raised in the lawsuit would be rendered moot, Ostergren says.
The court has agreed to a continuance in the case to allow time for the governor to act. A hearing that was scheduled for late March is now planned for April 29, at the latest.
Under the bill that was approved by lawmakers, hair-removal practitioners who use tweezers, lasers, wax and other products as their primary tools would still need to be licensed in Iowa.
Licensure reform has been on Reynolds’ agenda for the past few years. In her Condition of the State speech earlier this year, Reynolds, a Republican, said she and the Iowa Legislature “need to continue our work this session to eliminate unnecessary licensing requirements that keep people from moving to or working in Iowa.”
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