Iowa licenses more of its workers than any other state. Two women fight back with a lawsuit.
Combine the number of training days required to become a licensed emergency medical technician, child care worker, school bus driver, sign language interpreter, pharmacy technician and dental assistant in Iowa, and you still wouldn’t beat the number required for cosmetologists.
Obtaining a cosmetology license requires 490 days of training—compare that with the national average of 372—and enrolling in one of Iowa’s 27 cosmetology schools can cost up to $22,000. Practicing without one can cost up to a year in prison and fines of up to $10,000, according to the Institute for Justice.
These are “burdensome and arbitrary” rules for anyone trying to make a decent living, say Achan Agit and Aicheria Bell. The two women, both African-style hair braiders, filed a civil rights lawsuit against the state cosmetology board last month alleging its licensing requirements violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Iowa Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1871.
Iowa’s regulatory system made it difficult for the women’s small businesses to get off the ground. Agit, unable to afford a cosmetology license, ran her own hair salon until fears of legal action forced her to shutter it. Bell wants to start her own braiding business, too, but licensing requirements have prevented her from doing so, according to the lawsuit.
Adding insult to injury, Iowa doesn’t actually require cosmetology schools to teach hair braiding in their curriculums. “I just want the right to earn a living and not feel like I’m a criminal,” Bell told Forbes.
Cosmetologists aren’t the only ones hurt by Iowa’s licensing laws. A third of the state’s workforce is licensed, a greater share than any other state, according to the Brookings Institute.
“In a rational occupational licensing system … it is difficult to justify why Iowa would have twice the percentage of licensed workers as South Carolina, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, or Indiana,” stated a discussion paper from the Brookings Institute’s Hamilton Project this year.
NFIB members: Do you think Iowa over-licenses its small business owners? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
