“Ohio law requires a cosmetologist to have 10 times the training of EMTs. The case for licensing reform doesn’t get much clearer.”

Greg Lawson, statehouse liaison at The Buckeye Institute, gave that testimony today before the Ohio Senate’s Government Oversight and Reform Committee.

The legislature is considering eliminating Ohio’s salon manager’s license as well as a requirement that hair salons have a specially licensed manager on the premises at all times.

Ohio is the only state with this burdensome requirement. Private cosmetology schools are fighting to preserve the license because it requires students to get 300 hours of extra training, beyond the 1,500 hours already required to become a licensed cosmetologist, if they want to manage a salon. Greg testified on a day when opponents of reform outnumbered those who supported it.

Why is licensing reform so important?

The Buckeye Institute’s recent report, Forbidden to Succeed: How Licensure Laws Hold Ohioans Back, detailed 31 low- to moderate-income occupations that should have licensing burdens reduced or eliminated altogether, to make it easier for Ohioans to work.

As Greg said to the Ohio Senate Government Oversight Committee: “Onerous licensing burdens—essentially requiring workers to ask the government for a permission slip to earn a living—make Ohio less competitive, less prosperous, and less attractive to entrepreneurs and their employees.”