Michigan The Senate Regulatory Affairs Committee has calendared HB 5684 for consideration on Wednesday, October 9, 2024. As previously reported, the bill would allow licensees to perform: exfoliation (limited to the stratum corneum) using a product, chemical, mechanical device, electrical service, or class 1 medical device; dermaplaning or microdermabrasion; non-medical grade hydrodermabrasion and chemical peels; high-frequency treatments with documented training; eyebrow and eyelash services, and; facial cupping.
New Hampshire FINAL REMINDER: The House Executive Departments and Administration Committee has scheduled an October 17, 2024, Executive Session on HB 1408 and HB 1271. Since November’s election will determine 2025 control of New Hampshire’s closely divided legislature, the Committee session may portend a lame duck legislative session.
HB 1408 would merge and reorganize various occupational boards. It includes a provision that would reduce the size of the state’s Barbering, Cosmetology, and Esthetics Board from seven to five members by eliminating the school owner and tanning salon owner seats. HB 1271 would combine the advisory board of massage therapists with the advisory board of reflexology, structural integration, and Asian bodywork therapy.
New Jersey Senator Angela McKnight (R) recently introduced a Cosmetology Licensure Compact bill. The measure – S3766 – has not yet been assigned to a standing committee. An Assembly companion – A4630 – was introduced in June and is currently in the chamber’s Regulated Professions Committee.
Last month, the Assembly voted 66 to 9 to pass A1925. As previously reported, the bill would allow the State Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling to offer its practical and written examinations in English and the “four other most commonly spoken languages in the State.” The bill has been transmitted to the Senate and referred to the Commerce Committee.
South Carolina The September 27, 2024, South Carolina State Register contains Emergency Regulations allowing Palmetto State schools to teach esthetics at 600 hours until the legislature returns in January. The Rules address U.S. Department of Education Certification Procedures regulations published last year.
The regulatory notice states that “several bills addressing esthetics licensure requirements were filed in the South Carolina General Assembly during the 2024 legislative session. At least one of those bills, S.857, would have increased the minimum number of hours required for licensure as an esthetician from 450 to 600, thereby resolving this problem in advance of the July 1, 2024 deadline. The bill passed the Senate but remained in the House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs (3M) Committee at the time of adjournment of session on May 9, 2024.
By way of a letter dated May 2, 2024, Chair of the House 3M Committee asked the Board of Cosmetology to utilize the emergency regulation procedures, as outlined in S.C. Code Section 1-23-130, to provide a temporary solution to protect students' access to FSA funds until such time as the General Assembly convenes in January 2025 and can consider the matter.”
September’s State Register (see page 123 of the PDF) also contains a proposed regulation to expand the ways out-of-state applicants, who are licensed in another state, may become licensed in South Carolina. To this end, “this proposed regulation would allow applicants who have been licensed for two years in another state and whose licenses are in good standing to complete four hours of South Carolina continuing education as an alternative means of licensure in addition to licensure by passage of a national exam.”
Written comments on this rule, as well as a proposed rule requiring a current 2 x 2 photo to be affixed to all licenses (see page 126 of the PDF), can be directed to Tracy Adams, Board Executive, Board of Cosmetology, South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Post Office Box 11329, Columbia, South Carolina 29211, no later than 5:00 p.m., on October 28, 2024. | 
