The State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology outlined a set of proposed changes it will include in its 2025 sunset-review submission, asking the legislature to strengthen the board’s authority over schools, clarify licensure-by-endorsement rules, and consider combined license pathways for certain license types.

Board staff told members the board currently lacks clear statutory authority to review school contracts, attendance or certain curriculum records during inspections. The draft sunset recommendations seek an amendment to allow the board to receive BPPE (Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education) citations and related records directly, establish application and renewal fees for private schools so the program can recoup staff costs, and require school renewal to ensure ongoing oversight. Staff said those changes would let the board better detect and stop transactions such as the selling of hours.

The board also proposed tightening licensure-by-endorsement (reciprocity) procedures so applicants must provide proof of having passed a qualifying licensing examination in the issuing state; staff said this is intended to curtail fraud where applicants obtain certification letters that lack exam evidence.

Another policy under consideration is a combined-license pathway: a single credential for barbering + cosmetology and a single credential for aesthetician + manicuring. Staff described a technical approach to calculate shared and unique hour requirements and recommended 1,400 hours for a combined barber-cosmetology credential and 800 hours for a combined aesthetician-manicuring credential. Board members asked staff to return with a detailed hour-by-hour crosswalk before taking a formal legislative request.

Board members also discussed whether to reinstate or require a school-level practical test prior to candidate eligibility for the state exam. The practical exam had been removed in past policy changes; some members and commenters argued a mandated practical administered by the school would raise competency and reduce employer training burden, but others cautioned the legislature had removed the practical previously and might not restore it. Staff said they would analyze how a school-administered practical could be validated and whether a third-party testing requirement would better ensure impartiality.

Board members approved submitting the items they considered ready into the sunset report and directed staff to return with refined statutory language, precise hour calculations for combined licenses, and an analysis of practical-exam options ahead of the final sunset submission.