The State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology on Aug. 6 voted to include the apprenticeship task-force report in its upcoming sunset review, endorsing stricter oversight and enforcement steps to address fraud and worker misclassification in California’s barbering and cosmetology apprenticeship programs.

Board members and staff described multiple problems that task-force participants documented: apprentices who are booth renters or paid only by commission rather than W-2 wage employees; program sponsors that franchise or use satellite affiliates and sometimes collect state LEA (Local Educational Agency) reimbursements without producing valid attendance or training records; and apprentices who lack OJT (on-the-job training) logs or documentation when sponsors close or stop cooperating.

Staff said the task force — which included board members, program sponsors, local education agencies and licensees — recommends statutory changes to strengthen oversight. The proposals approved for submission to the sunset review include requiring apprentices to be W-2 employees paid hourly, setting an approval/renewal process and modest fee for program sponsors to fund oversight, limiting sponsors to a single LEA affiliation, requiring program sponsors to maintain OJT logs and daily activity records available on request, mandating workers’-compensation coverage for employers, and creating a formal disciplinary path for sponsors and employers (including suspension of new enrollments).

Board discussion also covered operational steps staff will take regardless of legislative outcomes: draft complaint/“know-your-rights” materials for apprentices (in multiple languages), enhanced outreach and a proposed stepwise discipline framework (warning, corrective actions, then suspension). The board asked staff to return with a proposed enforcement matrix, proposed sponsor fees (staff estimated ‘‘a few hundred dollars’’ every renewal cycle as a starting point), and a formal maintenance/transfer fee for apprentice records.

President Tanya Fairley and other board members emphasized protecting apprentices and reducing the number of fraudulent sponsorships and unauthorized satellite programs. After discussion, the board moved to approve the apprenticeship report for inclusion in the sunset report and asked staff to bring a crosswalk of recommended statutory language and a disciplinary process for sponsors to the next meeting.

The board’s approval was recorded by roll call; staff said the full sunset report will come back to the board for final review later this year.