Senate committee moves permanent‑cosmetics licensing from Health to Cosmetology board

Senator Hammer introduced a bill to move licensing for permanent and semi‑permanent cosmetics from the Arkansas Department of Health to the State Cosmetology Board and to add an industry representative to that board. "The goal is to approve the permanent and semi permanent cosmetic industry to make it safer for consumers and to accomplish that," Senator Hammer said while presenting the measure.

Mallory Davis, of the Arkansas Permanent Cosmetics Institute, told the committee the bill does not create a new license but relocates an existing license and changes where rules and enforcement are managed. "This license exists currently and is licensed by the Department of Health specifically…We're just moving [permanent cosmetics] from the Department of Health to...the cosmetology board," Davis said, explaining proponents expect the cosmetology board to give the industry more direct input on education and oversight.

Jamie Barker, also with the Arkansas Permanent Cosmetics Institute, described the services at issue as procedures that implant pigment for brows, eyeliner and areola restoration for cancer survivors. She and Davis stressed that improved training and clearer regulatory authority would protect consumers and students who teach or enter the field.

The committee adopted a technical amendment introduced at the start of the hearing and, after no speakers registered in opposition, moved and passed the bill as amended. The motion to pass was made by Senator Hammer and the committee approved the bill by voice vote.

The bill will now proceed to the next step in the Senate process with the cosmetology board set to receive the transferred rulemaking authority and one designated seat for the permanent‑cosmetics industry.