By Sascha Cordner
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-968699.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – A week ago (May 6th), the Florida Senate surprised the House when Senators did not pass a bill that would have deregulated several professions in Florida, including hair braiders and interior designers. As Sascha Cordner reports, people from those same professions are weighing in on the legislation that nearly passed.
The House bill 5005 started off with deregulating close to 60 professions and then week after week, the measure was whittled down to 5 by the time it reached the Senate. The bill gained more attention due to how it still had a provision to deregulate interior designers, despite their opposition. Some lawmakers, including Democratic Representative Darryl Rouson of Saint Petersburg said there was no rhyme or reason to the measure because some professions would stay regulated while others, like interior designers, would remain deregulated.
"We had interior designers left and right, right and left, forwards and backwards, please don't deregulate us, please don't do this to us, and yet we profess to listen to them and we do it anyway! I mean the professor from Florida State that came with the students, ones that are spending their educational dollars and time to get proficient."
He's talking about Florida State University Department of Interior Design Chairman and Professor Eric Wiedegreen, who says passions ran pretty high and interior design students came from all over the state to speak out.
"I spoke before the House Appropriations Committee and several other students from Florida State, but there was a whole contingency from Miami Dade which was so encouraging to see Sometimes students would get up and just start to cry, they felt so passionate about it. And, why they were studying this field, what this field can do to safeguard the public and they were kind of baffled why they even had to make that kind of an argument."
While most people usually associate the bill with interior designers, Democratic Representative Geraldine Thompson of Orlando talked about another area that would have been affected: hair braiders and hair weavers.
"The person who does hair braiding who doesn't know what they're doing can spread infectious diseases, such as HIV and AIDs, if they do it improperly, it can lead to baldness. This is the problem when we deregulate hair braiders, hair weavers, and body wrappers. Regulation is there for a reason, we are endangering the health, welfare, and the safety of Floridians with this bill."
Republican Representative Carlos Lopez-Cantera of Miami did not agree.
"Putting the attention on hair braiders and interior designers and saying that the health and welfare of Floridians will be affected. I do not buy it. I've done the research and there's nothing in there that would lead me to believe that we're doing anything to jeopardize any Floridians with this, expect jeopardize them to make more money."
In Interviews with the media this week, even Governor Rick Scott sounded sarcastic about this issue:
"We have been regulating hair weavers, but let's think about it: Did you ever look at and see when you went to get your hair weaved did you check [laughter] the state license? So, what I'm doing is making sure we go through all regulation if it's killing jobs and really doesn't help us. We have to weigh all these things. There's no regulation that's free."
But, Tallahassee's Skies Unlimited Hair Salon Stylist Teresa Ensor says though she thinks hair braiders do not really need to have a license, it's a different story for hair weavers.
"You need to know a technique to weave, but it's taught, to me it's not learned, it's taught, I mean you have to get your hair wrapping in order to get weave, not a braiding, braiding I don't feel you need a license, but weaving, yes you do."
Bill Supporters say if the bill had passed, it would have provided financial relief to about 15-thousand professionals. They say that would have saved the private sector about 3-million dollars annually. Opponents say though they understand the idea of deregulation, they didn't think that was the way to do it. That was one of the reasons why the Senate pulled the plug on the bill.