As many of my clients know already, I stay quite engaged with local state politics surrounding the needs of the Personal Services Industry. I currently serve as the Board Secretary and Western Washington Legislative Lead for Cosmetologists of Washington United. Since 2019, I have been working alongside colleagues to protect the industry from harmful legislation to small business cosmetology. It started out as protecting booth rental and has now morphed into a grassroots movement to use our voices to protect our careers and incomes. This work has now evolved as COWU has grown. We are awaiting word from the IRS on our 501 C6 status for tax-deductible donations and I continue to support legislative education and organizational support to the fledgling non-profit.
In this short 60 day 2022 Legislative Session that ends March 10, the organization has hired lobbyist Brooke Davies to assist in our efforts to communicate directly with legislators. Our higher goal is to not only oppose items- but to also mold and shape law that will support and assist Personal Services moving forward. Specifically- we want to clean up regulatory inefficiencies inside Dept of Licensing in WA state.
---- Every year we see new developments that undercut professionals inside Dept of Licensing. From insurmountable glitches with the new renewal system, to shifting to scheduled virtual inspections, to the recent DOL data breach and outage- Personal Services is not only seeing challenges, issues and roadblocks due to the pandemic --- but within the bureaucracy itself. As I take care of all my wonderful hair clients ---I am also checking in with business lobbyists and Brooke Davies so I can report back to the organization what the circumstances are like on the ground. Things can shift at any moment! I would love to have your help to get some items to success.
Would you like to Support this work? Here are some ways below:
1) CLICK TO Support HB 1930: Allows Cancelled Dept of Cosmetology Operator & Instructor licenses between Mar 2020- Jun 2023 to renew with just a late fee. The pandemic hit Personal Services hard and some initially may not have felt confident returning to work, some were caught up in glitches they couldn't surmount alone in the new online renewal system, and some were just strapped for funds when their license came due for renewal. We worked in a bipartisan fashion with Brooke Davies and legislators to make this bill happen. It passed the House with no down votes against and we hope to get it onto the Senate floor for a vote. See the Engrossed Bill HERE
2) CLICK TO Oppose HB 1650: Uses a broad definition of phone auto dialing to prevent "robocall" style phishing via email, phone and/or text. Thus, rolling up legitimate client newsletter and reminder communications for appointments and product sales in the process. This bill goes too far and jeopardizes businesses' ability to maintain their schedules, & attract appointments and/or retail sales.
3) CLICK TO Oppose HB 1837: Would re-instate permitting L&I to make new ergonomics standards regardless of being voted down via initiative in the early 2000's. L&I can already enforce ergonomic standards through the general rule and this is unnecessary duplication as well as nudging towards automation for other industries. My question is- how can we make shampoo bowls ergonomic for salon employees? You guessed it- nearly impossible.
Thanks for reading and I hope our successes in Olympia for
COWU uplift the entire industry in WA State!