Proponent Testimony on SB 213
Before the
Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee
By
Charles Penzone
September 30, 2015
Chairman Coley, Vice Chairman Seitz, Ranking member Yuko and members
of the committee, my name is Charles Penzone. I’m here today to provide
proponent testimony on SB 213 and urge your support for the bill.
I’ll provide a brief overview of my experience in the beauty industry for those
of you I have not had the pleasure of meeting. I was born and raised in
Grandview Heights, Ohio. I have lived in Ohio for 70 years. I have been a
licensed cosmetologist for 51 years. I am currently an appointed
commissioner on the Ohio State Board of Cosmetology. In that capacity I am
serving my fourth Governor and am in my 18th year on that board. In 1969,
at the age of 23, I opened my first salon in Upper Arlington, Ohio with three
employees. By 1991, my vision of full service, suburban, freestanding salons
and day spas became a reality. My wife, Debra, and I have grown the
company to 475 employees, providing 300,000 client visits per year in six
salon/day spa locations. Over the past 46 years I have owned the company;
I would guess I have provided 8,000 to 10,000 jobs to Ohio residents. At one
time, the two largest salons in the US, and probably the world, were in
Columbus, Ohio. I’m sure we are in the top 5 largest today. Our company
has been featured on the Today Show, Inside Edition, People Magazine and
every publication in the beauty industry, and, as well, most fashion
publications in the US. The US government has done a video on us that was
shown in over 80 countries in 5 languages.
Some awards bestowed upon me during my career in the industry:
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Ernst & Young- Master Entrepreneur of the Year
Central Ohio Business Hall of Fame Laureate
Global Salon Business Awards- Entrepreneur Of the Year
International Salon/Spa Business Network- Lifetime Achievement Award
The Central Ohio Family Business of the Year Award (Twice)
There are many more. I don’t mention these awards to be braggadocios, but
rather, in hopes you will take me seriously.
As you have heard in other testimony; SB 213 contains several provisions
that reasonably reform Ohio’s cosmetology statute. In SB 213 the issue of
the Manager Mandate is addressed and removed from statute. In particular,
I am personally and adamantly in favor of removing this unnecessary law.
This mandate requires all salons: beauty, nail, skincare and braiding,
approximately 14,000 units, to have a licensed “manager” on duty during
business hours. If a licensed cosmetologist doesn’t have a “manager”
license, they cannot work alone. After 1500 hours of schooling, if they do not
have a “manager” license--- they cannot work alone. It is the only mandate
of its kind in the 50 states.
You might ask, “How does one get a manager license”?
The most common way to get a “manager license” is to buy one. By signing
up for an additional 300 hours in a private, for profit Cosmetology school,
students receive the privilege of testing for a “manager license” at the Ohio
State Board of Cosmetology. Many, if not most, private, for profit schools,
only sell courses that include the manager license. Now, the student who
has borrowed money, or obtained a Pell Grant, for the 1500 hour
Cosmetology license is able to go more in debt. They now have a total of
1800 hours but…”you can work alone.”
The advocates of the “manager mandate” will have you believe that the Ohio
consumer is much safer in a salon because of this mandate. As I have
mentioned earlier, I have been in the industry 51 years and we serve 300,000
client visits annually and, I can unequivocally say that is not true. A 19 or 20
year old with this license in no better prepared to safeguard your constituents
because of 300 additional hours, most of which are spent on the schools
clinic floors, generating income they receive no remuneration for.
Now, back to safeguarding. There are currently around 8,500,000 Ohio
citizens over the age of twelve. The average person, in that demographic,
visits a barber shop/beauty salon approximately 6 times per year. That
equates to 51,000,000 visits to salons and barber shops in Ohio. I ask you
Senators, are you aware of any life threatening occurrences in beauty
salons/barber shops? Sure, an occasional bad haircut but, have you ever
heard of anyone dying? In my 51 years I can only think that a beauty salon
or barber shop is one of the safest and most pleasant places on earth.
Now, I will say that the 300 additional hours does provide a luxury for the
private, for profit cosmetology schools in this way: Government funding is
given out in 900 hour increments. In the Ohio cosmetology 1500 hour
requirement there is only one 900 hour distribution unit of Federal funding.
But, with an additional 300 hours totaling 1800 that includes the “manager
license” course, there are now available two 900 hour units of Federal
funding/loan distribution. In a nutshell, the 300 extra hours for the “manager
license” equates to twice the Federal funding and more debt for the new
graduate at the expense of the 14,000 Ohio salons and taxpayers.
I hope you will agree with me that the state, nor the private, for profit
cosmetology schools should be telling small business owners who can
manage their business. This “mandate” should never have been put in place.
This state mandate makes scheduling difficult and leaves me, and every one
of the 14,000 licensed salons in Ohio, open to significant liability during an
inspection if we do not have someone with a managing license on staff at all
times. As well, it is nonsensical and unfair that Ohio law favors fewer than
100 private, for profit cosmetology schools by allowing them to dictate to the
14,000 salons who should manage them.
The managing license mandate is over burdensome, unnecessary and does
not increase the safety and sanitation in a salon in any way. In addition, the
managing license does not provide licensees with any additional marketable
skills other than the state mandating that, I as a business owner, must hire
one of them over other, more experienced licensees to manage my
businesses. When we hire new licensees, with or without the manager
license, we put them through a year of additional training to ensure they
provide the highest customer service to our clients.
As a member of the Ohio Salon Association, I am also in favor of the
additional provisions advocated by the association included in SB 213. The
OSA has been developing a comprehensive reform package to Ohio’s
cosmetology laws for several years. I hope you will seriously consider
supporting these reforms in the future.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to provide proponent testimony
on SB 213 to the committee. I would be happy to answer any questions.