DES MOINES, Iowa — Two women challenging Iowa’s regulation on African-style hair braiding plan to drop a lawsuit they filed last year because of an upcoming change in state law, a move that highlights occupational licensing requirements around the country that research show can be burdensome to workers.
The lawsuit filed in district court by Aicheria Bell and Achan Agit against the state’s cosmetology board will be dismissed once new legislation takes effect July 1, said Meagan Forbes, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based law firm representing the women. The pending law will allow people to do natural hair braiding in Iowa without a cosmetology license, which requires 2,100 hours of training that is mostly unrelated to braiding.
“It’s a major victory for Aicheria and Achan and for African-style hair braiders across the state,” Forbes said.
The Iowa Legislature in recent years has considered changing the rules, but never approved a bill. Late in the last session, the issue arose again when language was added to a budget bill that removed the training requirement but required natural hair braiders to take one hour of safety and sanitation curriculum annually and be subject to inspection.
Gov. Terry Branstad removed those stipulations in a veto, resulting in completely deregulating the work.
“Licensing and regulations should only be mandated when necessary to serve public health or safety. Natural hair braiding does not require government mandates, regulations, or licensing,” he said in a veto message.
Iowa will join roughly 20 states that exclude natural hair braiding from the type of regulation that critics say can be difficult for people in African-American and African immigrant communities because of time and cost. The Institute for Justice has led a combination of legal and legislative efforts in more than half of those states.
Bell, 36, of Des Moines, currently braids hair at a barber shop and doesn’t have a license because she argues cosmetology school tuition can top $20,000. She thinks the lawsuit prompted the legislation.
