STUMP » Articles » Good News for Monday: Locks Unlocked » 27 June 2016, 14:53

I don’t know if I can make this a series, but I hope I can.

I’m just bummed.

That sucks.

So let’s get some happy news!

Straightforward happy news: The governor of Kentucky signed a bill that reduces regulations on hair braiders

Arlington, Va.—In Kentucky it used to take 1,800 hours of irrelevant training to become a natural, African-style hair braider. That was because hair braiders needed to obtain a cosmetology license to practice hair braiding. But yesterday [June 21], Governor Matt Bevin held a ceremony to commemorate the signing of S.B. 269, which exempted natural hair braiders in Kentucky from needing to obtain a cosmetology license.

“This is a victory for economic liberty in the Bluegrass State,” said Christina Walsh, Director of Activism and Coalitions at the Institute for Justice (IJ). “Something as safe and common as hair braiding has no business being regulated by the government.”

IJ’s activism team helped Kentucky hair braiders organize to demand reforms to the state’s cosmetology licensing laws. Prior to the bill’s signing, hair braiders in Kentucky were required to spend up to $20,000 on 1,800 hours of irrelevant training to obtain a cosmetology license to go into business. This put legal braiding out of reach for the Commonwealth’s braiders. IJ teamed up with the Kentucky chapter of Americans for Prosperity to introduce and fight for an exemption to these unnecessary and burdensome regulations. S.B. 269 was sponsored and championed by Senator Perry Clark and Representative Reginald Meeks.

And this is what makes it really happy news, other than the opening up of economic opportunity — this great picture:

If I were Bevin, I’d frame that pic and hang it behind me on my wall.

Way to go, Governor Bevin.

Compilation of Kentucky posts