PROPOSED RULEMAKING
STATE BOARD OF COSMETOLOGY
[49 PA. CODE CH. 7]
General Revisions
[37 Pa.B. 4628]
[Saturday, August 25, 2007]The State Board of Cosmetology (Board) proposes to amend Chapter 7 (relating to State Board of Cosmetology) to read as set forth in Annex A. The proposed rulemaking would implement changes made to the act of May 3, 1933 (P. L. 242, No. 86) (Act 86) by the act of July 7, 2006 (P. L. 704, No. 99) (Act 99), as well as to generally update the regulations to strengthen safety and sanitation requirements and to reflect current processes and practices utilized by the Board.
A. Effective Date
The proposed rulemaking will be effective upon final-form publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
B. Statutory Authority
Section 11 of Act 86 (63 P. S. § 517) authorizes the Board to promulgate regulations generally for the conduct of persons, copartnerships, associations or corporations affected by Act 86. Section 16 of Act 99 (63 P. S. § 522) requires the Board to promulgate regulations to implement Act 99 within 18 months of its effective date. The effective date of Act 99 was September 5, 2006.
C. Background and Need for Proposed Rulemaking
Act 99 made substantial changes to Act 86 by adding a limited license classification--the natural hair braider license; by making changes to terminology in Act 86; by making other changes within Act 86 to implement the new natural hair braider license; and by extending to all limited license classes: (1) the ability to practice outside of a licensed salon in a client's residence under specified circumstances; (2) the ability to practice on a temporary license; and (3) the prohibition on booth rental within a licensed salon. These changes require corresponding changes and additions to Chapter 7. Act 99 requires the Board to promulgate regulations to make those changes within 18 months of its effective date.
Because the Board needed to make wholesale changes to Chapter 7 to implement Act 99, the Board also took the opportunity to propose a number of other changes to the regulations. Although piecemeal changes have been made to the regulations over the years, generally in response to legislative changes to Act 86, the Board had not undertaken an overall review and update since 1975. In the intervening period, some of the Board's regulatory provisions have become obsolete, terms of art have changed, standards of sanitation have evolved, some of the Board's licensing and examination processes have changed and deficiencies or errors in the regulations have become apparent. Accordingly, in this proposed rulemaking the Board is making changes, in addition to those required by Act 99, that the Board finds necessary to update the regulations and to address the way the profession and the Board have changed since 1975.
D. Description of Proposed Amendments
Terminology and Definitions in General
Act 99 replaced a number of terms in Act 86 with updated terminology. This proposed rulemaking wouldreplace the following old terms and their definitions throughout the regulations to reflect the updated terminology:
Old Term New Term Cosmetician Esthetician Manicuring Nail technology Manicurist Nail technician Shop Salon Additionally, this proposed rulemaking would add the following new terms and their definitions to the regulations where applicable, based on Act 99's addition of them to the cosmetology lexicon: ''braiding,'' ''esthetics,'' ''limited license,'' ''natural hair braider'' and ''natural hair braiding.''
Because Act 99 added a definition of ''limited license'' that encompasses the nail technician, esthetician and natural hair braider licenses, the term ''limited license'' has been substituted throughout the regulations, when appropriate, to reduce the number of times that all three limited license classifications are enumerated.
Finally, throughout the existing regulations, the possessive nouns ''cosmetologist's,'' ''teacher's,'' ''barber's,'' ''student's'' and ''school's'' were used to modify another term such as ''license,'' ''examination'' or ''uniform.'' However, Act 99's additions to Act 86 refer to the ''esthetician license,'' the ''nail technician license'' and the ''natural hair braider license,'' using the terms as adjectives to modify another term instead of using the possessive forms. Therefore, to remain consistent throughout Act 86 and the regulations, this proposed rulemaking would replace the possessive nouns with the unit modifier.
§ 7.1. Definitions.
Section 7.1 is amended by amending the existing definitions of ''Board,'' ''booth space'' and ''Bureau'' to comport with the definitions in Act 86. The proposed rulemaking would delete the obsolete definition of ''manicuring'' and add the statutory definitions of ''braiding,'' ''cosmetologist,'' ''cosmetology,'' ''Department,'' ''esthetics,'' ''esthetician,'' ''limited license,'' ''nail technician,'' ''nail technology,'' ''natural hair braider,'' ''natural hair braiding,'' ''school of cosmetology'' and ''tanning units.''
In addition, the Board proposes adding definitions in § 7.1 of ''limited practice salon'' and ''limited practice teacher'' and to use the defined terms throughout the proposed rulemaking to refer to salons licensed by the Board for the provision of esthetician services, nail technology services or natural hair braiding services only, and to those teachers licensed by the Board to provide instruction in the area of esthetics, nail technology or natural hair braiding only. Finally, because the Board recently had several salon applications and variance requests in which questions arose as to the definition of ''lavatory,'' which is used elsewhere in the regulations, but which is not defined, the Board added a definition of ''lavatory.''
§ 7.2. Fees.
In § 7.2, the proposed rulemaking would add the natural hair braider license to the list of fees charged by the Board related to individual licenses, making the charges for initial licensure ($10) and for biennial renewal ($35) the same as current fees for the other individual license classes. Similarly, the proposed rulemaking adds the limited practice teacher license fee and the limited practice salon license fee so that the fees for limited practice teachers ($10 for initial licensure and $55 for biennial renewal) and limited practice salons ($55 for initial licensure and $60 for biennial renewal) are the same as existing fees for cosmetology teachers and for cosmetology salons. Similar changes would be made to the provisions establishing the fees for a change in or reinspection of a salon ($55 if a change is made that requires an inspection, $15 if a change is made requiring no inspection and $40 for reinspection after failing an inspection).
The Board did not previously have fees established for making changes in a cosmetology school. However, making changes, whether they require an inspection or not, requires some amount of clerical activity and time for processing. Because the fees are intended to recoup the costs associated with the processing of changes, the Board determined that fees are needed for changes in a school that require an inspection and for changes in a school that do not require an inspection, and established the fees in this proposed rulemaking. The fee for a change in a school that requires an inspection would be set at $110 and the fee for a change that does not require an inspection would be set at $35. The Board established these fees by taking the existing parallel fees regarding salons and increasing them according to the percentage by which the fee for a school license exceeds the fee for a salon license, believing that the amount of work involved would increase by the same proportion because of the additional paperwork and inspection time required with regard to a school.
§ 7.11. Types of individual licenses.
The Board proposes to amend § 7.11 by distinguishing between the cosmetology teacher license and the limited practice teacher license, by replacing the cosmetician and manicurist licenses with esthetician and nail technician licenses and adding the natural hair braider license.
§ 7.12. Scope of teacher's license.
§ 7.12a. Scope of limited practice teacher license.
The Board proposes to amend § 7.12 to clarify that this section applies only to cosmetology teachers and to add § 7.12a to define the scope of practice of limited practice teachers in esthetics, nail technology and natural hair braiding.
§ 7.14. Scope of cosmetologist's license.
§ 7.14a. Scope of cosmetician's license.
§ 7.15. Scope of manicurist's license.
§ 7.17. Scope of natural hair braider license.
The Board proposes to amend §§ 7.14, 7.14a and 7.15 and to add § 7.17 to define the scope of practice of the various individual licenses.
§ 7.31. Examination prerequisite for licensure; exception.
The Board proposes to amend § 7.31 to incorporate the new terminology of Act 99, and to add a grandfather clause for existing natural hair braiders provided in section 6 of Act 99 (63 P. S. § 512). As required by Act 99, for 1 year after the effective date of adoption of this proposed rulemaking, the Board will issue a natural hair braider license to an applicant who submits the application adopted by the Board, pays the required licensing fee and provides proof that the applicant has practiced natural hair braiding for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to the date of the application for licensure.
§ 7.31a. Examination dates and locations.
§ 7.32. Deadline for examination applications.
§ 7.32a. Contents of examination application.
The proposed rulemaking would amend existing provisions pertaining to the examinations to reflect current processes. The Board's processes regarding the examinations have changed over the years since the regulations were initially promulgated because the functions regarding exam administration rest with the contracted exam provider, which means the exam administrator makes the day-to-day administration decisions, although it does so in accordance with the statutory requirements as the broad framework within which it operates.
Therefore, because the exam provider now administers the examinations on more frequent occasions than was the case previously, § 7.31a would be amended to delete the specific days and months on which the exams are given, to delete locations that are not always available and to permit additional locations to be established. Also, because the exams are given more frequently, § 7.32 would be amended to delete the specific exam deadlines, which are no longer in use, and to simply specify that the deadline is a month prior to the testing date for the specific location where the applicant intends to take the exam, a date to be established by the exam administrator.
Additionally, proposed § 7.32(c) requires that a first-time examinee complete and pass both the theoretical and the practical portions of the exam within 1 year of each other. The Board finds it desirable to institute this requirement because it is concerned that if applicants wait too long between taking one portion and the other, the knowledge they have learned in school will begin to become cloudy, lessening their chances of passing the second portion of the exam and their entrance into the profession will be delayed to the point that their skills will not be as sharp as they otherwise might have been. Proposed subsection (c) would also give the Board discretion to grant exceptions to the 1-year requirement to facilitate the transition from one exam provider to another. This is based on the Board's recent experience in changing from one contracted exam administrator to another, which created delays between some candidates' taking the two portions of the exam.
§ 7.32b. Requirements for teacher's examination.
The changes made by Act 99 allow an individual with a limited license to obtain a limited practice teacher license when previously, to teach an area of cosmetology, an individual could obtain a teacher license only if the individual was licensed as a cosmetologist. Accordingly, § 7.32b would be amended by addressing the requirements for the cosmetology teacher examination in subsection (a) and by providing the requirements for an individual with a limited license to obtain a limited practice teacher license in subsection (b). Subsection (c) would be added to specify that an applicant who already holds a teacher license for one limited practice field (esthetics, nail technology or natural hair braiding) may obtain a teacher license in an additional limited practice field if the applicant meets the teacher license requirements for the additional practice field and successfully completes the practical portion of the teacher exam for the additional practice field.
§ 7.32d. Requirements for cosmetologist's examination.
Proposed § 7.32d(c) would allow limited license holders who wish to obtain cosmetology licenses to receive educational credit toward the cosmetology education credits required for cosmetology licensure from the credits the applicants received when obtaining their education in their limited practice field. The new provision specifies the number of hours each limited licensee may be credited toward the total 1,250 hours that comprise the full cosmetology training program. The Board arrived at the credited number of hours for each limited license by totaling the number of hours recommended in § 7.129(d) and (e) (relating to curriculum requirements) that relate to training for the actual techniques that the limited licensee needs to know. Thus, the esthetician curriculum recommendation is for 100 hours of training in facial treatments, 10 hours of training in temporary hair removal and 50 hours of training in makeup, for a total of 160 hours of training in the actual techniques of esthetics, which is the number that proposed subsection (c) would credit a licensed esthetician with if that licensee wished to train for the cosmetology license. The credited hours for the nail technician were calculated the same way, as were the credited hours for a natural hair braider, with these last being based on the technique hours that the Board would establish in the proposed § 7.129(f). Finally, subsection (d) would be added to require that the total 1,250 hours, including those already completed in a limited practice field program, must be completed within 4 consecutive years.
§ 7.32e. Requirements for cosmetician's examination.
§ 7.32f. Requirements for manicurist's examination.
§ 7.32h. Requirements for natural hair braider examination.
Act 99 amended Act 86 to specify the qualifications for licensure that limited license applicants must meet. Act 86 previously was silent as to the qualifications for limited license applicants. While the existing regulations stated the number of hours that an applicant for the cosmetician or manicurist exam had to have completed to be eligible for the applicable exam, no other qualifications were set forth. Accordingly, §§ 7.32e and 7.32f would be amended to set forth the requirements that applicants for esthetician and nail technician licenses must meet. Additionally, proposed § 7.32h sets forth the requirements that an applicant for the natural hair braider examination must meet to qualify for the examination and licensure after successful completion of the examination. This provision enumerates the qualifications specified by Act 99.
§ 7.32g. Issuance of temporary licenses to qualified examination applicants.
Act 99 also amended Act 86 to allow the Board to issue temporary licenses to limited license applicants, rather than just to cosmetologist and manicurist applicants. Therefore, § 7.32g would be amended to extend its temporary license provisions to applicants for limited licenses. This includes establishing the requirement, set forth in Act 99, that holders of temporary limited licenses may practice under the supervision of a holder of a corresponding limited license, as well as under the supervision of a licensed teacher or licensed cosmetologist.
Also, subsection (b) would be amended by deleting the last clause. The existing regulation makes a temporary license valid for 9 months ''or until the next examination, whichever comes first.'' Because of changes in the Board's processes regarding the exam being given more frequently than just four times per year, retaining the ''or until the next examination, whichever comes first'' provision would mean some temporary licenses could be good for less than a month in certain instances. The Board believes it is more equitable to make temporary licenses valid for 9 months, particularly in light of section 21.1 of Act 86 (63 P. S. § 518.1), which provides that ''[t]emporary licenses are granted for a nine-month period.''
§ 7.34. Models for practical portion of examination.
The proposed rulemaking would amend § 7.34, which requires an examinee taking the practical portion of an examination to bring a model to the exam. Under current practice, determined by the exam administrator, only individuals taking the esthetics practical are required to provide their own models. Accordingly, this amendment would bring the regulation into harmony with the current practice.
§ 7.35. Failure of examination.
Section 7.35 would be amended by adding a clause that requires license applicants who fail a portion of the exam to retake and pass the failed portion within 1 year of the date the examinee takes and successfully passes the other portion of the exam. This would make § 7.35 consistent with proposed § 7.32(c) (relating to deadline for examination applicants). The rationale is the same. The Board finds it desirable to institute this requirement because it is concerned that if applicants wait too long between taking one portion and the other, the knowledge they have acquired in school will begin to become cloudy, lessening their chances of passing the second portion of the exam, and their entrance into the profession will be delayed to the point that their skills will not be as sharp as they otherwise might have been.
§ 7.41. Display of licenses and permits.
The proposed rulemaking would amend § 7.41 by slightly modifying the rule pertaining to display of licenses. First, ''or permit'' would be deleted because the Board does not issue permits of any kind so the words are meaningless. Additionally, the section would be broken down into two subsections, one regarding salon licenses and one regarding individual licenses. Subsection (a) would require the salon license to be displayed in a conspicuous place with the salon's business premises, while subsection (b) would be added to require that individual licenses should be readily available for inspection at the place of business or employment of the individual holding the license. The Board would make this change because of the recent growth of and concerns about identify theft. If an individual's license is posted in the open in a salon, it is there for all to see, thus making the individual susceptible to identity theft of the information that the license contains, including the license number. However, if the license is not out in the open but is readily available for inspection, the public still has access to license information, but the individual will know who has had access to it and might have copied something from it, thus limiting the exposure to and possible theft of personal information. In practice, the Board has permitted this for some time and many salons now keep the individual licenses in a book under the counter that is readily available for view by anyone who would ask for it. The amendment would make the practice and the regulation consistent, while protecting the licensee from identity theft and still making the license information available to the public.
§ 7.43. Expiration and renewal of licenses.
Section 7.43(a) would be amended to change ''application'' to ''notice'' in relation to the license renewal. This would align the language of the regulation with current practice, in that, due to the advent of online renewals of licenses, the Board no longer sends out license renewal applications. Rather, it sends out license renewal notices that notify the licensee that it is time to renew and provides a code by which the licensee may renew online directly at the Board's renewal website. The notice also permits the licensee to renew by means of the traditional hard copy application by either downloading a renewal application form from the Board's website or by contacting the Board and requesting that a hard copy renewal application form be sent via regular mail to the licensee to complete the renewal process.
Additionally, the Board proposes to add subsection (c), which sets forth the requirement that, as a condition of biennial renewal for the first biennial renewal after initial licensure, an individual initially licensed as a natural hair braider without examination under § 7.31(c) (relating to examination prerequisite for licensure; exception) must provide to the Board proof that the licensee has completed 150 hours of education in specified subject matter areas, within 2 years of the date the license was initially issued. This implements the statutory provision from Act 99. Subsection (c) further enumerates the numbers of hours required in each of the subject matter areas specified by Act 99. The Board proposes to require 75 hours in scalp care, 50 hours in hygiene and 25 hours in occupational safety, the provisions of Act 86 and the regulations of the Board, for the statutorily-required total of 150. The Board made this distribution of hours based on its ranking of the importance of and amount of material required for adequate training in each of the subject matter areas.
§ 7.62. Management of cosmetology shop.
The proposed rulemaking would amend § 7.62 by adding a provision to establish who may be the designated person in charge for a natural hair braiding salon. This provision permits either a licensed cosmetologist or a licensed natural hair braider to be the designated person in charge, paralleling the provisions regarding esthetics and nail technology salons, which allow the holder of an applicable limited license or a licensed cosmetologist to be the designated person in charge.
§ 7.71. Equipment and supplies for a cosmetology shop.
§ 7.71a. Equipment and supplies for a cosmetician shop.
§ 7.71b. Equipment and supplies for a manicuring shop.
§ 7.71c. Equipment and supplies for a natural hair braiding salon.
The Board proposes to amend §§ 7.71, 7.71a and 7.71b and to add § 7.71c.
The existing regulations in §§ 7.71, 7.71a and 7.71b contain outdated terminology, require equipment or supplies the Board now views as optional or unnecessary and do not require some items the Board now believes to be essential for safety and sanitation reasons. Accordingly, in these three sections, the terminology is updated so that ''styling station'' or ''work station'' replaces the outdated term ''dresserette'' and ''sanitizer'' supplants ''sterilizer.'' Also, in § 7.71, the Board would delete the requirement that a cosmetology salon have one container for hair pins or clips and one neck strip dispenser, because those are not necessary for a cosmetology salon to operate effectively, safely or in a sanitary fashion. A salon may still have them, but they are no longer required.
Each of these sections would also be amended by deleting the language requiring one dry sterilizer, an outdated requirement, and replacing it with the requirement that each salon have a closed container for sanitized implements. Also, to update the requirements and make salons safer and more sanitary, the Board would add the requirement that all salons have a labeled first aid kit containing nine specifically-enumerated items that the Board views as the minimum first aid equipment required to respond to an emergency in the salon. The Board has always required a first aid kit for salons but believed that, in this day and age when universal precautions for blood spills are taught and practiced in almost every workplace, and when the average salon deals with chemicals of many different kinds, the equipment in a first aid kit must include protective gloves, a blood spill kit, a hazardous waste bag, an eyewash and burn ointment. The other items enumerated are typically found in a basic first aid kit and make sense for the minor daily mishaps of daily work. To complete its update of the safety and sanitation requirements, the Board would amend these three sections to require a minimum of 12 sanitary towels for each styling or work station; at least 1 sink with hot and cold running water that is readily accessible to each styling or work station in the work area of the salon; and one multipurpose fire extinguisher suitable for use on Class A, B and C fires. Again, given the fact that salons now deal with all kinds of chemicals, some of them flammable, the Board believes the last requirement is something no salon should be without if it is going to provide the best in safety precautions to its clients.
Section 7.71c would also be added to establish the minimum equipment and supplies required for a natural hair braiding salon to operate. This provision parallels §§ 7.71, 7.71a and 7.71b, which impose similar equipment and supply requirements on cosmetology, esthetician and nail technology salons. These requirements list the minimum equipment that the Board believes a one-person natural hair braider salon needs to be able to provide both adequate service and a safe, sanitary environment to its clients.
§ 7.78. Sign.
Section 7.78 would be amended by adding ''or limited practice salon'' to extend the regulation's sign display requirement to all types of salons, rather than just to cosmetology salons.
§ 7.79. Lavatories.
The proposed rulemaking would amend § 7.79 by adding a second sentence defining ''on the premises.'' The Board has seen many salon license applications in which the lavatory is not located inside the licensed premises of the salon, although it may be within the building of which the salon is a part. Consequently, there have been many requests for variances from this provision, or situations in which the applicant questions what the Board's regulation means by ''on the premises.'' Accordingly, the second sentence would be added to clarify what is meant by the phrase and the Board's definition is ''within the square footage of the salon.''
§ 7.81. Rendering of services outside a shop.
§ 7.82. Record of services rendered outside a shop.
§ 7.83. Responsibility of a shop for outside services.
Under Act 86, as it existed previously, only cosmetologists could render services outside of a salon. However, Act 99 extended the authority to render services outside of a salon to all of the limited licensees. Accordingly, § 7.81 would be amended to add language extending its applicability to limited licensees as well as to cosmetologist licensees. It would also be amended to add the requirement that services be rendered by appointment, which is a specific requirement of section 8 of Act 86 (63 P. S. § 514). Similarly, § 7.82 would be amended by changing the limited terms ''cosmetologist'' and ''cosmetology services'' to the broader terms ''licensee'' and ''licensed services,'' thus making the recordkeeping provision applicable to all licensees who render services outside a licensed salon.
Finally, § 7.83 would be amended. As it reads presently, it makes a salon ''that sponsors'' services outside the salon responsible for supplying and equipping the cosmetologists who render those services. It would be amended to replace ''that sponsors services outside the shop'' with ''through which appointments are made for the rendering of cosmetology or limited license services outside the salon,'' thus clarifying the regulation because the phrase ''that sponsors services'' was vague and open to interpretation. Additionally, the amendment extends this section's applicability to all licensees and all licensed salons, rather than just cosmetologists and cosmetology salons.
§§ 7.91--7.100.
Proposed § 7.91(c) (relating to sanitation and safety generally) requires that sharp implements be stored upright with the points down or in a protective case. This is an update to the general safety requirements that the Board believes licensees must implement to properly protect their clients and themselves.
The proposal would amend § 7.92 (relating to sterilization of equipment) to update the outdated term ''sterilization'' and replace it with ''sanitization.'' It would also clarify that the provision applies to razors for hair, rather than to razors for the skin.
Additionally, § 7.93 (relating to sanitary use of towels) would be amended by adding ''closed'' before ''towel dispenser.'' The Board believes requiring a closed towel dispenser for clean towels better protects the sanitary nature of the clean towels than would be the case if they were kept in an open container.
Likewise, the proposal would amend § 7.94(c) (relating to sanitary use of supplies) by adding ''or hair'' after ''skin,'' thus prohibiting direct contact by a spatula or similar utensil with the hair of a client and helping to prevent the spread of bacteria and the like from one client to another.
Because of a citation to an inapplicable provision of Act 86, § 7.98 (relating to violation of related laws) is amended to correct the erroneous reference to ''section 20 of the act'' with a reference to section 13 of Act 86 (63 P. S. § 519).
The proposed rulemaking amends § 7.100 (relating to permanent wave operation) by extending the requirement that a client not be left unattended during the heating or processing period of a permanent wave operation to chemical applications, reflecting the Board's recognition that chemicals may be applied to a client in other operations and that, for safety's sake, clients should not be left alone during the heating or processing period of any chemical application.
§§ 7.111--7.129.
The Board would amend § 7.111 (relating to application for a school license) in that the qualifications of the school supervisor would be slightly modified by inserting ''work'' between ''satisfactory'' and ''experience,'' and by deleting ''as the designated person in charge of a cosmetology shop.'' This amendment would broaden the range of work experience that the Board finds acceptable in the individual named as a school supervisor in an application for a school license. The Board understands that an individual with a cosmetology teacher license issued by the Board may have a broad range of experience practicing cosmetology in salons, teaching in schools or teaching apprentices in salons, that would make the individual an acceptable school supervisor regardless of whether the individual had ever been the designated person in charge, and this amendment reflects that understanding.
The Board's proposes to amend §§ 7.114 and 7.115 (relating to school equipment and supplies; and student equipment and supplies) for much the same reasons it would amend the provisions previously discussed regarding salon equipment and also to make the school and student equipment and supply requirements consistent with the salon equipment and supply requirements when the two coincide. The existing regulations contain outdated terminology and lack some items the Board now believes to be essential for safety and sanitation reasons. Accordingly, § 7.114 would amend the school equipment and supply requirements, updating ''dry sterilizers'' by replacing it with ''closed containers for sanitized implements''; updating ''sterilizers'' by replacing the term with ''sanitizers''; and updating ''dresserettes'' with ''styling stations.'' Section 7.114 would also be amended by adding the requirement that a school enrolling 25 students have at least 2 sanitary towels per student. The equipment and supply requirements for students in § 7.115 would be amended by adding ''hair cutting'' to modify ''razor,'' thus clarifying that the required razor for cosmetologist students is a hair cutting razor; by deleting the requirement that required tools for nail technology, for both cosmetologist and nail technician students, include nippers or scissors; and by adding the requirement that each cosmetology student have a pair of tweezers.
Additionally, proposed § 7.115(d) sets forth the required supplies and equipment that each natural hair braiding student must possess. This provision is necessary to cover the natural hair braider students who will come about as a result of Act 99's creation of the natural hair braider license.
Section 7.118 (relating to professional staff) would be amended in a minor way by replacing ''instructor'' or ''instructors'' with the term ''teacher'' or ''teachers,'' as appropriate, because there is no other place in Act 86 or in the regulations where the term ''instructor'' or ''instructors'' is used.
Also, § 7.120(a) (relating to work done by students on the public) would be amended slightly for clarity. The regulation implemented section 7 of Act 86 (63 P. S. § 513), which prohibits schools from charging ''any money whatsoever for treatments done by its students'' and permits schools to charge only for ''the reasonable cost of materials used in such treatments.'' However, over the years, it has become apparent that some schools have been calculating into the ''reasonable cost of materials used in the treatment'' items such as overhead, prorated teacher salaries and wear and tear on equipment. The Board does not believe that those broader expenses were intended to be encompassed in the cost of materials used in the treatment of clients, and therefore would make this amendment to clarify that the charge must be based on the reasonable cost of materials ''used on the client'' only.
§ 7.129. Curriculum requirements.
This proposal would amend § 7.129 by replacing the outdated term ''sterilization'' with the current term ''disinfection,'' consistent with other proposed amendments. Additionally, § 7.129(a) would be amended by updating the reference to Act 86, changing ''Beauty Culture Law'' to ''Cosmetology Law'' to be consistent with current usage. While there is no actual provision in Act 86 that designates a short title, unlike many other licensing acts, the common usage in the profession is to refer to Act 86 as the ''Cosmetology Law.'' For example, section 1 of Act 99 (63 P. S. § 507) refers to Act 86 as the ''Cosmetology Law.'' This amendment would adopt that modernization.
Proposed § 7.129(f) sets forth the natural hair braider curriculum that schools shall implement to train candidates for licensure as natural hair braiders. The regulation establishes a curriculum of 300 hours, as mandated by Act 99, and recommends that schools distribute the hours as follows: 50 to professional practices, including sanitation; 125 to sciences, including scalp care and anatomy; and 125 to cognitive and manipulative skills regarding natural hair braiding. This recommended apportionment is similar to the recommended apportionment for the other limited license curricula.
§ 7.132. Apprentice curriculum.
Finally, the Board proposes to amend § 7.132 by adding language to clarify the curriculum for apprentices. The existing regulation states merely that the cosmetology teacher responsible for offering instruction to an apprentice in a cosmetology salon shall teach the same cosmetology curriculum that the Board prescribes for schools of cosmetology in § 7.129. However, because section 4 of Act 86 (63 P. S. § 510) requires that apprentices shall complete 2,000 hours of training to sit for the cosmetology exam, which is 750 hours more than a cosmetology student shall complete who takes a course of training in a licensed school, some confusion has arisen as to how the hours in an apprenticeship program should be apportioned. This proposed rulemaking adds the apportionment of hours for the cosmetology curriculum in § 7.129 and assigns the additional 750 hours to the category of ''cosmetology cognitive and manipulative skills.'' This narrows down the subject matter of the additional hours but leaves the actual content to the discretion of the cosmetology teacher and apprentice. The proposed rulemaking, therefore, gives a cosmetology teacher some guidance but permits leeway as to what else should be taught, thus allowing for differences in interest and in the nature of the services a given salon may actually provide.
E. Fiscal Impact and Paperwork Requirements
There is no adverse fiscal impact or paperwork requirement imposed on the Commonwealth, political subdivisions or the private sector.
F. Sunset Date
The Board continuously monitors its regulations. Therefore, no sunset date has been assigned.
G. Regulatory Review
Under section 5(a) of the Regulatory Review Act (71 P. S. § 745.5(a)), on August 15, 2007, the Board submitted a copy of this proposed rulemaking and a copy of a Regulatory Analysis Form to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) and to the Chairpersons of the House Professional Licensure Committee and the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee. A copy of this material is available to the public upon request.
Under section 5(g) of the Regulatory Review Act, IRRC may convey any comments, recommendations or objections to the proposed rulemaking within 30 days of the close of the public comment period. The comments, recommendations or objections must specify the regulatory review criteria which have not been met. The Regulatory Review Act specifies detailed procedures for review, prior to final publication of the rulemaking, by the Board, the General Assembly and the Governor of comments, recommendations or objections raised.
H. Public Comment
Interested persons are invited to submit written comments, suggestions or objections regarding the proposed rulemaking to Hilarene Staller, Administrator, State Board of Cosmetology, P. O. Box 2649, Harrisburg, PA 17105-2649 within 30 days following publication of this proposed rulemaking in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
SUSAN E. RINEER,
ChairpersonFiscal Note: 16A-4514. No fiscal impact; (8) recommends adoption.
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