Chapter 491
2016 -- H 8309
Enacted 07/16/2016

A N   A C T
RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS - BARBERS, HAIRDRESSERS, COSMETICIANS, MANICURISTS AND ESTHETICIAN

Introduced By: Representatives O'Brien, Carnevale, McKiernan, Almeida, and Marshall
Date Introduced: June 09, 2016

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
     SECTION 1. Sections 5-10-1, 5-10-7, 5-10-8 and 5-10-9 of the General Laws in Chapter
5-10 entitled "Barbers, Hairdressers, Cosmeticians, Manicurists and Estheticians" are hereby
amended to read as follows:
     5-10-1. Definitions. -- The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter, are
construed as follows:
     (1) "Apprentice barber" means an employee whose principal occupation is service with a
barber who has held a current license as a barber for at least three (3) years with a view to
learning the art of barbering, as defined in subdivision (15) of this section.
     (1)(2) "Barber" means any person who shaves or trims the beard,; waves, dresses, singes,
shampoos, or dyes the hair; or applies hair tonics, cosmetic preparations, antiseptics, powders, oil
clays, or lotions to scalp, face, or neck of any person; or cuts the hair of any person,; gives facial
and scalp massages,; or treatments with oils, creams, lotions, or other preparations.
      (2)(3) "Board" means the state board of barbering and hairdressing as provided for in
this chapter.
      (3)(4) "Department" means the Rhode Island department of health.
      (4)(5) "Division" means the division of professional regulation within the department of
health.
      (5)(6) "Esthetician" means a person who engages in the practice of esthetics, and is
licensed as an esthetician.
      (6)(7) "Esthetician shop" means a shop licensed under this chapter to do esthetics of any
person.
      (7)(8) "Esthetics" means the practice of cleansing, stimulating, manipulating, and
beautifying skin, including, but not limited to, the treatment of such skin problems as
dehydration, temporary capillary dilation, excessive oiliness, and clogged pores.
      (8)(9) "Hair design shop" means a shop licensed under this chapter to do barbering or
hairdressing/cosmetology, or both, to any person.
      (9)(10) "Hairdresser and cosmetician" means any person who arranges, dresses, curls,
cuts, waves, singes, bleaches, or colors the hair or treats the scalp, or manicures the nails of any
person, either with or without compensation, or who, by the use of the hands or appliances, or of
cosmetic preparations, antiseptics, tonics, lotions, creams, powders, oils or clays, engages, with or
without compensation, in massaging, cleansing, stimulating, manipulating, exercising, or
beautifying, or in doing similar work upon the neck, face, or arms, or who removes superfluous
hair from the body of any person.
     (11) "Instructor" means any person licensed as an instructor under the provisions of this
chapter.
      (10)(12) "Manicuring shop" means a shop licensed under this chapter to do manicuring
only on the nails of any person.
      (11)(13) "Manicurist" means any person who engages in manicuring for compensation
and is duly licensed as a manicurist.
      (12)(14) "School" means a school approved under chapter 40 of title 16, as amended,
devoted to the instruction in, and study of, the theory and practice of barbering, hairdressing, and
cosmetic therapy, esthetics, and/or manicuring.
      (13)(15) "The practice of barbering" means the engaging by any licensed barber in all, or
any combination of, the following practices: shaving or trimming the beard or cutting the hair;
giving facial and scalp massages or treatments with oils, creams, lotions, or other preparations,
either by hand or mechanical appliances; singeing, shampooing, arranging, dressing, curling,
waving, chemical waving, hair relaxing, or dyeing the hair or applying hair tonics; or applying
cosmetic preparations, antiseptics, powders, oils, clays, or lotions to scalp, face, or neck.
      (14)(16) "The practice of hairdressing and cosmetic therapy" means the engaging by any
licensed hairdresser and cosmetician in any one or more of the following practices: the
application of the hands or of mechanical or electrical apparatus, with or without cosmetic
preparations, tonics, lotions, creams, antiseptics, or clays, to massage, cleanse, stimulate,
manipulate, exercise, or otherwise to improve or to beautify the scalp, face, neck, shoulders,
arms, bust, or upper part of the body; or the manicuring of the nails of any person; or the
removing of superfluous hair from the body of any person; or the arranging, dressing, curling,
waving, weaving, cleansing, cutting, singeing, bleaching, coloring, or similarly treating the hair
of any person.
      (15)(17) "The practice of manicuring" means the cutting, trimming, polishing, tinting,
coloring, or cleansing the nails of any person.
     5-10-7. License required for practice. -- No person shall practice barbering,
hairdressing, and cosmetic therapy, esthetics, or manicuring in this state, unless the person has
first obtained any a license required by this chapter for that particular practice,; provided, that
nothing in this chapter prohibits students enrolled in programs of hairdressing, barbering, and/or
cosmetology from entering into work-study arrangements after they have completed at least one
thousand (1,000) the requisite hours of classroom instruction for that particular practice. Students
participating in those work-study arrangements shall be under the direct supervision of a licensed
hairdresser, barber, or cosmetologist, and shall be clearly identified as students. No course credit
shall be granted for this students' participation in a work-study arrangement and in no event shall
it continue beyond the students' graduation from school or completion of course work.
     5-10-8. Issuance of licenses -- Qualifications of applicants. -- (a) The division shall
issue licenses to persons engaged in, or desiring to engage in, the practice of barbering,
hairdressing, and cosmetic therapy and/or manicuring, or esthetics and for instructing in any
approved school of barbering or hairdressing and cosmetic therapy and manicuring or esthetics;
provided, that no license shall be issued to any person under this chapter unless the applicant for
the license:
      (1) Is at least eighteen (18) years of age;
      (2) Is a citizen of the United States of America or has legal entry into the country;
      (3) Is of good moral character;
      (4) Is a high school graduate or holds the equivalent;
      (5) Has satisfactorily completed the course of instruction in an approved school of
barbering, hairdressing and cosmetic therapy, and/or manicuring or esthetics;
      (6) Has satisfactorily passed a written and a practical examination approved by the
division to determine the fitness of the applicant to receive a license; and
      (7) Has complied with § 5-10-10 and any other qualifications that the division prescribes
by regulation.
      (b) Notwithstanding the provision of subdivision (a)(4) of this section, on and after July
1, 1997, an applicant seeking licensure as a barber must be a high school graduate or hold the
equivalent.
     5-10-9. Classes of licenses. -- Licenses shall be divided into the following classes and
shall be issued by the division to applicants for the licenses who have qualified for each class of
license:
      (1) A "hairdresser's and cosmetician's license" shall be issued by the division to every
applicant for the license who meets the requirements of § 5-10-8 and has completed a course of
instruction in hairdressing and cosmetology consisting of not less than fifteen hundred (1,500)
hours of continuous study and practice.
     (2) An "instructor's license" shall be granted by the division to any applicant for the
license who has held a licensed hairdresser's and cosmetician's license, a barber's license, a
manicurist's license, or an esthetician's license, issued under the laws of this state or another state,
for at least the three (3) years preceding the date of application for an instructor's license and:
     (i) Meets the requirements of §5-10-8;
     (ii) Has satisfactorily completed three hundred (300) hours of instruction in hairdressing
and cosmetology, barber, manicurist, or esthetician teacher training approved by the division as
prescribed by regulation;
     (iii) Has satisfactorily passed a written and a practical examination approved by the
division to determine the fitness of the applicant to receive an instructor's license;
     (iv) Has complied with §5-10-10; and
     (v) Has complied with any other qualifications that the division prescribes by regulation.
     (2)(3) A "manicurist license" shall be granted to any applicant for the license who meets
the following qualifications:
      (i) Meets the requirements of § 5-10-8; and
      (ii) Has completed a course of instruction, consisting of not less than three hundred (300)
hours of professional training in manicuring, in an approved school.
      (3)(4) An "esthetician license" shall be granted to any applicant for the license who
meets the following qualifications:
      (i) Meets the requirements of § 5-10-8;
      (ii) Has completed a course of instruction in esthetics, consisting of not less than six
hundred (600) hours of continuous study and practice over a period of not less than four (4)
months, in an approved school of hairdressing and cosmetology; and
      (iii) Any applicant who holds a diploma or certificate from a skin-care school, that is
recognized as a skin-care school by the state or nation in which it is located, and meets the
requirements of paragraph (i) of this subdivision, shall be granted a license to practice esthetics;
provided, that the skin-care school has a requirement that, in order to graduate from the school, a
student must have completed a number of hours of instruction in the practice of skin care, which
number is at least equal to the number of hours of instruction required by the division.
      (4)(5) A "barber" license shall be issued by the division to every applicant for the license
who meets the requirements of § 5-10-8 and:
      (i) Has completed a course of instruction in barbering consisting of not less than one
thousand five hundred (1,500) hours of continuous study and practice in an approved school;
      (ii) Has possessed, for at least two (2) years prior to the filing of the application, a
certificate of registration in full force and effect from the department of health of the state
specifying that person as a registered, apprentice barber, and the application of that applicant is
accompanied by an affidavit, or affidavits, from his or her employer, or former employers, or
other reasonably satisfactory evidence showing that the applicant has, in order to learn the art of
barbering, worked for a minimum of two (2) years under the supervision of a barber who has
been licensed in the state for at least three (3) years been actually engaged in barbering as an
apprentice barber in the state during those two (2) years; or
      (iii) Any A combination of barber school training and apprenticeship training as
determined by the rules and regulations prescribed by the division.
     SECTION 2. Chapter 5-10 of the General Laws entitled "Barbers, Hairdressers,
Cosmeticians, Manicurists and Estheticians" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following
section:
     5-10-39. Demonstrator's permit. -- The division may, in its discretion, issue to any
person recognized by the division as an authority on, or an expert in, the theory or practice of
barbering, hairdressing, and cosmetic therapy and/or manicuring or esthetics, and is the holder of
a current esthetician's, manicurist's or a barber's, hairdresser's, and cosmetician's license in this
state, another state, or the District of Columbia, a demonstrator's permit for not more than six (6)
days' duration for educational and instructive demonstrations; provided, that the permit shall not
be used in the sense of a license to practice barbering, manicuring, esthetics, or hairdressing and
cosmetic therapy. The fee for the permit is as set forth in §23-1-54.
     SECTION 3. Sections 5-32-2 and 5-32-4 of the General Laws in Chapter 5-32 entitled
"Electrolysis" are hereby amended to read as follows:
     5-32-2. Penalty for unlicensed practice. -- Every person who subsequently engages in
the practice of electrolysis in this state without being licensed, if a license is required under this
chapter, by the board of examiners in electrolysis is practicing illegally and, upon conviction,
shall be fined not more than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) and every day of the continuation of
illegal practice is a separate offense.
     5-32-4. Qualifications of applicants. -- Licenses to engage in the practice of electrolysis
shall be issued to the applicants who comply with the following requirements:
      (1) Are citizens or legal residents of the United States.
      (2) Have attained the age of eighteen (18) years.
      (3) Have graduated from a high school or whose education is the equivalent of a high
school education.
      (4) Have satisfactorily completed a course of training and study in electrolysis, as
prescribed by rules and regulations promulgated by the department of health authorized by
section § 5-32-18 of this chapter as a registered apprentice under the supervision of a licensed
Rhode Island electrologist who is qualified to teach electrolysis to apprentices as prescribed in
§5-32-20, or has graduated from a school of electrolysis after having satisfactorily completed a
program consisting of not less than six hundred fifty (650) hours of study and practice in the
theory and practical application of electrolysis. That apprenticeship includes at least six hundred
and fifty (650) hours of study and practice in the theory and practical application of electrolysis
within a term of nine (9) months; provided, that the apprentice registers with the division of
professional regulation of the department of health upon beginning his or her course of
instruction, and the licensed person with whom they serve that apprenticeship keeps a record of
the hours of that instruction, and, upon the completion of that apprenticeship, certifies that fact to
the board of examiners in electrolysis.
      (5) Is of good moral character.
      (6) Passes an examination approved by the department of health.
     SECTION 4. Chapter 5-32 of the General Laws entitled "Electrolysis" is hereby amended
by adding thereto the following sections:
     5-32-19. Apprenticeship register. -- The division of professional regulation of the
department of health shall keep a register in which the names of all persons serving
apprenticeships licensed under this chapter shall be recorded. This register is open to public
inspection.
     5-32-20. Qualifications for teaching electrolysis. -- (a) A person, in order to qualify as
an instructor or teacher of electrolysis to apprentices, must:
     (1) Have been actively engaged as a licensed practitioner of electrolysis for at least five
(5) years.
     (2) Pass a state board examination specifically designed to evaluate his or her
qualifications to teach electrolysis.
     (3) Be a high school graduate or the equivalent.
     (b) Upon satisfactorily passing this examination, the division of professional regulation of
the department of health shall issue a license to the person upon the payment of a fee as set forth
in §23-1-54.
     (c) A qualified licensed electrologist shall not register more than one apprentice for each
nine-month (9) training period.
     SECTION 5. Section 5-32-18 of the General Laws in Chapter 5-32 entitled "Electrolysis"
is hereby repealed.
     5-32-18. Training and study. -- The department of health may promulgate rules and
regulations applying to training and study in electrolysis.
     SECTION 6. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC006156
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