Cosmetology students would be required to complete a one-hour class on domestic-violence and sexual-assault awareness under a bill that cleared a House committee on Thursday.
Rep. Charlene Fite, R-Van Buren, told the chamber's Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee that House Bill 1720 wouldn't require hair and nail stylists to report abuse but would help them to recognize signs of it.
"Women, particularly, [and] some men, spend a lot of time in the stylist chair, and the stylist, cosmetologist, hears it all," Fite said.
Jajuan Archer, a hairstylist who founded an organization that helps women affected by domestic violence, held up a legal handbook for victims that she said she hopes to see in hair and nail salons across the state.
"The people in the chair and behind the chair are helped, and also you can think about it being a ripple effect when these people go home to their children," said Archer, who police have said fatally shot her ex-boyfriend, Calvin Brown, when he attempted to kidnap her at gunpoint in Bryant in 2011.
She said Illinois has a similar law.
Fite said the class wouldn't add to the total hours of study required to obtain a cosmetology license and would not be required of those who already have a license.
The committee recommended approval of the bill in a divided voice vote.
A Section on 03/03/2017