It is the intent of the legislature to help resolve issues relating to professional licensing for cosmetologists, hair designers, barbers, manicurists, and estheticians. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all Washingtonians in different ways, and many people licensed to practice cosmetology, hair design, barbering, manicuring, and esthetics may not have renewed their license within the one year expiration window and, as a result, had their license canceled. The legislature intends to allow individuals whose licenses were canceled for failure to renew within the expiration period during the pandemic an opportunity to renew their license. Moving forward, the legislature intends to study barriers to maintaining a professional cosmetologist license in order to address this issue in a comprehensive way in the 2023 legislative session.
This section modifies existing section 18.16.110. Here is the modified chapter for context.
The director shall issue the appropriate license to any applicant who meets the requirements as outlined in this chapter.
Except as provided in RCW 18.16.260:
Failure to renew a license by its expiration date subjects the holder to a penalty fee and payment of each year's renewal fee, at the current rate; and
A person whose license has not been renewed within one year after its expiration date shall have the license canceled and shall be required to submit an application, pay the license fee, meet current licensing requirements, and pass any applicable examination or examinations, in addition to the other requirements of this chapter, before the license may be reinstated**, provided that a person whose license expired after March 1, 2020, may renew the license, including if the license was canceled, until June 30, 2023**.
In lieu of the requirements of subsection (2)(a) of this section, a license placed on inactive status under RCW 18.16.290 may be reinstated to good standing upon receipt by the department of: (a) Payment of a renewal fee, without penalty, for a two-year license commencing on the date the license is reinstated; and (b) if the license was on inactive status during any time that the board finds that a health or other requirement applicable to the license has changed, evidence showing that the holder of the license has successfully completed, from a school licensed under RCW 18.16.140, at least the number of curriculum clock hours of instruction that the board deems necessary for a licensee to be brought current with respect to such changes, but in no case may the number of hours required under this subsection exceed four hours per year that the license was on inactive status.
Nothing in this section authorizes a person whose license has expired or is on inactive status to engage in a practice prohibited under RCW 18.16.060 until the license is renewed or reinstated.
Upon request and payment of an additional fee to be established by rule by the director, the director shall issue a duplicate license to an applicant.