UPDATE: New Bill Threatens to Eliminate Jobs for Hair Stylists in Washington State

Haircut small talk advice: “How is your livelihood being threatened these days?” ZORAN ZEREMSKI/GETTY IMAGES

This post was updated on Jan. 24, 2019 at 11:16 a.m.

A new bill in the Washington State Senate that specifically targets salons has hairdressers and stylists panicking.

“Everybody wants to thoroughly understand what the bill is,” Susie Powers, a stylist based in Fremont with 30 years in the industry told The Stranger. “So many hairdressers are terrified that it is what it is, that they’re really going to pass something that will ruin our independent livelihood.”

The bill, SB 5326, would seemingly make it illegal for salons to lease out booth spaces to independent stylists. The reasoning behind it is opaque, it could be well-intentioned but misguided progressivism. The bill states that this business model—renting out booth spaces to independent stylists—”denies individuals eligibility for unemployment insurance and industrial insurance, and gives businesses that use booth renters an unfair competitive advantage.”