Life for a Kansas couple looking to hire another family member to work in the family business became reality as SB 348 became law on July 1, 2022. The bipartisan bill was prompted by a lawsuit filed by Kansas Justice Institute on behalf of a family of Kansas entrepreneurs. The bill did away with a state agency’s ability to demand irrelevant licensing requirements for people who offer low-risk eyebrow threading. As the law became effective, KJI and Jigisha Modi’s family dismissed their lawsuit.
Before the lawsuit that prompted legislative intervention, Kansas required would-be eyebrow threaders to obtain 1,000 hours of instruction at expensive esthetician schools learning things that threaders would not use or need. It was estimated that less than 1% of the schooling was devoted exclusively to threading if it was even taught at all. Eyebrow threading is an ancient grooming technique that uses cotton thread to shape the eyebrow.
In 2020, Kansas Justice Institute stepped in to represent business owner, Jigisha Modi, who is a licensed cosmetologist and operates a licensed esthetics business in Olathe. She and her husband, Jignesh Biscuitwala, run the business. They were unable to hire Jignesh’s mother even though she had almost 30 years of experience as an eyebrow threader because she didn’t have a government-issued license.
Sam MacRoberts, litigation director for KJI says, “Kansans have a right to earn an honest living, free from unreasonable government regulations. Our lawsuit and the legislation that followed is a great step forward for liberty.”
Kansas Justice Institute is the pro-bono public-interest litigation arm of Kansas Policy Institute, which advocates free markets and limited regulation.