Our State Bureaucracy

Faced with massive loss of revenue, it seems that now would be a good time to roll back state bureaucracy.  With less money, business across the state is cutting back and it seems rational to roll back stat e government to match the level of revenue they expect.  Rational to us, that is.

I was talking to a cosmetologist recently.  A dear friend, she has been cutting hair for a long time, both in small and large salons.  Like many, she's out of work now, and say s that the state cosmetology board has threatened everyone with a $5,000 fine if they are caught cutting hair during the shutdown.  She can't even go to a trusted customer's house and do her styling in the privacy of a home.

Thinking of her, I clicked over to the State Board of Cosmetology.  I did some looking, and opening up isn't going to be as easy as turning the lights on and dusting the shelves.  No, there are three pages of do's-and-don'ts associated with a salon getting back into business.

Why is that?  The simple answer is that the state board has to do something to prove they are relevant.  In this time when it is critically important to get Louisiana back to work, the cosmetology board is throwing p road blocks. 

The State Fire Marshal is telling businesses that they have to register before they reopen.  Why is that?  I assume that each business had a license before the closure.  There is no reason to register before opening, unless the goal is government control.  Better that government should help the economy by staying out of the way,, but that doesn't seem to be the strategy in Louisiana's overbearing bureaucracy.

These are just two examples of places where the state could save money.  The Fire Marshal should concentrate on fire, period.  The state cosmetology board should be disbanded completely.