ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis is putting pressure Thursday afternoon on several professions, hoping to reduce the number of regulations on businesses in Florida.
- Gov. Ron DeSantis hosting "Deregathon" in Orlando
- He wants to remove regulations that he says hurt business growth
- He asked reps from 23 state licensing boards to attend
- Get more political coverage
The governor was at Valencia College where the event was held. At each one of the 17 tables at the event represented a different board that governs particular professions, such as geologists, cosmetologist and barbers.
Gov DeSantis: Florida’s licensing professions needs to be overhauled, points out lincenses are needed for interior designers and barbers pic.twitter.com/Wrwk1LwHZ9
— Jerry Hume (@JerryHume) January 31, 2019
The governor was at Valencia College where the event was held. At each one of the 17 tables at the event represented a different board that governs particular professions, such as geologists, cosmetologist and barbers.
At the first ever Deregathon, DeSantis wants to know if these boards can cut some of the rules that may hamper job growth in Florida.
Michelino Nibaldi has been cutting hair since he was 14 years old and now as a master barber in Miami, he says it is important that barbers be licensed in Florida.
"You have to protect the public. There's many sanitation issues, skin diseases and I believe you need to know these things, I think you should be able to at least know how to manage a scissors, manage a clipper, you could hurt somebody," said Nibaldi, who is the vice chairman of the state's barber's board.
However, DeSantis says he is not sure there needs to be so many rules in place for veterinarians, real estate agents, interior designers and barbers.
"And you see all these different areas where we require some of the stuff and I look at it and say, '2,000 hours just to get a licenses to become a barber?' Is that really? I mean if it was a 1,000 hours would somehow the public be at risk because of that?" he said.
DeSantis says regulations that are not protecting consumers or the safety of the public should be examined and perhaps eliminated, giving more people opportunities to become architectures, auctioneers and barbers.
Nibaldi says he is taking the governor's request seriously and the board is looking at cutting back the time it takes to get a barber's license.
"We have spoken about it and potentially having just one license instead of the two and potentially subtracting the chemical service hours and having it at 800 hours," he suggested.
No voting is taking place on Thursday. Each board will come up with recommendations the governor says will be discussed in the weeks ahead.