States must meet a list of cosmetology-licensing requirements to join and stay in the compact.
(a) To be eligible to join this compact, and to maintain eligibility as a member state, a state must do all of the following: (1) License and regulate cosmetology. (2) Have a mechanism or entity in place to receive and investigate complaints about licensees practicing in that state. (3) Require that licensees within the state pass a cosmetology competency examination prior to being licensed to provide cosmetology services to the public in that state. (4) Require that licensees satisfy educational or training requirements in cosmetology prior to being licensed to provide cosmetology services to the public in that state. (5) Implement procedures for considering one or more of the following categories of information from applicants for licensure: Criminal history; disciplinary history; or background check. The procedures may include the submission of information by applicants for the purpose of obtaining an applicant’s background check. (6) Participate in the data system, including through the use of unique identifying numbers. (7) Share information related to adverse actions with the commission and other member states, both through the data system and otherwise. (8) Notify the commission and other member states, in compliance with the terms of the compact and rules of the commission, of the existence of investigative information or current significant investigative information in the state’s possession regarding a licensee practicing in that state. (9) Comply with rules adopted by the commission to administer the compact. (10) Accept licensees from other member states as established herein. (b) Member states may charge a fee for granting a license to practice cosmetology. (c) Individuals not residing in a member state shall continue to be able to apply for a member state’s single-state license as provided under the laws of each member state. However, the single-state license granted to these individuals shall not be recognized as granting a multistate license to provide services in any other member state. (d) Nothing in this compact shall affect the requirements established by a member state for the issuance of a single-state license. (e) A multistate license issued to a licensee by a home state to a resident of that state shall be recognized by each member state as authorizing a licensee to practice cosmetology in each member state. (f) At no point shall the commission have the power to define the educational or professional requirements for a license to practice cosmetology. The member states shall retain sole jurisdiction over the provision of these requirements.