The organization that represents hair salons and barbershops across California hired the Dhillon Law Group to represent out-of-work stylists who demand that the state lift restrictions so they can reopen.
Fred Jones, a lobbyist for the Professional Beauty Federation of California, told SFGate.com that salon owners will not be able to open their doors under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Stage 2 reopening and the approximately 500,000 licensed barbers and cosmetologists are running out of patience.
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“We had all supported this lockdown for the last nearly two months,” he told the website. “But more months of this…it’s just not feasible. Most of the salons, and that’s both mom-and-pops and chains, can’t survive.”
Harmeet Dhillon, the Republican Party official and head of the law firm, has been an outspoken critic of the state’s mandatory shelter-in-place order since its inception. She told Todd Starnes, the host of the “Todd Starnes Radio Show,” that some of these restrictions don’t even make sense.
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“I feel like there’s no basis in the facts; no basis in the law; no support in our civil rights—in our constitution—and no basis in the health code to quarantine people who are not sick,” she said in an early interview about beach closures. She said the restrictions are like Newsom telling residents, “You stay in your home, peasants.”
Newsom has announced that some retail stores in the state will be able to reopen with some modifications starting at the end of this week. He told the Los Angeles Times that the reopening is happening for “only one reason: The data says it can happen.”
The Stage 3 reopening is likely months away and that includes gyms, salons and sports competitions in empty stadiums. The state hopes that contact tracing and testing will contribute to the safety of Californians emerging from their homes.
The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to the U.S. economy’s devastation. About 33 million Americans have applied for unemployment since many of these restrictions were put in place. Industries that require social contact, like restaurants and hotels, have been the most negatively affected.
Jones pointed to the fact that cosmetologists and barbers in the state have gone through 1,500 to 1,600 hours of training that included proper sanitization techniques “unlike your Walmart cashier.”