House Bill 4927, part of the committee's 2025 red-tape package, would lower the required hours for barber licensure in Michigan from 1,800 to 1,500.

Representative Fairburn, sponsor of HB 4927, described the change as a modernization step and compared barber training hours with aviation training to illustrate the point. Lauren Mosier, branch director of Hair Lab Detroit Barber School, testified in support and said the bill "would reduce the required hours for barber licensure from 1,800 to 1,500." Mosier told the committee the reduction is intended to bring Michigan "in line with the majority of the country" while keeping testing, sanitation and safety standards intact. She emphasized that Michigan barbers are licensed to perform chemical services and that reducing hours to 1,500 would still allow instruction on chemical safety and disease prevention.

Roderick Samuels, director of education at Hair Lab Detroit, said the state's instructor shortage and the current requirement that a licensed barber wait two years and complete an additional 1,000 hours before teaching were making it difficult for schools to operate; he described students juggling long work hours and school and said the shorter program would improve completion rates and workforce entry.

Committee members asked whether reducing hours would affect financial-aid eligibility; witnesses said cosmetology (1,500 hours) and barber curricula are comparable and that reducing barber hours would not change students' eligibility for aid. Representatives from LARA and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy were listed on support cards filed for the bill.

No formal committee vote was taken; sponsors and supporters said further instructional and enforcement reforms could follow if the committee advances barber licensure changes.