The Institute for Justice reports that Indiana has taken an obvious (if small) step in loosening regulation:

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb has signed a bill that exempts natural or African-style hair braiding from the state’s cosmetology laws. Authored by Rep. Timothy Wesco and Sen. Liz Brown, HB 1243 passed by wide margins in the Indiana General Assembly.

“Indiana has long prided itself as ‘a state that works,’” said Institute for Justice Senior Legislative Counsel Lee McGrath. “This reform proves that those words are more than a motto by repealing a completely arbitrary labor-market regulation that stops braiders from earning an honest living.”

In Rhode Island, the similar bill is H5436, sponsored by Providence Democrat Anastasia Williams.

Even beyond this particular bill, Rhode Island should adopt this mentality of reform and get out of the business of extorting money from workers with binds that protect established players at the expense of their would-be competition.