As we reported in June, the District remains one of the last places in the country where tattoo and piercing parlors are a wholly unregulated business. That could soon change.

A hearing involving the D.C. Council’s Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs has been set for December 14, at which legislators will discuss proposed legislation that would allow the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs to regulate and license tattoo artists and piercers for the first time. The legislation, which is sponsored by Councilmembers Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), Michael Brown (I-At Large), Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5), Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown, states:

The Department shall regulate the occupations of tattoo artists and body piercing artists in order to protect public health, safety and welfare, and to assure the public that persons engaged in these occupations have the specialized skills, education and training required to perform the services offered. Any person performing tattooing and body piercing services shall be licensed by and registered with the Department to operate in the District of Columbia.

Should it pass, DCRA would be mandated to set minimum health standards for anyone working in a tattoo or piercing parlor, tattooing and body piercing on anyone under 18 would be prohibited (though most places already stick to this due to liability concerns), and all artists and parlors would have to be licensed.

The District remains something of a national outlier when it comes to regulating the tattoo and piercing industry. Virginia and Maryland both regulate; the last state to abandon the libertarian approach to the industry was New Mexico in 2008. Oddly enough, the District regulates just about everything else, from hair-cutting to dance therapy.