LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – During the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 when Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued more than 180 executive orders before getting shut down by the Michigan Supreme Court, her administration, as well as the local Shiawassee County government, went after Owosso barber Karl Manke who was 78-years-old at the time, for refusing to shut down his barbershop.

Manke attracted national attention in May of 2020 when he defied shutdown orders from a state government who had deemed his business to be “non-essential.”

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Manke had said at the time, “I don’t need the governor to be my mother. I have one. God bless her, she’s gone now. I don’t need another mother. I can make these adult decisions myself.” He added, “I’ll be open until Jesus walks in or until they arrest me.”

Manke had told media outlets that he didn’t have a choice about whether he could stay open or not and needed to work to pay his bills. He also wanted to keep the business open for his employees and customers who could choose for themselves if they wanted to walk through his doors.

Because of his actions, state and local governments went after him from every direction, with the Shiawassee County prosecutor charging him with criminal misdemeanor violations. That also kicked off a storm of legal proceedings from the Michigan Dept. of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and the Michigan Dept. of Licensing and Regulator Affairs (LARA).

While Manke was being targeted with a cease and desist order, two misdemeanor charges and the suspension of his license, he became a folk hero and a symbol of what many were calling a tyrannical government. Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel, however, had said about the barber, “Mr. Manke, he’s not a hero to me. He’s not a patriot. A patriot is a person that fights all enemies, foreign and domestic, and does everything possible to protect his fellow countrymen and countrywomen. And to me, Mr. Manke is doing just the opposite of that, and he’s being selfish in his behavior in that what he’s doing is allowing the virus to spread.”

Manke’s pushback of the government might not be in the rearview mirror for some Michigan Democrats because they have come up with legislation that is written in a way that appears to allow LARA to inspect barbershops much more frequently than current law allows. House Bill 4647 changes the rules in the occupational code so that inspections of barbershops and barber colleges are done “regularly” instead of at least once per year.

State Rep. Angela Rigas (R-Alto), who has more than 25 years experience as a professional stylist, has spoken out against HB 4647 and said on the House floor on October 11th, “I rise today to speak against this bill – and I do that as both an elected representative and a professional stylist for the last 25 years. In my long career cutting hair, I’ve seen firsthand how these small businesses and the government interact… Words like ‘regularly’ are not specific enough for professional barbers, stylists and shop owners.”

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Rigas sent out a press release on the bill and said that she believes that the broader language may open the door to either harassment or neglect depending on the whims of the agency executing the inspections and pointed to what happened to Manke during the pandemic. She asked, “Will ‘regularly’ be the same for everyone? Or will some find themselves under more severe government scrutiny?”

Because the bill does not define what “regularly” means, it appears, as Rigas pointed out, that the Michigan Dept. of Licensing and Regulator Affairs (LARA) can inspect barbershops whenever they want.

In fact, that is why State Rep. Tom Kunse (R-Clare) didn’t vote for the bill according to his social media post. He said he voted no because, “The bill does not provide a definition for the term ‘regularly.’ This could result in an unspecified duration between inspections of barbershops or barber colleges.”

The bill is intended to bring the inspection frequency for barber establishments in line with that for cosmetology establishments to allow LARA to more effectively and efficiently allocate its inspectors and resources. In addition to LARA endorsing the legislation, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy also supports the bill.

Jarrett Skorup, Mackinac Center for Public Policy Vice President for Marketing and Communications, told Michigan News Source, “Inspectors harassing small businesses may be an issue, but this proposed change to the law doesn’t make that more likely.  The current law says barbershops ‘shall be inspected at least once a year.’ The proposal changes that to ‘regularly.’”

He goes on to say, “‘At least’ means the current law allows as much or more of the ability for inspectors to pester small businesses. In other words, current law already allows inspectors to inspect as often as they want and House Bill 4647 would relax that requirement and result in fewer inspections overall.

The bill, which was introduced in May, was passed by the House on October 10th with 343 votes and has been referred to the Senate’s Committee on Regulatory Affairs.