Bush-League Legislation

Missouri Senate Bill 280, signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Matt Blunt, combines the state cosmetology and barber boards in a cost-saving move. But tucked into the bill is a provision that requires parental permission before a minor can get a bikini wax. "Twelve- and thirteen-year-old little girls think they're eighteen and nineteen in this day and age. Sometimes they can become very rebellious, and if they think this is something that their folks can come unglued about, that's what they're going to do," said Darla Fox, executive director of the Missouri State Board of Cosmetology, which proposed the change.