EVERETT — Like many tattoo artists, Clayton Hayward worries that fly-by-night shops and people tattooing out of their homes give his profession a bad name.
So he sees some merit in a new Washington state law to regulate tattooists and body-piercing artists. But he isn’t exactly sold, either. He worries about the state interfering with reputable businesses that feel they are already doing a good job taking health and safety precautions.
“I’m kind of 50-50 on it,” said Hayward, who works out of Everett Tattoo Emporium on Broadway. “You have to have a license to cut hair, but you don’t have to have a license to tattoo anybody?”
Body art has thrived largely unregulated in Washington state. About the only rule artists currently have to follow is making sure clients are 18 or older. That’s about to change.
With a law that Gov. Chris Gregoire signed on May 7, tattooists and body piercers are about to join the likes of licensed professionals such as telephone solicitors, notaries public and limousine drivers.
Body art has stayed unregulated here despite how common it has become. A 2006 Pew Research Center survey found that 40 percent of people ages 26 to 40 have had a tattoo and 22 percent a pierced body part other than an earlobe. That compared with 10 percent and 6 percent, respectively, of people 41 and older.
Most other states monitor body art through the departments of health or licensing. Lawmakers have tried to push Washington state in that direction for years, citing concerns about the spread of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
Sen. Mary Haugen, D-Camano Island, one of the sponsors of the bill, worked for 30 years as a hairdresser. Like Hayward, she always marveled that barbers had to be licensed, while tattooists did not.
“I think this is an industry that will benefit from the regulations, at least the legitimate ones will,” Haugen said. “If you don’t think anybody’s looking over your shoulder, it’s pretty easy to cut corners.”
Tattoo Emporium and other local shops say they already discard needles, ink supplies and gloves after every use. To sterilize permanent equipment, they use machines similar to ones dentists use.
Washington state has no record of diseases being spread from tattoo and other body-art businesses.
“Some studies have shown that hepatitis can be transmitted that way, but the numbers just aren’t there one way or the other,” said Gordon MacCracken, a state Health Department public information officer.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does note that it would be possible in unsanitary conditions.
Washington’s new law instructs the state’s health and licensing departments to create standards for needle sterilization, health precautions and reporting of infections or allergic reactions. The rules take effect July 1, 2010, leaving more than a year to figure out the details.
“Between now and then we have a lot of work to do,” said Christine Anthony, a state Department of Licensing spokeswoman.
The law’s vagueness gives some professional artists pause.
One concern is how much a license could cost.
Another is the state being able to revoke licenses for a criminal offense such as drunken driving or for unpaid child support. Anthony said the state could revoke a license for certain crimes, but would be unlikely to do so unless the offense relates to the profession, for example, a driving instructor convicted of drunken driving.
Most body-piercing and tattoo artists undergo a year and a half to two years of apprenticeship before working on their own. Justin Bonner, who does piercings at Sunken Ship Tattoo Parlor on Broadway, said he supports the law because he’s had to fix shoddy work by negligent and unskilled artists. He has been helping the industry organize its response to the law as a member of the Washington Association of Body Artists, which has set up a Web site at www.tattoowa.org.
Bonner does worry about the state overreaching, particularly with the cost of the license. The initial price quote was $300 per shop and $250 per artist every year.
“There are really no other permits running that steep,” he said.
Tony Sonic, a colleague of Hayward’s at Tattoo Emporium who goes by Fat Tony, didn’t expect business to change much with the new rules.
“I’m convinced that it’s not going to change my life much at all because I do all of that stuff anyway,” he said. “Just like anybody else, it’s not going to affect law-abiding people.”
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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