House committee supports tighter restrictions on tattoos, piercings for minors

SALT LAKE CITY— A House committee Tuesday advanced a bill that would require written and in-person approval from parents for minors to get tattoos or piercings.

HB117, sponsored by Rep. Jon Stanard, R-St. George, would require minors to have a parent or legal guardian present, as well as written and signed parental permission, to get a tattoo or piercing.

The bill also seeks to protect the people performing a tattoo or piercing from minors who claim to be 18 or older by using fake IDs or photocopies of "an apparently valid driver or other government-issued picture identification that expressly purports that the minor is 18 years or older."

Stanard said the bill is supported by the local tattoo industry because it provides "protection of businesses as well as individuals."

Rep. Derek Brown, R-Cottonwood Heights, said his sister-in-law, a tattoo artist, was among those in support of the bill because she said "anyone who is legitimate already has this in place."

The bill passed in the House Business and Labor Committee by a 12-1 vote. It will now go before the full House.

— Mary Mellor