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Attorneys Taking Gilbert Fish Pedicure Fight To Arizona Legislature

Cindy Vong
(Photo by Peter O'Dowd - KJZZ)
Cindy Vong was blocked from using fish as an exfoliant at her nail salon in Gilbert, because the Arizona Board of Cosmetology said it was unsanitary.

After failing to save her business at the judicial branch, attorneys for a Gilbert spa owner now plan to try their luck with the legislative and executive branches.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to disturb state court rulings which upheld the right of the Arizona Board of Cosmetology to prevent Cindy Vong from operating a pedicure service where customers let small fish nibble the dead skin off their feet.

Now attorney Clint Bolick of the Goldwater Institute will take his case to the Arizona Legislature, hoping to convince them to strip the board of the authority to prohibit fish spas.

"The basis for the Cosmetology Board jurisdiction in the first place was, not to make a pun, a little fishy. Basically they said that fish were cosmetology instruments," Bolick said.

Since fish cannot be sterilized — at least not without killing them — the board said Vong could not use them.

There's reason for Bolick to think lawmakers will intervene and overrule the board. They did so a decade ago when the same board insisted that only licensed cosmetologists could braid hair for customers. And three years ago, lawmakers blocked the board from regulating people who use thread to pluck eyebrows.

Bolick is convinced he can get similar legislation approved and signed by Doug Ducey next year.