El Paso city officials want tattoo and body art studios to pass an inspection before they can get or renew their city registration, a proposal that follows code enforcement findings of unlicensed shops and what officials describe as inadequate hygiene and cleanliness at some locations. Under the plan, shops would need to provide proof of an approved inspection, which the city would conduct within 10 business days of a request.
Steve Alvarado, El Paso’s code enforcement director, presented the proposed ordinance changes at a city council meeting, according to KFOX. Alvarado said the city is working to support tattoo businesses while also ensuring public safety, and told the station that a shop must take its passing inspection score to the one-stop shop before its permit can be issued. City records reviewed on El Paso’s Legistar system show the ordinance, filed as File #26-0913, amends Sections 5.10.030, 5.10.040, 5.10.080, 5.10.120 and 5.10.140 of the municipal code to require pre-inspections before registration, clarify reasonable entry times for code officers, and make refusing entry explicit grounds for denial or revocation of a shop’s registration.
What Inspectors Say They’ve Found
Code enforcement has found not just unlicensed tattoo shops but also shops operating with expired licenses, the department told KFOX. Omar Esparza, the department’s field operations supervisor, is also involved in the initiative. Officials say poor practices at tattoo shops can lead to the spread of HIV, AIDS or hepatitis, underscoring the stakes behind the proposed inspection requirement.
The health risk isn’t abstract. Hepatitis B can survive on unsterilized surfaces outside the body for up to seven days and is 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV, according to health education documentation cited by OSHA training providers. Industry safety studies from the Association of Professional Piercers, cited in the same reporting, indicate that strict compliance with universal precautions and sterilization procedures can cut bloodborne pathogen transmission risk in body art settings by up to 95%.
New Disclosure Rules For Individual Artists
The proposed ordinance changes wouldn’t just affect studios — they’d also reach individual artist licensing. Artists applying for a city license would be required to disclose the name and address of the studio where they work, a disclosure that is currently optional. Sergio “Sketch” Alarcon, a tattoo artist, told KFOX that obtaining a tattoo license is really easy under the current system, a comment that speaks to why officials are pushing tighter requirements…