University student’s lawsuit leads to change in state law By SLIM SMITH, The Commercial DispatchMay 8, 2021 GMT COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) — Of all the bills passed into law by the Mississippi Legislature in 2021, one of them raised eyebrows. House Bill 1312 swept through the Legislature by a combined 159-6 vote and was signed into law in April. The new law, which exempts certain beauty care providers from being required to obtain an esthetician license, is the result of a lawsuit filed by former Mississippi University for Women graduate student Dipa Bhattarai against the Mississippi State Board of Cosmetology. In 2019, the Mississippi Justice Institute filed the suit on behalf of Bhattarai, who argued the 600 hours of classroom training needed to attain a license, none of it related to her eyebrow threading practice, forced her to close her two eyebrow threading businesses in Columbus and Starkville.