The South Orange Village Council on Monday introduced an ordinance to amend the municipal code regulating tattoo parlors, specifically to require annual licensing, which will give the Health Department the power to revoke or suspend licensing for failed sanitary inspections.
The South Orange Village Board of Health is charged with enforcing New Jersey State Regulations concerning “Body Art Establishments,” specifically sanitary standards. The amended code would make it unlawful for anyone to operate a tattoo parlor in the Village without annually obtaining a license from the Health Department of South Orange.
Under the ordinance, the Health Officer of the Village of South Orange or a designee will continue to periodically conduct inspections, with or without prior notice, but will now have the authority to revoke or suspend the license of any tattoo parlor found to be in violation of law or sanitary safety standards – similar to the process for massage spas and childcare centers.
“The state health department creates the regulation, which local health departments enforce,” South Orange Health Officer Candice Davenport said. “So then we provide the licensure, which is why it’s important for towns that have tattoo parlors to get on that and make sure that they have that licensure so that we as a town, as a Village,
Maplewood already requires licensure for tattoo parlors, and passing this tattoo ordinance for South Orange was one of the 2026 goals for the Health Department of South Orange, Davenport said.
“Since we’ve opened the three tattoo parlors in South Orange, we have inspected them,” Davenport said. “So we have always been inspecting them, but we didn’t have the licensure [provision], which allows us to close them in the event that they are unsatisfactory.”
The three tattoo parlor owners have been involved in the process and know this is coming, she said.
“The Village has been working on this for a while, so they’ve been anticipating it, and they have no problems with it,” Davenport said. “It’s just best practice for them. In terms of inspections, nothing else changes. …We’re always in conversation with them with the checklists and things of that nature from the state, so we’re all good.”
The council will take a final vote at its next meeting, November 9, 2026.
