The CROWN Coalition, a national alliance comprised of the National Urban League, Western Center on Law & Poverty, Color of Change and Dove, announced a bill they are sponsoring, SB 188, passed the state Senate floor on April 22 on a bipartisan 37-0 vote.

Introduced by state Sen. Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), SB 188, the Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair, or CROWN, Act, aims to clarify that traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture and hairstyle, should be protected from discrimination in the work place and in K-12 public and charter schools.

“Many black employees, including your staff, members, will tell you if given the chance that the struggle to maintain what society has deemed a ‘professional image’ while protecting the health and integrity of their hair remains a defining and paradoxical struggle in their work experience, not usually shared by their non-black peers,” Mitchell said shortly before the Senate vote. “Any law that sanctions a job description that immediately excludes me from a position, not because of my capabilities or experience but because of my hair, is long overdue for reform.”

SB 188 aims to ensure protection against discrimination in the workplace and schools based on hairstyles by prohibiting employers and schools from enforcing purportedly “race neutral” grooming policies that disproportionately impact persons of color. Additionally, while anti-discrimination laws presently protect the choice to wear an Afro, Afros are not the only natural presentation of black hair. SB 188 will ensure protection against discrimination based on hairstyles by extending statutory protection to hair texture and protective styles in the Fair Employment and Housing Act and the California Education Code.