Texas Bans Race-Related Hair Bias, Big Win for CROWN Act

May 28, 2023, 8:01 AM

Backers Chris Marr, Staff Correspondent

A newly enacted Texas law bans employers from discriminating against workers for hairstyles and textures commonly associated with race, giving CROWN Act supporters a major win in the nation’s most populous red state.

The Texas measure (HB 567) adds hair-related protections to the state’s existing law banning racial discrimination in employment and housing. It also bans public schools and universities from adopting dress codes that restrict race-related hairstyles and textures, specifically naming “braids, locks, and twists.”

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed the measure into law Saturday after state lawmakers in the House and Senate passed it almost unanimously April 13 and May 12, respectively.

Twenty states and more than 40 cities and counties have passed versions of the CROWN Act, starting with California and New York in 2019, according to the CROWN Coalition. That list doesn’t include Arkansas, which this year passed protections against hair-related racial bias in public schools.

The legislative action on hair bias was dominated by Democratic-majority statehouses at first, but the policy now has passed in several GOP-led legislatures including Louisiana, Nebraska, and Tennessee. The US House passed a nationwide version of the CROWN Act in 2022, but the bill failed to clear the Senate.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Marr in Atlanta at cmarr@bloombergindustry.com To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebekah Mintzer at rmintzer@bloombergindustry.com; Laura D. Francis at lfrancis@bloomberglaw.com