04/04/2022 03:15 PM House LABOR & COMMERCE

                HB 312-ALLOW NATURAL HAIRSTYLES                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
3:43:33 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR FIELDS announced  that the next order  of business would                                                               
be  HOUSE BILL  NO.  312, "An  Act relating  to  dress codes  and                                                               
natural hairstyles."                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
3:43:51 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  GERAN  TARR,  Alaska State  Legislature,  as  the                                                               
sponsor,  introduced HB  312.   She explained  that HB  312 would                                                               
prohibit schools  and workplaces  from enacting dress  codes that                                                               
restrict  someone from  wearing his  or  her natural  hair.   She                                                               
thanked Senator  Dave Wilson who  introduced the  companion bill.                                                               
She  said it  is important  for student  success for  students to                                                               
feel welcome and  included in their school, and  this policy will                                                               
help a  student feel welcome  and included.   It is  important to                                                               
have schools  be a positive  learning experience,  she continued,                                                               
because the  academic achievement of students  improves when they                                                               
feel welcome and included in their school environment.                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE TARR explained that HB  312 would also ensure that                                                               
no employee  would be  prohibited from  participating in  work or                                                               
attending school  because the employee  is wearing  natural hair.                                                               
People rely on their job, she  continued, and this would speak to                                                               
having a strong  nondiscrimination policy.  She  pointed out that                                                               
through discussion  of this legislation people  have learned what                                                               
a  natural hairstyle  is and  why it's  important to  allow these                                                               
hairstyles.   She said that [disallowing  natural hairstyles] can                                                               
be damaging  due to  the chemicals and  procedures used  to alter                                                               
the natural hair.   The bill, she stated,  defines what standards                                                               
are unacceptable for  school districts and employers  to place on                                                               
hair; providing  this clarity and  policy statement is  the right                                                               
thing to do.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE TARR related that  the US House of Representatives                                                               
recently  passed the  CROWN  Act [Create  a  Respectful and  Open                                                               
World  for  Natural  Hair  Act], the  national  version  of  this                                                               
[state] legislation.   She said  14 states and  34 municipalities                                                               
have passed  this legislation, and the  Dove brand of soap  has a                                                               
website  and  is a  corporate  sponsor  and participant  in  this                                                               
national effort.   She  said it  is exciting  to think  of Alaska                                                               
joining the 14 states and 34 municipalities.                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
3:47:20 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
DAVID  SONG,  Staff,  Representative  Geran  Tarr,  Alaska  State                                                               
Legislature, on behalf of  Representative Tarr, sponsor, provided                                                               
the sectional analysis  for HB 312.  He explained  that Section 1                                                               
would amend AS 14.03 by adding  Section 135.  He stated that this                                                               
new  section  would disallow  school  districts  from adopting  a                                                               
school  dress code  that:   prohibits  a student  from wearing  a                                                               
hairstyle that is commonly or  historically associated with race;                                                               
prohibits a student from wearing  a natural hairstyle, regardless                                                               
of the student's  hair texture or type; or requires  a student to                                                               
permanently  or  semi-permanently  alter  the  student's  natural                                                               
hair.  He  said the bill would make an  exception to allow school                                                               
districts to restrict  hairstyles in any way  necessary to comply                                                               
with existing  health or  safety laws.   Mr. Song  explained that                                                               
Section 2  would amend AS  23.10, which is related  to employment                                                               
practices  and working  conditions, by  adding Section  450.   He                                                               
said  this new  section is  identical to  Section 1  of the  bill                                                               
except it deals with an employee-employer relationship.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  FIELDS  announced  the  committee  would  hear  invited                                                               
testimony on HB 312.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
3:48:40 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
ALYSSA  QUINTYNE, provided  invited  testimony in  support of  HB
.   She  stated that  discrimination, and  in particular  hair                                                               
discrimination, is  a part  of life for  black people  in Alaska.                                                               
She  said every  black person  she knows  has, at  some point  in                                                               
their life, been  harassed or talked to about  their hairstyle at                                                               
work or  been sent  home from school.   Since  elementary school,                                                               
she   related,   she   has    had   classmates,   teachers,   and                                                               
administrators  make inappropriate  comments and  questions about                                                               
her hair.  She has been  barred from chemistry and home economics                                                               
classes and  from swimming  because of  her hair.   She  has been                                                               
thrown  down the  stairs by  her hair  and had  her hair  cut and                                                               
burned  in   the  classroom.     While  her  parents   and  other                                                               
appropriate people were involved, nothing came of it.                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
MS. QUINTYNE  shared that as she  grew up and started  working it                                                               
was  no better.    She has  worked in  the  Interior in  customer                                                               
service, university  departments, training facilities,  labs, and                                                               
various  organizations,  but  the  only place  where  she  hasn't                                                               
experienced  hair discrimination  is  where she  is working  now.                                                               
She has had comments, questions,  and touching, as well as having                                                               
the human  resources (HR) department write  policies specifically                                                               
targeting  her hair  and  her  hairstyles.   She  has been  given                                                               
ultimatums from  supervisors and HR  to either come back  to work                                                               
with her  hair straight or  don't come back at  all.  As  a young                                                               
adult in  college working  two jobs, she  shared, there  wasn't a                                                               
choice, she had to do what she had to do to survive.                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
MS. QUINTYNE  stated that  throughout her life  she has  tried to                                                               
address this problem  on her own within  the community, including                                                               
testifying  at  age  13  before the  North  Star  Borough  School                                                               
District, but  to no  avail.   She said she  just termed  off the                                                               
district's  diversity  committee  after  three  years  where  she                                                               
worked with the  school board and district  administration on the                                                               
dress code and  specifically on hair.  She tried  to educate them                                                               
on bonnets,  du-rags, natural and protective  hairstyles, and why                                                               
the whole  gang affiliated rhetoric  and language  was completely                                                               
unacceptable  and  irrelevant;  it  was  racial  micro-aggression                                                               
rooted in fear that targeted  black and indigenous students.  She                                                               
provided resources  and suggestions  on how  to make  dress codes                                                               
more  responsible  and  aware   to  students'  financial  access,                                                               
cultures, identities,  and expressions,  but she doesn't  know if                                                               
those suggestions were taken.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
MS. QUINTYNE pointed out that  someone who doesn't deal with this                                                               
discrimination every day has no  understanding of how detrimental                                                               
it is.  A person is told to  stand up for themselves or to tell a                                                               
teacher or HR, but that is  exactly where the harm being faced is                                                               
coming from, she  explained.  The city council  won't do anything                                                               
because of  the Lower 48  problem which doesn't occur  in Alaska.                                                               
The borough assembly throws up  its hands because it doesn't know                                                               
what  to do.    The school  board  is the  very  source of  black                                                               
student  trauma and  pain.   Nothing is  really happening  in the                                                               
legislature  yet.   The local  stores lock  up the  hair products                                                               
needed for  taking care of a  black person's hair and  few salons                                                               
have  the  expertise  or  carry  the  necessary  hair  management                                                               
products.   What  is a  black kid  supposed to  do when  the only                                                               
people who  understand what  the kid is  going through  are their                                                               
friends and mother?                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
MS. QUINTYNE  said she is telling  this to the committee  to give                                                               
members  the context  of what  she  and other  black Alaskans  go                                                               
through.  She  stated that HB 312 gives hope  to the marginalized                                                               
black  community and  gives her  hope that  it will  create much-                                                               
needed conversations about  discrimination, micro-aggression, and                                                               
violence.  She said she further  hopes that the pain and violence                                                               
she  and others  have  gone through  in school  and  work can  be                                                               
prevented and that when children grow  up they can grow up out of                                                               
love and not out of survival.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
3:56:30 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR FIELDS thanked Ms. Quintyne  for her testimony and noted                                                               
that he believes the Senate companion bill was passed today.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE TARR  offered her  thanks and appreciation  to Ms.                                                               
Quintyne for sharing her experiences.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
3:57:50 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR FIELDS [held over HB 312].