04/11/2022 03:15 PM House LABOR & COMMERCE

                SB 174-ALLOW NATURAL HAIRSTYLES                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
3:17:53 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  SPOHNHOLZ announced  that the  first order  of business                                                               
would be  CS FOR SENATE  BILL NO.  174(EDC), "An Act  relating to                                                               
dress codes and natural hairstyles."                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
3:18:31 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  DAVID   WILSON,  Alaska  State  Legislature,   as  prime                                                               
sponsor, introduced CSSB  174(EDC).  He noted  that the committee                                                               
has already heard  the companion bill, HB 312  [heard on 4/4/22].                                                               
He explained that the bill  would prohibit schools and workplaces                                                               
from enacting  a dress code  that restricts someone  from wearing                                                               
their natural  hair.  He  said the  bill addresses an  issue that                                                               
most  people  deal  with  and  endure in  silence,  and  that  no                                                               
employee or student should be  prohibited from participating in a                                                               
workplace  or  attending school  just  because  they are  wearing                                                               
their natural hair.                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR WILSON  stated that people  choose to wear  their natural                                                               
hair  for many  reasons,  including  cultural connectedness  [and                                                               
tradition],   protection  of   hair  texture   and  growth,   and                                                               
preference.   Whatever the reason,  hairstyle has  no correlation                                                               
to workplace  performance.   One study has  shown that  people of                                                               
color must change  their hair from its natural state  just to fit                                                               
in the office.  Another  study published last year confirmed that                                                               
in job  recruitment, natural  hairstyle puts  people of  color at                                                               
disadvantage  for  getting  interviewed and  subsequently  hired.                                                               
For  both the  workplace and  schools, this  bill clarifies  that                                                               
this does not  apply to health or safety rules  or regulations or                                                               
ordinance.  For  example, hairnets still need to be  worn in food                                                               
services  or someone  with  long  hair in  dreads  should not  be                                                               
working  a  woodchipper  or  welding.    The  bill  defines  what                                                               
standards are  acceptable for the school  districts and employers                                                               
to place on hair and help end hair discrimination.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR WILSON noted there is  a difference between CSSB 174(EDC)                                                               
and HB 312, and deferred to  his staff person, Ms. Jasmin Martin,                                                               
to outline those differences.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
3:20:56 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
JASMIN  MARTIN,   Staff,  Senator  David  Wilson,   Alaska  State                                                               
Legislature, on  behalf of  Senator Wilson,  prime sponsor  of SB
, explained the two differences  between CSSB 174(EDC) and its                                                               
companion bill,  HB 312.   She stated that  Sections 1 and  2 are                                                               
basically identical  to each other:   one deals with  the school-                                                               
student  relationship  and the  other  deals  with the  employer-                                                               
employee relationship.   She explained  that first  difference is                                                               
on page  1, line 7,  and page 2, line  5, which include  the term                                                               
headwraps, but headwraps are not included  in HB 312.  The second                                                               
difference, she  continued, is on  page 1,  line 10, and  page 2,                                                               
line  8,  which include  the  terms  afros, cornrows,  and  bantu                                                               
knots, but  these terms  are not  included in HB  312.   She said                                                               
these terms were  added in a Senate committee and  that this list                                                               
is not exhaustive  of all the natural hairstyles,  but the Senate                                                               
committee thought it  important to include some  more examples in                                                               
the bill.                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
3:21:56 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN drew  attention to page 1,  line 11, which                                                               
states, "requires  a student  to permanently  or semi-permanently                                                               
alter the student's  hair".  He asked what has  occurred to cause                                                               
that requirement to be in the bill.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR WILSON recounted an event  in which a young gentlemen had                                                               
to  cut  his hair  to  be  able  to  participate in  a  wrestling                                                               
tournament.   He  said  this would  be an  example  of where  the                                                               
governing body of a school cannot  say that a student's hair must                                                               
be altered [to  participate].  Another example,  he stated, would                                                               
be a  place of  employment that says  employees cannot  wear pink                                                               
hair or must straighten their  hair.  Straightening hair requires                                                               
use of a  chemical relaxer, which can burn the  person's head, he                                                               
explained.   He noted that in  places where people of  color make                                                               
up  less  than  five  percent   of  the  population,  most  local                                                               
hairdressers do not work on type  4c hair.  Responding further to                                                               
Representative  Kaufman, Senator  Wilson  explained that  because                                                               
many hairdressers do  not have enough practice on  4c hair, which                                                               
is a  coarse texture  of hair,  they choose not  to work  on that                                                               
type of hair.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
3:23:54 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY  inquired about  the reason  for including                                                               
headwraps in CSSB 174(EDC) while HB 312 does not.                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  WILSON  explained  that the  Senate  Education  Standing                                                               
Committee made  this addition because the  committee thought that                                                               
protective headwraps help in the maintaining of hair appearance.                                                                
                                                                                                                                
MS. MARTIN  pointed out  that this  is not  necessarily headwraps                                                               
that  are  associated  with  religion  because  that  is  already                                                               
protected  in different  parts of  statute.   In  this case,  she                                                               
continued,  the committee  worried that  headwraps, such  as silk                                                               
headwraps   that   protect  the   texture   of   the  hair   from                                                               
environmental damage,  was not underneath this  legislation.  The                                                               
committee  therefore [included  headwraps] so  there would  be no                                                               
ambiguity as to whether [headwraps] were included.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
3:25:33 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  MCCARTY  asked  about the  implications  of  some                                                               
group of  individuals claiming  that this  is something  they are                                                               
entitled to  wear which symbolizes  something else and  they know                                                               
it symbolizes  something else.   He recalled that many  years ago                                                               
schools  [prohibited]  wearing a  certain  color  hat because  it                                                               
represented gang  symbols.  He  inquired about what  protects the                                                               
intended  concept regarding  hair  rather than  extending out  to                                                               
someone who wants to wear a symbol.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
MS. MARTIN answered that she  would provide members with a letter                                                               
written  by  an invited  testifier  regarding  headwraps as  gang                                                               
affiliations.    She said  that  to  her  knowledge there  is  no                                                               
evidence that  there are  gangs in Alaska  high schools  that are                                                               
using headwraps to  identify.  A student, she added,  is going to                                                               
be part of  a gang regardless of whether that  student is wearing                                                               
a certain  thing on his  or her head.   That isn't relevant  to a                                                               
student's  gang affiliation  and does  nothing to  stop gangs  or                                                               
gang activity.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
[SB 174 was held over.]