Legislature(2021 - 2022)BARNES 124
04/04/2022 03:15 PM House LABOR & COMMERCE
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Start | |
Board of Nursing | |
Alaska Labor Relations Agency | |
Marijuana Control Board | |
Alcoholic Beverage Control Board | |
State Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors | |
HB312 | |
HB108 | |
Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
*+ | HB 404 | TELECONFERENCED | |
+ | HB 312 | TELECONFERENCED | |
+ | HB 108 | TELECONFERENCED | |
+ | TELECONFERENCED | ||
+ | TELECONFERENCED |
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 312. 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].
Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
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HB0312A.PDF |
HEDC 3/11/2022 8:00:00 AM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 312 |
HB 312 EED SSA 2.10.22.pdf |
HEDC 3/11/2022 8:00:00 AM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 312 |
HB 312 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
HEDC 3/11/2022 8:00:00 AM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 312 |
HB 312 Supporting Document - Brookings.pdf |
HEDC 3/11/2022 8:00:00 AM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 312 |
HB 312 Supporting Document - Gaddy.pdf |
HEDC 3/11/2022 8:00:00 AM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 312 |
HB 312 Supporting Document - Glamour.pdf |
HEDC 3/11/2022 8:00:00 AM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 312 |
HB 312 support 031522.pdf |
HEDC 3/16/2022 8:00:00 AM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 312 |
HB108 Sectional Analysis 03.31.21.pdf |
HEDC 4/9/2021 8:00:00 AM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 108 |
HB108 letters of support 04.01.21.pdf |
HEDC 4/9/2021 8:00:00 AM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 108 |
HB 108 Letters of Support 4.6.21.pdf |
HEDC 4/9/2021 8:00:00 AM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 108 |
HB 108 Letters of Support 02.14.22.pdf |
HEDC 2/23/2022 3:30:00 PM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 108 |
HB108-DOLWD-WH-02-20-22 Updated.pdf |
HEDC 2/23/2022 3:30:00 PM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 108 |
FN HB108CS(EDC)-EED-SSA-3-17-22.pdf |
HEDC 3/23/2022 8:00:00 AM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 108 |
HB 108 Sponsor Statement 03.09.21 2.pdf |
HL&C 3/28/2022 3:15:00 PM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 108 |
HB 108 Workdraft CS EDU (adopted) 3.23.22.pdf |
HL&C 3/28/2022 3:15:00 PM HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 108 |
Douglas Moore Application_Redacted.pdf |
HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HLAC Confirmations 2022 |
Douglas Moore Resume.pdf |
HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HLAC Confirmations 2022 |
Eliza Muse Application_Redacted.pdf |
HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HLAC Confirmations 2022 |
Eliza Muse Resume.pdf |
HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HLAC Confirmations 2022 |
Ely Cyrus Application_Redacted.pdf |
HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HLAC Confirmations 2022 |
Ely Cyrus Cover Letter.pdf |
HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HLAC Confirmations 2022 |
Janice Hill Application_Redacted.pdf |
HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HLAC Confirmations 2022 |
Lena 2018 Resume_Redacted.pdf |
HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HLAC Confirmations 2022 |
Lena Lafferty Application_Redacted.pdf |
HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HLAC Confirmations 2022 |
Lena Lafferty_ 2022 Hearing letter of introduction_Redacted.pdf |
HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HLAC Confirmations 2022 |
Paula Harrison_Redacted.pdf |
HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HLAC Confirmations 2022 |
Sterling Strait Board Application_Redacted.pdf |
HL&C 4/4/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HLAC Confirmations 2022 |