MORGANTOWN — A bill to prohibit racial discrimination based on hair textures and hairstyles narrowly passed out Senate Judiciary last Thursday, only to be sent to Senate Finance on Friday. Many believed it was sent there to die, and die it did, Senate Finance chair Eric Tarr confirmed on Tuesday.
The bill was the CROWN Act, SB 496, to prohibit discrimination based on race — under the state Human Rights Act — that includes discrimination based on hair textures and protective hairstyles historically associated with a particular race, where the term protective hairstyles includes braids, locks, and twists.
After it was read for the first time on Friday, Tarr, R-Putnam, moved to have the bill referred to his committee. He said the bill carries significant fiscal implications and the requested fiscal notes hadn’t been issued. The state could see an increase in lawsuits spurred by the legislation, he said then.
Those fiscal notes are in and reflect different views on how the state would be affected.
Tarr said two of them came back with “pretty extraordinary expenses associated with them.”
He said, “We’re controlling expenses very tightly and this one would be a very large, one, and there’s much smaller fiscal notes that haven’t made it through.”
Wednesday is Crossover Day, when all bills have to cross to the other side of the Capitol from their house of origin. The Senate would have to suspend its three-day reading rule to pass it out in time. And Tarr said the bill wouldn’t come onto his committee agenda to move back to the Senate floor.
Looking at the fiscal notes, the Board of Risk and Insurance Management said the cost can’t be estimated because the number of claims is unknown. BRIM values the cost of each claim at approximately $100,000.
“While estimating an exact number of claims is difficult, an increase in cost would likely result. In addition, this change could not have been anticipated in calculating current agency premiums. … Additional premiums would be charged to insureds to recover the additional estimated claims and claims-related expenses for prior fiscal years. BRIM assumes additional insurance costs would be incurred by all entities impacted by the proposed legislation.”
The Human Rights Commission said, “The Department [of Health and Human Resources] anticipates no fiscal impact from the proposed legislation.”
And the attorney general’s office said any changes to law that result in more litigation where the AG’s Civil Rights Division represents the Human Rights Commission will add some costs to state government.
“This is an unavoidable consequence of any changes in law that require education and may result in litigation. As such, costs estimates cannot be considered zero. However, given the lack of any relevant data on this at present, it is unclear whether any litigation will actually arise from this bill and, more particularly, whether the attorney general’s office will bear measurable increases as a result.”
Late last Friday, Black Policy Founders Day co-founders Dr. Shanequa Smith, Crystal Good and Katonya Hart issued a statement on the bill’s apparent demise.
“Black and brown West Virginians deserve the protections of the CROWN Act and the affirmation that hair-based discrimination is prohibited under the Human Rights Act, just as 24 other states have done,” they said.
They’ve advocated for the bill for five years, they said. “The act is about strengthening worker protections and ensuring dignity and respect for cultural expression. Contrary to public statements made by members of the Senate, this bill does not create a new protected class under the Human Rights Act. Instead, it delineates that hair-based discrimination is explicitly covered by protections already afforded by the Human Rights Act.”
MetroNews statewide correspondent Brad McElhinny contributed to this report.
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