CA AB 1815

Title: Discrimination: race: hairstyles.
Author: Akilah Weber

Summary
AB 1815, as amended, Weber. Discrimination: race: hairstyles. Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, provides that all persons within the jurisdiction of this state are entitled to full and equal accommodations in all business establishments regardless of their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status.Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, makes it unlawful to engage in specified discriminatory employment practices based on certain protected characteristics, including race, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification or applicable security regulations, and prohibits housing discrimination based on specified personal characteristics, including race.Existing law states the policy of the State of California to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of their disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other specified characteristic, equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state, and to prohibit acts that are contrary to that policy and to provide remedies therefor.Existing law prohibits discrimination because of a perception that a person has one of those protected characteristics or is associated with a person who has, or is perceived to have, any of those characteristics. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act and public school policy define the term race for purposes of those provisions to include traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, as defined.This bill would remove the term “historically” from the definitions of race, thus defining race to include traits associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, as defined, and would add those definitions for “race” and “protective hairstyle” to the Unruh Civil Rights Act.

Status
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

Bill Documents
CA AB 1815 - 03/21/24 - Amended Assembly
03/21/24 - CA AB 1815 (03/21/24 - Amended Assembly)