The Texas Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill Friday that would ban race-based hair discrimination in schools, employment, and housing. The upper chamber's bipartisan vote takes the LoneStar state one step closer to adopting a law that would have extended statutory protection to the two Black high school students near Houston who were threatened with discipline in the 2019-2020 school year for not cutting their locks.
The State Senate passed the measure overwhelming, 29-1.
Authored and initially filed in the state by State Rep. Rhetta Bowers (D-Garland), the Crown Act—House Bill 567—was passed by the House in April with a 143-5 vote. In the upper chamber, State Senator Borris Miles (D-Houston) carried the bill, which now waits for signature from the Texas Governor to become law codifying the state’s ban on racial discrimination based on hairstyle or textual.