IB 
Union Calendar No. 425 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5309 
[Report No. 116–525, Part I] 
To prohibit discrimination based on an individual’s texture or style of hair. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 5, 2019 
Mr. RICHMOND (for himself, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. 
PRESSLEY, Mr. COHEN, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. 
BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. 
CLAY, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, 
Mr. EVANS, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. LAWSON 
of Florida, Mr. LEWIS, Ms. MOORE, Ms. OMAR, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. 
PLASKETT, Mr. RUSH, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. 
VEASEY, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 
Additional sponsors: Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. KHANNA, 
Ms. ESHOO, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. 
DEMINGS, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. CASTOR 
of Florida, Ms. WILD, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. JEFFRIES, Mr. 
BROWN of Maryland, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. WATERS, 
Ms. ADAMS, Ms. DEAN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. CASTRO 
of Texas, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. TRONE, Mr. 
LEVIN of Michigan, Ms. HAALAND, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. TED LIEU 
of California, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. NADLER, and Ms. GARCIA of Texas 
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SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 
Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary with an amendment 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 
Committee on Education and Labor discharged; committed to the Committee 
of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 5, 2019] 
A BILL 
To prohibit discrimination based on an individual’s texture 
or style of hair. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Creating a Respectful 
and Open World for Natural Hair Act of 2020’’ or the 
‘‘CROWN Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS; PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Throughout United States history, society 
has used (in conjunction with skin color) hair texture 
and hairstyle to classify individuals on the basis of 
race. 
(2) Like one’s skin color, one’s hair has served as 
a basis of race and national origin discrimination. 
(3) Racial and national origin discrimination 
can and do occur because of longstanding racial and 
national origin biases and stereotypes associated with 
hair texture and style. 
(4) For example, routinely, people of African de-
scent are deprived of educational and employment op-
portunities because they are adorned with natural or 
protective hairstyles in which hair is tightly coiled or 
tightly curled, or worn in locs, cornrows, twists, 
braids, Bantu knots, or Afros. 
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Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1981), and the Fair 
Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.). However, some 
Federal courts have misinterpreted Federal civil 
rights law by narrowly interpreting the meaning of 
race or national origin, and thereby permitting, for 
example, employers to discriminate against people of 
African descent who wear natural or protective hair-
styles even though the employment policies involved 
are not related to workers’ ability to perform their 
jobs. 
(10) Applying this narrow interpretation of race 
or national origin has resulted in a lack of Federal 
civil rights protection for individuals who are dis-
criminated against on the basis of characteristics that 
are commonly associated with race and national ori-
gin. 
(11) In 2019 and 2020, State legislatures and 
municipal bodies throughout the United States have 
introduced and passed legislation that rejects certain 
Federal courts’ restrictive interpretation of race and 
national origin, and expressly classifies race and na-
tional origin discrimination as inclusive of discrimi-
nation on the basis of natural or protective hairstyles 
commonly associated with race and national origin. 
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(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 
that— 
(1) the Federal Government should acknowledge 
that individuals who have hair texture or wear a 
hairstyle that is historically and contemporarily asso-
ciated with African Americans or persons of African 
descent systematically suffer harmful discrimination 
in schools, workplaces, and other contexts based upon 
longstanding race and national origin stereotypes and 
biases; 
(2) a clear and comprehensive law should ad-
dress the systematic deprivation of educational, em-
ployment, and other opportunities on the basis of hair 
texture and hairstyle that are commonly associated 
with race or national origin; 
(3) clear, consistent, and enforceable legal stand-
ards must be provided to redress the widespread 
incidences of race and national origin discrimination 
based upon hair texture and hairstyle in schools, 
workplaces, housing, federally funded institutions, 
and other contexts; 
(4) it is necessary to prevent educational, em-
ployment, and other decisions, practices, and policies 
generated by or reflecting negative biases and stereo-
types related to race or national origin; 
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(5) the Federal Government must play a key role 
in enforcing Federal civil rights laws in a way that 
secures equal educational, employment, and other op-
portunities for all individuals regardless of their race 
or national origin; 
(6) the Federal Government must play a central 
role in enforcing the standards established under this 
Act on behalf of individuals who suffer race or na-
tional origin discrimination based upon hair texture 
and hairstyle; 
(7) it is necessary to prohibit and provide rem-
edies for the harms suffered as a result of race or na-
tional origin discrimination on the basis of hair tex-
ture and hairstyle; and 
(8) it is necessary to mandate that school, work-
place, and other applicable standards be applied in a 
nondiscriminatory manner and to explicitly prohibit 
the adoption or implementation of grooming require-
ments that disproportionately impact people of Afri-
can descent. 
(c) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to institute 
definitions of race and national origin for Federal civil 
rights laws that effectuate the comprehensive scope of protec-
tion Congress intended to be afforded by such laws and Con-
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gress’ objective to eliminate race and national origin dis-
crimination in the United States. 
SEC. 3. FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—No individual in the United States 
shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the bene-
fits of, or be subjected to discrimination under, any pro-
gram or activity receiving Federal financial assistance, 
based on the individual’s hair texture or hairstyle, if that 
hair texture or that hairstyle is commonly associated with 
a particular race or national origin (including a hairstyle 
in which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, corn-
rows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros). 
(b) ENFORCEMENT.—Subsection (a) shall be enforced 
in the same manner and by the same means, including with 
the same jurisdiction, as if such subsection was incor-
porated in title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 
U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), and as if a violation of subsection 
(a) was treated as if it was a violation of section 601 of 
such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000d). 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
(1) the term ‘‘program or activity’’ has the 
meaning given the term in section 606 of the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d–4a); and 
(2) the terms ‘‘race’’ and ‘‘national origin’’ 
mean, respectively, ‘‘race’’ within the meaning of the 
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term in section 601 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 2000d) 
and ‘‘national origin’’ within the meaning of the term 
in that section 601. 
SEC. 4. HOUSING PROGRAMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—No person in the United States 
shall be subjected to a discriminatory housing practice 
based on the person’s hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair 
texture or that hairstyle is commonly associated with a par-
ticular race or national origin (including a hairstyle in 
which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, cornrows, 
twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros). 
(b) ENFORCEMENT.—Subsection (a) shall be enforced 
in the same manner and by the same means, including with 
the same jurisdiction, as if such subsection was incor-
porated in the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), 
and as if a violation of subsection (a) was treated as if 
it was a discriminatory housing practice. 
(c) DEFINITION.—In this section— 
(1) the terms ‘‘discriminatory housing practice’’ 
and ‘‘person’’ have the meanings given the terms in 
section 802 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 
3602); and 
(2) the terms ‘‘race’’ and ‘‘national origin’’ 
mean, respectively, ‘‘race’’ within the meaning of the 
term in section 804 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 3604) and 
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‘‘national origin’’ within the meaning of the term in 
that section 804. 
SEC. 5. PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—No person in the United States 
shall be subjected to a practice prohibited under section 201, 
202, or 203 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a 
et seq.), based on the person’s hair texture or hairstyle, if 
that hair texture or that hairstyle is commonly associated 
with a particular race or national origin (including a hair-
style in which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, 
cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros). 
(b) ENFORCEMENT.—Subsection (a) shall be enforced 
in the same manner and by the same means, including with 
the same jurisdiction, as if such subsection was incor-
porated in title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and as 
if a violation of subsection (a) was treated as if it was a 
violation of section 201, 202, or 203, as appropriate, of such 
Act. 
(c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the terms ‘‘race’’ and 
‘‘national origin’’ mean, respectively, ‘‘race’’ within the 
meaning of the term in section 201 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 
2000e) and ‘‘national origin’’ within the meaning of the 
term in that section 201. 
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SEC. 6. EMPLOYMENT. 
(a) PROHIBITION.—It shall be an unlawful employ-
ment practice for an employer, employment agency, labor 
organization, or joint labor-management committee control-
ling apprenticeship or other training or retraining (includ-
ing on-the-job training programs) to fail or refuse to hire 
or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate 
against an individual, based on the individual’s hair tex-
ture or hairstyle, if that hair texture or that hairstyle is 
commonly associated with a particular race or national or-
igin (including a hairstyle in which hair is tightly coiled 
or tightly curled, locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, 
and Afros). 
(b) ENFORCEMENT.—Subsection (a) shall be enforced 
in the same manner and by the same means, including with 
the same jurisdiction, as if such subsection was incor-
porated in title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 
U.S.C. 2000e et seq.), and as if a violation of subsection 
(a) was treated as if it was a violation of section 703 or 
704, as appropriate, of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000e–2, 
2000e–3). 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section the terms ‘‘person’’, 
‘‘race’’, and ‘‘national origin’’ have the meanings given the 
terms in section 701 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 
U.S.C. 2000e). 
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SEC. 7. EQUAL RIGHTS UNDER THE LAW. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—No person in the United States 
shall be subjected to a practice prohibited under section 
1977 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1981), based on 
the person’s hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair texture 
or that hairstyle is commonly associated with a particular 
race or national origin (including a hairstyle in which hair 
is tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, cornrows, twists, 
braids, Bantu knots, and Afros). 
(b) ENFORCEMENT.—Subsection (a) shall be enforced 
in the same manner and by the same means, including with 
the same jurisdiction, as if such subsection was incor-
porated in section 1977 of the Revised Statutes, and as if 
a violation of subsection (a) was treated as if it was a viola-
tion of that section 1977. 
SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit defini-
tions of race or national origin under the Civil Rights Act 
of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq.), the Fair Housing Act 
(42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), or section 1977 of the Revised Stat-
utes (42 U.S.C. 1981). 
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Union Calendar No. 425 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5309 
[Report No. 116–525, Part I] 
A BILL 
To prohibit discrimination based on an individual’s 
texture or style of hair. 
SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 
Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary with an 
amendment 
SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 
Committee on Education and Labor discharged; com-
mitted to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
State of the Union and ordered to be printed 
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