Anti-Discrimination Law Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Crown Act Sparks Debate Over Fiscal Note

The Senate considered bills Friday on welfare programs, the Crown Act, oil and gas taxes, and a bill that would affect West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

The Crown Act, a bill that would prohibit racial discrimination based on certain hair textures and hairstyles, hit the Senate floor Friday.

Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, is a sponsor of Senate Bill 496 and the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee approved the bill Thursday evening following testimony from Veronica Clay-Bunch, Miss Black West Virginia.

“Whenever it comes to wearing ethnic hairstyles, sometimes we do tend to have issues with being discriminated against,” Clay-Bunch said.

The bill was read for the first time and then debate erupted.

Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, asked for the bill to be sent to the Senate Finance Committee, which he chairs. He indicated he was concerned there might be costs associated with the bill that had not been discussed.

Trump asked for evidence of the fiscal implications, and then opposed the motion to send the bill to the Finance Committee. He said it was unnecessary for the bill to go to Finance, because the bill would not increase expenses to the state.

“In fact, I think this bill, if we pass it will reduce, has a chance to reduce expenses to the state,” Trump said.

He reiterated that it is already illegal to discriminate against someone because of race in the state.

“This bill simply clarifies that if you discriminate against someone because of his or her hairstyle associated with his or her race, it qualifies as racial discrimination,” Trump said.

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, said the bill passed the Senate four years ago without a fiscal note.

“I don’t know what the motive is for moving this bill to Finance this late in the session, but I can certainly anticipate what the motive is,” Caputo said.

The Senate voted 22-12 to send the bill to the Finance Committee.

All bills have to be out of committee by Sunday, Feb. 25 to have a chance at making it across the finish line.

Senate Bill 562 expands job training requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients.

West Virginia has the second lowest labor participation rate in the United States, behind Mississippi.

Sen. Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh, lead sponsor of the bill, said it would address multigenerational dependence on welfare.

“I would describe this legislation as in this bill as a compassionately structured three year plan designed to gradually wean able-bodied adults without dependent children off of SNAP benefits,” Roberts said.

There is no fiscal note on the bill. Roberts said that counties can fund these programs using opioid settlement funds.

Caputo asked for the bill to be sent to Finance. Tarr opposed the motion.

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing, quite frankly,” Caputo said.

Caputo and Tarr debated why one bill was getting a fiscal note, and another bill that would involve programs that require some form of funding was not going to the Finance Committee. Ultimately, the bill was passed by the Senate without Caputo’s motion and heads to the House for consideration.

Senate Bill 844 would directly affect West Virginia Public Broadcasting. It changes the name of the oversight committee from the Educational Broadcasting Authority to Educational Broadcasting Commission. But it also shifts the ability to select the executive director to the secretary of Arts, Culture and History.

Caputo read a letter from a constituent urging him to vote no.

“It happens to come from two of my constituents who happen to be pretty large donors to the public broadcasting system. Now, I’m not going to mention their names, but, ‘I’m writing in hopes that you will vote against Senate Bill 844. This bill will fundamentally change public broadcasting by changing it to a state commission. West Virginia Public Broadcasting is funded by donations, of which my husband and I contribute generously, and bequests. Our donations are specifically for the independent journalism provided by WVPB. We’re not going to be supporters if our donations are simply to a state commission, which can be raided by a future governor to fund other pet projects,’” Caputo read.

The bill was passed by the Senate and heads to the House for consideration.

Huntington, Morgantown Again Top Cities On LGBTQ Equality Index

Charleston came close, at 92. All three cities were recognized by the organization as “all stars” with at least an 85.

For the third year in a row, Huntington and Morgantown scored a perfect 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s municipal equality index.

Charleston came close at 92. All three cities were recognized by the organization as “all stars” with at least an 85. West Virginia is one of 20 states that lack statewide protections against discrimination for sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Human Rights Campaign is a national LGBTQ rights organization based in Washington, D.C.

Out of more than 500 cities the organization scored, 129 received a perfect score. The average among all cities was 71, up from 69 last year and 67 in 2021. Only five cities scored a zero.

In West Virginia, Wheeling scored a 76. Charles Town got a 45 and Lewisburg a 43. Parkersburg scored 13.

The index considers local anti-discrimination laws, the municipality as an employer, law enforcement and local leadership on LGBTQ issues.

Public Hearing To Focus On Government, Religious Freedoms

The law would establish a judicial test if a complainant said a government action, with a few compelling exceptions, would substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion.

A public hearing is set for Friday on a bill “relating to forbidding government limitations on the exercise of religion.” The contentious proposal failed in 2016.

Del. Jonathan Pinson, R-Mason, is the lead sponsor of House Bill 3042 called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The law would establish a judicial test if a complainant said a government action, with a few compelling exceptions, would substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion.

Pinson used the example of a Mennonite legally compelled to place an orange rather than a white slow moving vehicle sign on the back of a horse and buggy.

“A white reflective placard is just as effective at warning motorists of a slow moving vehicle as a bright orange one. Orange is not against my religion, I don’t have a conviction against it,” Pinson said. “But there are religious minorities that do have a conviction against it. So the long story short, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is to protect religious minorities and to protect religious conviction.”

Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, is among those lawmakers saying religious freedom is already guaranteed by the First Amendment, and has concerns that the bill would nullify anti-discrimination protections enacted by West Virginia municipalities.

“It could strike down any law that we already have on the books based on somebody saying that it interferes with their religion,” Garcia said. “However, it’s not necessarily religious activities. It’s in the daily things that we do. It’s whether somebody can get a job, whether somebody can get housing. There’s a lot of situations where there may be discrimination and I think that this is a type of bill that can be used to allow a group of people to discriminate against someone else and use religion as an excuse for that.”

Pinson said the federal government passed a Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993 and since then, 31 states have enacted a form of the act, either in code or by judicial edict. He said the law has not been used to thwart local anti-discrimination protections.

Garcia said he knew of several situations where anti-discrimination problems with the law did come into play.

West Virginia’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act was advanced by the House Judiciary Committee to the House floor.

The Judiciary Committee will host a public hearing on HB 3042 from 4 to 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24 in the House chamber. Sign-ups to speak will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the chamber.

Report Examines Discrimination For Gay, Transgender West Virginians

Researchers in California, working with a researcher at WVU, published a report Tuesday on discrimination against gay and transgender West Virginians.

The report focused on discrimination faced by roughly 57,800 gay and transgender adults in West Virginia. It was prepared by the Williams Institute, a UCLA think tank for laws dealing with sexual orientation and gender identity.

Reporter Emily Allen spoke with Christy Mallory, the legal director for the Williams Institute, about the report and how West Virginia compares to other states that researchers observed.

ALLEN: Just jumping into the report, you mention a social and political climate index for LGBT people in the U.S.

On this index, West Virginia is in a three-way tie for last place. Can you talk about what this index is and how it works, what it means?

MALLORY: What that index does is, it looks at social acceptance of LGBTQ people using basically public opinion attitudes towards LGBTQ people and LGBTQ rights.

So they [study participants] were asked questions like, “Do you support marriage for same sex couples?” “Do you support adoption rights for same sex couples?” “Do you think LGBTQ people should be protected from discrimination in the workplace?”

Using answers to those questions, we were able to develop this state-by-state index, to really see what’s going on across the states in terms of social acceptance.

I want to say, it’s been a while since we were able to do that analysis because the data was older. I think [the data] has probably changed now, and I think that what we’re seeing is all states moving to become more accepting.

ALLEN: So how does West Virginia differ from other states that you’ve looked at, in terms of the laws we have? How many gay and transgender residents do we have, what are their experiences?

MALLORY: Our findings are pretty consistent across the states we’ve looked at so far.

I will say that the economic outcomes for all people in West Virginia, but especially LGBTQ people, were quite surprising. We see very high percentages, for example, of LGBTQ people in West Virginia experiencing economic insecurities like food insecurity, or low household income and other things like that.

ALLEN: The report lists about a dozen incidents where gay and transgender adults experienced discrimination either while trying to obtain a driver’s license, employment, access to housing and health care. So with all that in mind, what does discrimination in West Virginia look like?

MALLORY: We saw consistency in this report with our other reports, which is that trans people tend to face higher levels of discrimination than LGBT people. That’s consistently found in national studies and statewide studies. And we’re seeing it again here, reflected in West Virginia.

Discrimination doesn’t just mean that people are being turned away from needed health care services. It can also mean that people are afraid to seek out those services in the first place, even when the health care doesn’t have anything to do with who they are or their gender identity.

We might see, for example, trans people avoiding going to hospitals, because they’re afraid of discrimination. Now is really an important time to make sure that’s not happening to anybody.

ALLEN: Economically, you and other researchers in this [report] paint a picture of what West Virginia loses, you know, when gay and transgender members don’t have the support that they might need. What do those losses look like?

MALLORY: This research that we’ve done builds on a body of research, finding that stigma and discrimination against people, no matter who they are, leads to health disparities and economic insecurity.

So for example, research has found that discrimination can lead to increased prevalence of certain coping behaviors, things we think people engage in, because they’re stressed out or upset. Things like binge drinking, and smoking and also mental health issues like depression.

That’s why when we examined these health outcomes in this report, we were really looking for health behaviors that are tied to experiences of discrimination, and also economic insecurities that are tied to discrimination in employment, for example, leading to lower wages and having a low income household.

ALLEN: The report also goes kind of in-depth with what some of these disparities look like for young people in West Virginia who are gay or transgender. (The Williams Institute reports there are 10,300 gay and transgender people under 18 who are living in West Virginia.)

What should West Virginians, as we’re looking at a non discrimination-type law, consider for young people affected by this?

MALLORY: There’s definitely laws and policies that can be enacted to really get at what’s going on in schools, as well. For example, anti-bullying laws can be expanded to protect specifically LGBTQ students by adding the characteristics “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list of characteristics from which students are protected from bullying and harassment.

And our research actually shows that when states make that move and add characteristics like sexual orientation and gender identity to their anti-bullying laws, it helps not only LGBTQ students but all students. We see that where states have those enumerated anti-bullying laws in place, risk of suicidality among all students decreases bullying and harassment for all students decreases and other positive outcomes.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.