Black advocacy groups protest demise of CROWN Act with $5,500 check.

TLDR:

• Black advocacy groups protested the demise of the CROWN Act by presenting a $5,500 check in front of the Senate Finance office.
• The bill, which was intended to prohibit discrimination based on race, was blocked by Sen. Eric Tarr due to fiscal implications.

Following the death of the CROWN Act – SB 496, advocacy groups raised $5,500 in just under 48 hours to protest the bill’s demise. The bill, which aimed to prevent discrimination based on race, particularly related to hair textures and protective hairstyles, was blocked by Sen. Eric Tarr due to significant fiscal implications. The advocacy groups based their check on the fiscal note from the attorney general’s office, which estimated initial implementation costs of $10,000 with subsequent annual costs of $5,000. Despite the bill’s death, the funds raised will be distributed among various Black-led organizations in West Virginia. The advocacy groups emphasized the importance of the legislation and expressed confusion over Sen. Tarr’s decision to block it, stating that $5,000 is a small amount in the state budget compared to the significance of the bill’s intentions.