HB 300 would amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) to add explicit, statutory protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

HB 394 would expand access to courts by adding a venue for a statutory civil action in human trafficking lawsuits. Lawsuits could be brought either where the victim resides or where the violations occurred, making it easier for trafficking victims to bring civil lawsuits by expanding the venue (or places) where they can bring the suit.

HB 716 would allow a court to impose community service in lieu of payment for traffic fines for those without the ability to pay fines and costs. Although this is already permitted under current law, many MDJs mistakenly believe that community service can't be ordered to replace payment of traffic fines. HB 716 would provide an important clarification that community service is available for traffic offenses, giving MDJs more tools in their toolbox for people who cannot pay.

HB 815 would require that all candidates for office and political action committees (PACs) in Pennsylvania utilize the Department of State’s online filing system to electronically file campaign finance reports. Requiring electronic filing would not only improve government transparency and accountability, it would save the commonwealth money by reducing bureaucratic inefficiencies.

HB 841 would limit the types of offenses for which a juvenile must provide a DNA sample after being tried as an adult or adjudicated delinquent. The bill would also require automatic expungement of juvenile DNA samples, records, or profiles once an offense is eligible for expungement.

HB 1067 would amend the Public School Code to waive the citizenship requirement for teachers to allow qualified non-citizens—those with a valid immigrant visa, work visa or employment document—to be hired as teachers. As PA is facing a steep decline in its number of qualified teachers, HB 1067 would help alleviate this shortfall, expand employment opportunities for qualified residents, and ensure that Pennsylvania's teachers better reflect the diversity of the students in their classrooms.

HB 1085 would create an Indigent Defense Advisory Committee and a grant fund to support indigent defense. Pennsylvania remains the only state in the nation that fails to provide state-level funding for public defenders and instead requires that individual counties bear 100% of the financial burden to maintain their essential—and constitutionally required—public defense services.

HB 1289 would provide property owners or homeowner associations a streamlined process to repudiate unlawful restrictive covenants from their deeds. An unlawful restrictive covenant is defined as a provision that purports to restrict ownership or occupancy of real property based on a practice or policy of discrimination against individuals or groups covered under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

HB 1394 would amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to expand the definition of “race” to include traits associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles. Protective hairstyles would include, but are not limited to, such hairstyles locs, braids, twists, coils, Bantu knots, afros and extensions. CROWN Act stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.