Harrisburg, PA – November 19, 2025 – Today, the Pennsylvania Senate passed the CROWN Act (HB439) with a vote of 44-3. This legislation ensures that no one in Pennsylvania will be denied access to professional, educational, or public spaces and opportunities because of their hair type, texture, or hairstyle.
In September 2020, after the CROWN Act was passed in the US House, Senator Hughes joined then-Representatives Joanna McClinton and Summer Lee to introduce legislation that would amend the PA Human Relations Act. Most recently, Senator Hughes has supported the advocacy of Representative La’Tasha Mayes, Speaker Joanna McClinton, and the full coalition of co-sponsors of HB 439 as they worked to advance the CROWN Act through both chambers of the state legislature.
“This law takes discrimination head on,” said Senator Hughes. “Natural hair is beautiful. This law protects Pennsylvanians by abolishing any notion that natural hairstyles are not appropriate in professional, educational, or public settings.”
The prime sponsor of HB439, Representative Mayes, explained, “I am so thrilled that my legislation to end race-based hair discrimination has passed the Senate with strong bipartisan support. The CROWN Act has been a long-time fight toward the overall goal of ending this insidious discrimination in our commonwealth that has impacted the lives and livelihoods of students, workers and Pennsylvania residents simply because of how their hair grows out of their head. I want to thank Speaker McClinton for her tireless efforts – long before I ever became a member of the PA House of Representatives – to see this bill pass out of the House and Senate which now heads to the Governor’s desk. I also want to thank Senator Hughes for being an advocate early on for this legislation, and a champion in getting it passed in the Senate.”
Senator Hughes added, “I’d like to thank my constituent, Dr. Adjoa B. Asamoah, for her fierce advocacy across the country on this issue. Pennsylvania now joins many other states in adopting this anti-discrimination legislation because Dr. Asamoah has been so deeply committed to this movement.”
“For nearly 8 consecutive years, I have worked tirelessly with leaders across the country to change laws as well as culture, and mitigate the psychological, economic, and physical harm caused by race-based hair discrimination,” said Dr. Adjoa B. Asamoah, the two-time Temple graduate who leads the national CROWN Act Coalition. “Grooming policies that reinforce Eurocentric standards of beauty and professionalism, perpetuate exclusion and racial inequity. Since deciding a public policy approach was necessary to tackle race-based hair discrimination and subsequently developing the nationwide legislative, social impact, and coalition building strategies for the movement in 2018, I have been committed to ensuring the CROWN Act becomes law in Pennsylvania. Senator Hughes has been my senator and an early supporter of this work, and I am genuinely grateful for his partnership and leadership.”
As of September 2024, 27 states including New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Nebraska and Texas have bipartisan CROWN Act laws and protections in place. In Pennsylvania, both the City of Philadelphia and the City of Pittsburgh have already enacted the CROWN Act.
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