DEI office ban for nearly every government but public colleges

The text as introduced · 667 words

89R4133 RDS-F

By: Gerdes
H.B. No. 1521

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion

initiatives by certain governmental entities.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subtitle A, Title 6, Government Code, is amended

by adding Chapter 621 to read as follows:

CHAPTER 621. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND

INCLUSION INITIATIVES

Sec. 621.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:

(1) "Diversity, equity, and inclusion office" means an

office, division, or other unit of a governmental entity

established for the purpose of:

(A) influencing hiring or employment practices

or workforce composition at the entity with respect to race, sex,

color, or ethnicity, other than through the use of color-blind,

race-neutral, and sex-neutral hiring processes in accordance with

any applicable state and federal antidiscrimination laws;

(B) promoting differential treatment or

providing special benefits to individuals on the basis of race,

sex, color, or ethnicity;

(C) promoting policies or procedures designed or

implemented in reference to race, sex, color, or ethnicity, other

than policies or procedures:

(i) approved in writing by the attorney

general; and

(ii) implemented for the sole purpose of

ensuring compliance with any applicable federal law;

(D) conducting trainings, programs, or

activities designed or implemented in reference to race, sex,

color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation, other

than trainings, programs, or activities:

(i) developed by an attorney;

(ii) approved in writing by the attorney

general; and

(iii) conducted for the sole purpose of

ensuring compliance with any applicable court order or state or

federal law; or

(E) promoting, as an official position of the

entity, a particular opinion referencing unconscious or implicit

bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology,

microaggressions, group marginalization, anti-racism, systemic

oppression, social justice, intersectionality, neo-pronouns,

heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender theory, racial or

sexual privilege, or any related formulation of the these concepts.

(2) "Governmental entity" means:

(A) a department, commission, board, office, or

other agency that is in the executive branch of state government and

that was created by the constitution or a statute, other than an

institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003,

Education Code;

(B) the legislature or a legislative state

agency;

(C) the supreme court, the court of criminal

appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, or the Texas Judicial

Council or another agency in the judicial branch of state

government;

(D) a county, municipality, special purpose

district, including a school district, or any other political

subdivision of this state; or

(E) an open-enrollment charter school

established under Subchapter D, Chapter 12, Education Code.

Sec. 621.002. RESPONSIBILITY OF GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY

REGARDING DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION INITIATIVES. A

governmental entity shall ensure that each unit of the entity does

not, except as required by federal law:

(1) establish or maintain a diversity, equity, and

inclusion office; or

(2) hire or assign an employee of the entity or

contract with a third party to perform the duties of a diversity,

equity, and inclusion office.

Sec. 621.003. COMPLAINT; ENFORCEMENT. (a) A person who has

a reasonable belief that a governmental entity is violating this

chapter may file a complaint with the attorney general.

(b) If the attorney general determines that a governmental

entity named in a complaint received under Subsection (a) is

violating this chapter, the attorney general may file a petition

for a writ of mandamus to compel the governmental entity to comply

with this chapter.

(c) A mandamus action under Subsection (b) must be filed in:

(1) Travis County, if the governmental entity is an

entity described by Section 621.001(2)(A)-(C); or

(2) the county in which the governmental entity is

located, if the governmental entity is an entity described by

Section 621.001(2)(D) or (E).

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives

a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as

provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this

Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this

Act takes effect September 1, 2025.