Gerdes DEI Bill Exempts Any Training Labeled Federal Compliance

The text as introduced · 1,333 words

89R18142 TYPED

By: Gerdes
H.B. No. 4552

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the Texas Antidiscrimination Act.

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

SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the Texas

Antidiscrimination Act.

SECTION 2. Subtitle A, Title 6, Government Code, is amended

by adding Chapter 621 to read as follows:

CHAPTER 621. PROHIBITION ON DISCRIMINATORY INITIATIVES

Sec. 621.001. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS; PURPOSE. (a) The

legislature finds that:

(1) Section 3, Article I, Texas Constitution (Equal

Protection Clause), provides that "[a]ll freemen, when they form a

social compact, have equal rights, and no man, or set of men, is

entitled to exclusive separate public emoluments, or privileges,

but in consideration of public service;"

(2) Section 3a, Article I, Texas Constitution (Equal

Rights Amendment), provides that "[e]quality under the law shall

not be denied or abridged because of sex, race, color, creed, or

national origin;"

(3) The Texas Constitution's Equal Rights Amendment

was designed expressly to provide protection which supplements the

federal guarantees of equal treatment;

(4) The Texas Constitution's Equal Rights Amendment is

more extensive and provides more specific protection than both the

United States and Texas due-process and equal-protection

guarantees; and

(5) The discriminatory initiatives described in this

chapter are antithetical to Texas Constitution's Equal Protection

Clause and Equal Rights Amendment and lack a rational relationship

to a legitimate governmental purpose such that the initiatives

violate Texas's Equal Protection Clause and Equal Rights Amendment;

and

(6) Texans deserve a government committed to serving

every person with equal dignity and respect and to expending

precious taxpayer resources only on making Texas great for all

Texans.

(b) The purpose of this act is to prevent the unlawful

discrimination that is antithetical to the Texas Constitution's

Equal Protection Clause and Equal Rights Amendment. This act does

not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,

enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the

governmental entities listed in Section 621.002(2), except as

provided by Section 621.004.

Sec. 621.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:

(1) "Discriminatory 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 enacted before

September 1, 2025;

(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 enacted before September 1, 2025; 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 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. 621.003. RESPONSIBILITY OF GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY

REGARDING DISCRIMINATORY INITIATIVES. (a) A governmental entity

shall ensure that each unit of the entity does not, except as

required by federal law:

(1) does not, except as required by federal law:

(A) establish or maintain a discriminatory

office;

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

contract with a third party to perform the duties of a

discriminatory office;

(C) compel, require, induce, or solicit any

person to provide a discriminatory statement or give preferential

consideration to any person based on the provision of a

discriminatory statement;

(D) give preference on the basis of race, sex,

color, ethnicity, or national origin to an applicant for

employment, an employee, or a participant in any function of the

entity; or

(E) require as a condition of employment any

person to participate in discriminatory training, which:

(i) includes a training, program, or

activity designed or implemented in reference to race, sex, color,

ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation; and

(ii) does not include a training, program,

or activity developed for the purpose of ensuring compliance with

any applicable federal law; and

(2) adopts policies and procedures for appropriately

disciplining, including by termination, an employee or contractor

of the entity who engages in conduct in violation of Subdivision

(1).

(b) Subsection (a)(1) may not be construed to apply to:

(1) academic course instruction;

(2) scholarly research or a creative work by a school

district's or open-enrollment charter school's students or faculty;

(3) an activity of a student organization registered

with or recognized by a school district or open-enrollment charter

school;

(4) guest speakers or performers on short-term

engagements;

(5) a program or activity to enhance student academic

achievement or postgraduate outcomes that allows participation

without regard to race, sex, color, or ethnicity; or

(6) data collection.

Sec. 621.004. 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 621.002(2)(A)-(C); or

(2) the county in which the governmental entity is

located, if the governmental entity is an entity described by

Section 621.002(2)(D) or (E).

SECTION 3. Subchapter Z, Chapter 2252, Government Code, is

amended by adding Section 2252.911 to read as follows:

Sec. 2252.911. PROHIBITED CONSIDERATIONS IN CONTRACTING.

(a) In this section, "governmental entity" has the meaning

assigned by Section 2252.001, except that the term does not include

an institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003,

Education Code.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law, a governmental entity

may not award a contract or provide preferential or discriminatory

treatment to a person submitting a bid for a contract on the basis

of race, color, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, or sexual

orientation.

SECTION 4. The changes in law made by Section 3 of this Act

apply only to a contract entered into on or after the effective date

of this Act. A contract entered into before that date is governed

by the law in effect on the date the contract was entered into, and

the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 5. 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.