Florida lawmakers are pursuing a host of bills to block DEI or-diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Three proposals could dismantle diversity efforts in local governments and state agencies. They come as the Trump administration is cracking down on DEI at the federal level.
One of Florida’s bills, SB 420, would ban local governments from adopting ordinances, programs or spending money to promote preferential or differential treatment. Jacksonville Republican Senator Clay Yarborough, the bill’s sponsor, said in discussion on the bill in committee Tuesday that includes preventing local governments from spending money on celebrations like Black History Month.
“It doesn't prevent any of those celebrations from taking place. If they do take place, and it is only in the vein of one of those, one or more of those descriptors that are in the bill, it cannot receive public funds, but it could still take place in the community, even if it wasn't paid for by a local government,” he said.
Miami Gardens Democratic Senator Shevrin Jones said views the legislation as an overreach from the state government during the committee meeting.
“This is us having food fights with what counties and cities are doing that we don't agree with. And we come to Tallahassee and we act as if we are kings and queens telling them what to do and telling them, ‘Here you do what we say do, and if you don't, the governor is gonna remove you,” Jones said. “It's not democracy. We know that it is. It's authoritarianism.”
Hollywood Democratic Senator Jason Pizzo argued the bill would keep local governments from operating grant programs for minority or women-owned businesses. He believes that’s hypocritical in the same year the senate wants to support rural communities through its “Rural Renaissance” package.
“We bend over backwards to accommodate, set aside, make provisions for handouts to fiscally constrained or economically underserved communities. They just happen to be predominantly white, and now we want to target those that are not,” he said.
Former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo supported the bill in committee, but thinks changes need to come. She has concerns about how a part of the bill that talks about preferential versus differential language could be interpreted.
“Som if we provide differential treatment to a person based on sex, that could create a problem with a program that was intended for abused women, which nobody would want to get rid of,” she said. “I think we need some work there, because the differential versus preferential is challenging.”
Meanwhile lawmakers are also talking about a bill, SB 1710, that would block state agencies from creating DEI offices, or hiring private contractors that have DEI practices. And another measure, SB 440, would make it so government employers and employees would not be required to use someone’s preferred pronouns in the workplace.