The Tennessee General Assembly sent two bills cracking down on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to Republican Governor Bill Lee’s desk on Tuesday as the legislative session came to a close.
One bill would ban publicly funded universities and state and local governments from maintaining DEI offices, while the other bill would prohibit those same entities from making hiring decisions based on race. Both bills passed with overwhelming Republican support.
“DEI violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson said on Tuesday. “We don’t need DEI in our state, Mr. Speaker. We need to hire people and promote people based on their merit. Diversity is a wonderful thing and it will happen. But we’re not going to make diversity the number one objective when we’re trying to serve our constituents and hire good people to take care of our constituents. It will be based on qualifications and merit.”
Johnson was the prime Senate sponsor of both the “Dismantling DEI Departments Act,” which prohibits DEI offices for publicly funded entities, and the “Dismantle DEI Act,” which bans public entities from making hiring decisions based on DEI.
“We want to make sure that we are not discriminating when it comes to hiring people at all levels of government in the state of Tennessee. Similarly, we want to make sure that we are not discriminating when it comes to delivering services to our constituents,” Johnson said from the Senate floor on Tuesday.
The “Dismantling DEI Departments Act” passed the Senate 26-6 and the House 72-25, while the “Dismantle DEI Act” passed the Senate 27-6 and the House 73-24.
The Dismantling DEI Department Act would prohibit state government departments or agencies, county governments, city governments, and public universities “from maintaining or authorizing an office or department that promotes or requires discriminatory preferences in an effort to increase diversity, equity, or inclusion,” according to a summary of the bill.
Its companion bill, the “Dismantling DEI Act,” would prohibit those same entities from basing hiring decisions on characteristics like race and sex, “rather than on individual merit, qualifications, veteran status, or lawful eligibility criteria.”
DEI has been a hot topic in the state in recent weeks, especially at major universities like Vanderbilt, which was accused of “concealing” its DEI programs in violation of President Donald Trump’s executive order for universities that receive federal funding to eliminate DEI programs.
After pressure from Senator Marsha Blackburn, Vanderbilt confirmed that it would be continuing to take steps to get rid of DEI at the university.
