Prohibiting institutions of higher learning governed by the state board of regents from expending moneys to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or to hire individuals to serve as diversity, equity, and inclusion officers, creating a private cause of action, and including effective date provisions

This bill prohibits institutions of higher learning governed by the state board of regents (public institutions of higher education) from expending moneys to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or to hire individuals to serve as diversity, equity, and inclusion officers. The bill prohibits public institutions of higher education from expending any moneys appropriated by the general assembly or any other moneys derived from bequests, charges, deposits, donations, endowments, fees, grants, gifts, income, receipts, tuition, or any other source to establish, sustain, support, or staff a diversity, equity, and inclusion office, or to contract, employ, engage, or hire an individual to serve as a diversity, equity, and inclusion officer. The bill provides that this prohibition does not affect a public institution of higher education’s funding of academic course instruction, research or creative works, activities of registered student organizations, arrangements for guest speakers and performers with short-term engagements, mental or physical health services provided by licensed professionals, or policies or procedures related to diversity, equity, and inclusion that are required pursuant to a contract with a federal governmental entity. The bill also provides that this prohibition shall not be construed as prohibiting bona fide qualifications based on sex that are reasonably necessary to the normal operation of public higher education. The bill prohibits public institutions of higher education from expending any moneys appropriated by the general assembly for a fiscal year beginning on or after July 1, 2023, until the public institution of higher education files with the state board of regents a report that details the institution’s compliance with the bill’s provisions. The bill authorizes the attorney general to bring an action against a public institution of higher education for a writ of mandamus to compel the public institution of higher education to comply with these prohibitions. The bill also authorizes a student, faculty member, or alumnus of a public institution of higher education alleging a violation of the bill’s provisions to bring a civil action for injunctive relief against the public institution of higher education to prohibit the public institution of higher education from continuing such violation. The bill establishes the venue in which such actions may be brought. The bill requires public institutions of higher education to reallocate all unexpended moneys appropriated by the general assembly in FY 2022-2023 that would have been expended on diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or diversity, equity, and inclusion officers on or after the effective date of the bill to merit scholarships for lower-income and middle-income students and to reduce tuition and mandatory fees for resident students. The bill defines “diversity, equity, and inclusion”, “diversity, equity, and inclusion office”, “diversity, equity, and inclusion officer”, “gender identity”, “public institution of higher education”, and “sexual orientation”. The bill takes effect upon enactment.