A months-long GOP effort to rid North Carolina of diversity, equity and inclusion policies cleared a key final hurdle Wednesday in the state legislature, where Republican lawmakers passed bills aimed at state agencies and public education over vocal opposition from Democrats.

Legislators took up three bills targeting DEI:

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  • House Bill 171, under which no state agency could “promote, support, fund, implement or maintain workplace DEI programs, policies, or initiatives.” The bill instructs the state auditor, Republican Dave Boliek, to check state agencies for compliance and would allow anyone to sue state entities for violating the new law.
    • Senate Bill 558 would ban DEI in community colleges and public universities statewide. The UNC System has already taken steps to limit DEI policies. The bill would require the UNC System Board of Governors to adopt a policy that explicitly bans them.
      • Senate Bill 227 would ban schools from teaching what the bill calls "divisive concepts" about race, gender or the founding of America. It would also ban professional training courses for teachers or other school employees that focus on topics related to diversity, equity and inclusion.

        The bills targeting education, which advanced along party lines, are headed to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. Senate Republicans sent the bill targeting state agencies back to the House for final approval.

        Republicans say the bills are necessary to promote fairness in the state’s hiring practices, classroom discussions, or to comply with guidelines tied to federal funding. Democrats say the measures would open the door to discrimination and discourage conversations about U.S. history.

        Democrats also said Republicans are advancing the bills on a false premise. State Rep. Amos Quick, D-Guilford, took issue with the text of Senate Bill 227 that claims DEI “promotes a worldview that demands people, especially young students, to judge others based on their race, sex, or other factors.”

        “That's simply not true,” Quick said. “The exact opposite is the goal of diversity, equity, inclusion.”

        He continued: “Diversity means all people — people of different ability, age, class, ethnicity, faith, background, gender, national origin, neurodiversity and other factors — are equal, and inclusion means that everyone is able to contribute their talents, knowledge and hopes.”

        State Rep. David Willis, R-Union, said North Carolina needed to pass the bill to remain compliant with President Donald Trump’s executive orders and continue receiving federal funding. Willis also claimed, without citing a specific example, that video footage has shown state instructors “pushing indoctrination” on students.

        “The only lies are being told by those who are refusing to believe that this is true,” Willis said.

        DEI in state agencies

        The state Senate voted 26-20 to pass House Bill 171 along party lines.

        Republican agency leaders — such as State Auditor Dave Boliek and State Labor Commissioner Luke Farley — claimed earlier this year to have ended DEI policies in their office.

        Democrats currently lead the governor’s office, attorney general’s office, Department of Public Instruction, and secretary of state’s office. Some agency heads told GOP legislative leaders that they don't have DEI policies in their offices.

        The bill’s Republican authors have said the bill is needed to restore fair hiring practices, suggesting that state agencies are hiring people for reasons unrelated to their qualifications. State Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson, echoed those talking points Wednesday as his chamber debated the bill.

        “There's no place for any discrimination in the workplace,” Britt said. “I believe everyone should be treated equally, across the board.”

        Critics said the bill is unnecessary and would create what one Democrat called an “informant system” by exposing violators to professional and legal repercussions. State Sen. Sophia Chitlik, D-Durham, said the bill “casts aside decades of civil rights law and weaponizes political ideology to create fear among our public servants.”

        State Sen. Terence Everitt, D-Wake, said he’s concerned that state agencies will change their recruiting practices in response to the bill. He said they might choose to skip job fairs at historically Black universities and women’s colleges.

        “The last thing you want to do if you're [a state agency] is find yourself in the precarious position of somehow having hired too many women or too many black people to raise red flags with the state auditor,” Everitt said.

        DEI in education

        The House on Wednesday also voted 67-48 along party lines to pass Senate Bill 227, targeting DEI in public schools. The House also voted 64-47 to pass Senate Bill 558, targeting DEI in higher education.

        Stein, after receiving the bills, has 10 days to take action. He can sign them, veto them or let them become law without his signature.

        Democrats argued that Senate Bill 227 would pressure schools to avoid teaching about slavery, racism, the fight for women's rights or other parts of American history that might make some people uncomfortable.

        “Who's the decider of what is prohibited instruction by teachers and what is permissible discussion by teachers?” said state Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham. “They will be hesitant to teach about the Trail of Tears or Japanese internment camps or the Wilmington massacre, or the Greensboro Four — some of these things that are crucial to North Carolina history.”

        Senate Bill 558 comes after the UNC System has already taken steps to limit DEI policies. Last year, the system's Board of Governors cut its DEI policy and replaced it with one that emphasizes the importance of administrative neutrality. Earlier this year, the system said it is no longer requiring students to take courses focused on diversity, equity or inclusion as a condition for graduation.

        During debate on the bills Wednesday afternoon, Democrats spoke broadly about the nation’s history of protecting certain classes or people. Quick, the Guilford County Democrat, cited the Voting Rights Act of 1965, several civil rights acts passed by Congress, Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

        “When Grandma and Grandpa are able to take their walker and walk on sidewalks, that's because diversity, equity, inclusion has determined that they should have equitable access to sidewalks and trails,” Quick said.

        Wills, the Union County Republican, said DEI policies don’t deserve credit for those historical achievements.

        “Representative Quick mentioned a number of initiatives that were raised and passed throughout our federal history as a country and as a state here in North Carolina,” Willis said. “I would argue that those were passed not because of diversity, equity and inclusion, they were passed because it was the right thing to do.”