The state House voted 68-45 along party lines Wednesday to ban diversity, equity and inclusion in state government agencies.
The bill would ban the use of DEI in hiring practices and in employee training. The bill would define DEI as a program or policy intended to "influence hiring or employment practices with respect to race, sex, color, ethnicity, nationality, country of origin, or sexual orientation other than through the use of merit-based hiring processes." It would also ban state funding from being used in DEI programs, and it calls for employees who violate the law to be fired and face fines.
"We are not banning equal opportunity," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Brenden Jones, R-Columbus. "In fact, we're going to restore it. We are simply enforcing the principle already in North Carolina law: public jobs should go to the most qualified, not the most politically favored."
Read the full story for free here.
