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Senate Bill 17 |
Senate Author: Creighton et al. |
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Effective: 1-1-24 |
House Sponsor: Kuempel et al. |
Senate Bill 17 amends the Education Code to provide for a prohibition against a public institution of higher education doing the following:
· establishing or maintaining a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) office;
· hiring or assigning an employee or contracting with a third party to perform the duties of a DEI office;
· compelling, requiring, inducing, or soliciting any person to provide a DEI statement or giving preferential consideration to any person based on the provision of such a statement;
· giving preference on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin to an applicant for employment, an employee, or a participant in any function of the institution; or
· requiring any person to participate in DEI training as a condition of enrolling at the institution or performing any institution function.
Among other provisions relating to the scope and enforcement of that prohibition, the bill prohibits an institution from spending appropriated money until the institution's governing board certifies compliance with the bill's provisions during the preceding state fiscal year and provides for periodic compliance audits by the state auditor. An institution that is determined to have spent state money in violation of the bill's provisions and fails to cure the violation during a prescribed grace period is ineligible to receive formula funding increases, institutional enhancements, or exceptional items during the next state fiscal biennium. The bill requires the governing board of each institution to testify before the applicable legislative committees each interim regarding compliance with the bill's provisions and requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to conduct a biennial study on the impact of the bill's implementation.