The Iowa Senate passed legislation to ban all forms of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in local governments not required by anti-discrimination laws Tuesday.
Senate File 507, which passed 34-15 along party lines, would prohibit Iowa’s cities and counties from having DEI positions, training, or policies.
The bill specifies that DEI includes “any effort to manipulate or otherwise influence the composition” of a county or city board, office, or employee positions with “reference to race, sex, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation, apart from ensuring colorblind and sex-neutral hiring in accordance with state and federal anti-discrimination laws.”
However, the bill clarifies it does not prohibit de-escalation techniques and prevention of bias training.
Iowa Sen. Cherielynn Westrich, R-Ottumwa, said the bill will help Iowa align with what the federal government is doing. The legislation follows a nationwide sweep of DEI led by President Donald Trump, including several extensive executive orders seeking to end government support for programs promoting DEI.
“Within the context of local government, inclusion should mean to allow people of every background and identity to participate in groups, associations, and obtain positions within local government,” Westrich said. “But in their DEI context and DEI trainings, these words all mean one thing — applying unequal standards to ensure preferential outcomes for individuals and groups based on race, sex, and gender identity.”
Westrich said Iowa taxpayers deserve the use of the best hiring practices and to hire the very best people.
“Why would we not just hire the very best person, regardless of their particular characteristics,” Westrich said.
Senate Democrats spoke against the bill, warning of its influence on the workforce and the importance of DEI practices.
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Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner, D-Iowa City, voted against the bill, and said DEI is supposed to open up that hiring process to a larger pool of qualified applicants.
“Diversity, equity, and inclusion was actually created, among other things, to drain the swamp,” Weiner said, referencing a phrase used by the Republican party to decrease government waste. “It was created to help avoid cronies and persons well connected to the boss from being appointed to or hired for positions for which they are under-qualified or unqualified.”
Weiner said DEI does not seek to elevate minority groups over others but rather to ensure marginalized people are not being discriminated against or excluded.
DEI is a framework to help grow a business or organization and could be used to grow businesses and the economy, Weiner said.
Iowa Sen. Liz Bennett, D-Cedar Rapids, said Iowa should be a place where everyone can succeed, yet this bill sends a message of exclusion and hostility.
Bennet said the bill tells young people, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, they are not welcome in Iowa.
“It doesn’t encourage them to stay, to invest in our communities, or to move back home after college,” Bennet said. “It weakens us as a state and a people.”
Bennet said banning DEI and ignoring barriers to opportunity is the same as willfully keeping those barriers in place.
“It is a deliberate choice to structure society in a way that benefits only one particular group of people while denying opportunity to others,” she said.
The bill will now be sent to the Iowa House for consideration where no companion legislation exists.