PHOENIX (CN) — An Arizona House committee voted Wednesday to advance a bill that would ban government entities from requiring or spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion programs for employees.
Senate Bill 1005 would also ban government entities from creating offices or positions geared toward diversity, and prohibit the “promotion or adoption” of “allyship,” “anti-racism,” “social justice” and “inclusive language,” among others.
The bill's sponsor, state Senator Jake Hoffman, wasn’t present at the hearing. The Republican from Queen Creek hasn’t replied to an email asking why allyship and anti-racism are bad things.
The committee, chaired by Republican state Representative Tim Dunn of Yuma, voted 5-4 along party lines to pass the bill to the House floor.
If it passes the House, it will go to the governor’s desk, where Democrat Katie Hobbs is likely to veto the proposed legislation.
During public comment Wednesday morning at the House Committee on Government meeting, a former employee of the Maricopa County Health Department called diversity, equity and inclusion, often referred to as DEI, a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and “an indoctrination hammer to push a socialistic agenda.”
The dental hygienist, Michelle Banks, said she felt uncomfortable when the county asked her to participate in the training.
She said the training “portrayed white men as buffoons compared to their ethnic counterparts” and asked her and fellow employees to think about what others think of them and alter their behaviors accordingly.
“I’m only gonna believe what God tells me about me,” Banks said. “Not anybody else.”
When asked by Democrats on the committee, Banks couldn’t explain what about the training promoted socialism, saying it was “the culture of the county itself.”
She said she told her boss at the county she didn’t want to participate in what she called “offensive” training, and her boss let opt out without punishment.
State Representative Rachel Jones, a Republican from Tucson, called Banks “so lucky” that she wasn’t reprimanded and said knows people who were fired for refusing to participate in similar training sessions.
State Representative Lydia Hernandez, a Democrat from Phoenix, chalked up those issues to mismanagement, rather than an issue intrinsic to diversity training.
Jevin Hodge, a Democrat state representative from Phoenix, called the bill and similar legislation a “slippery slope” toward isolating people with disabilities.
“And I'm not gonna talk about the race piece of it,” he said. “When you see me, you see a Black man and my experiences that I’ve had.
“When we look at provisions in this bill on adopting official positions on theories of unconscious or implicit bias, allyship, equity or social justice, what I immediately see is our folks that have different abilities. If you are disabled in some way shape or form, this will prevent us from educating on how to [include you in the workplace].”
Hodge wagered a guess that every member of the committee is an ally to somebody who is disabled in some way, asking why that can’t be promoted by government entities. He added that this bill and similar policies will discourage businesses from bringing economic prosperity to the state because they give the state a bad reputation.
State Representative John Gillette, a Republican from Kingman, voted to support the bill because he doesn’t think public money should be spent on the ideas listed. “It matters not the color of your skin,” he said.
Representative Dunn, as he voted yes, reminded that committee that the bill doesn’t prohibit trainings on workplace sexual harassment and other things required by federal law.
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