A fast-moving, 11th-hour push for a legislative ban on DEI is headed to the House floor.
The House Education Committee Wednesday passed a far-reaching bill to stamp out campus diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The bill comes on the heels of a State Board of Education policy banning DEI-aligned student support centers — and an attempt to cut budgets at Boise State University and the University of Idaho, based in part of DEI concerns. But the bill’s co-sponsor said Senate Bill 1198 would stamp out mandatory DEI programs, and encourage “robust and free debate” on campus.
“We’ve moved away from that noble goal,” said Sen. Ben Toews, R-Coeur d’Alene.
SB 1198 would prohibit DEI-based discrimination in hiring and college admissions, diversity training programs, and DEI offices. It would allow the attorney general to investigate possible violations, and seek fines — and it would allow students or staff to seek financial damages.
But Toews sought to point out what his bill wouldn’t do. It wouldn’t restrict research or creative projects, student activities that do not receive state funding, or guest speakers and performances, as long as attendance is voluntary. Students can still pursue a degree in a DEI discipline, Toews said, “as long as it’s a chosen degree.”
Public testimony was mixed. And at times, committee members grilled witnesses.
Samuel Lair of the Idaho Freedom Foundation spoke in favor of the bill — saying principles such as antiracism have permeated campus programs. Rep. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, asked Lair if being opposed to racism is social activism, and if social activism is bad. Lair said he believes DEI adherents want to dismantle and rebuild a society that is fundamentally racist.
Mary Mosley of the American Association of University Women’s Idaho chapter testified against the bill, saying it threatens the heart of her group’s mission: equity for women and girls. Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, grilled Mosley — asking her why her group doesn’t also support equity in sports, by opposing transgender athletes from playing in women’s and girls’ sports.
By comparison, the committee’s debate was subdued.
Rep. Mark Sauter, R-Sandpoint, pushed to keep the bill in committee to allow lawmakers some time to do more research. Rep. Kyle Harris, R-Lewiston, urged colleagues to focus on the basics. Harris said the bill would make DEI “good again,” by eliminating programs that divide, exclude and isolate.
The committee voted 10-4 to send SB 1198 to the House floor for amendments. The House amended the bill Wednesday, reworking the fines. The rewrite would allow the attorney general to seek fines of up to $50,000, or 10% from the college or university office that violated the law.
SB 1198 has been moving quickly through the Statehouse, as lawmakers hope to wrap up the 2025 session in the next few days. The Senate State Affairs Committee passed it Friday and the Senate voted for it on Monday.
But the bill has been in the works for months, and grew out of a House-Senate DEI work group that began meeting last fall.
And Ehardt, a member of that work group, noted that some lawmakers have been pushing back against campus politics for years. “I feel like I have been on this committee since 2019.”
Competing ‘medical freedom’ bills advance
Competing “medical freedom” bills advanced through the House and Senate.
The House made short work of House Bill 472, passing this on the floor Wednesday afternoon, hours after the House State Affairs Committee heard the bill and endorsed it. The Senate also moved quickly on Senate Bill 1210; the Senate State Affairs Committee sent it to the floor Wednesday morning, and senators amended the bill in the afternoon.
Both bills would bar schools from mandating a “medical intervention for any person to attend school, enter campus or school buildings, or be employed by the school.” They’re late-session attempts at reworking an earlier “medical freedom” bill — Senate Bill 1023 — that Gov. Brad Little vetoed.
In his letter explaining the veto, Little said he was concerned the bill would contradict state laws that allow school officials to send sick or unvaccinated children home during an outbreak. That’s a component in the rewrite: HB 472 says the medical freedom law would not “supersede” the state law on school outbreak protocols.
Wednesday’s House debate only touched on this issue. Instead, lawmakers quarreled about what the bill would mean for businesses. Opponents pointed to language that says businesses cannot refuse service to a customer who has not received a medical treatment. Supporters said the bill only would prevent businesses from mandating a treatment.
“I don’t understand the confusion here,” said Rep. Rob Beiswenger, R-Horseshoe Bend, the bill’s floor sponsor. At one point, a visibly irritated Beiswenger refused to field questions from opponents.
The House passed HB 472, 46-21. That sends the bill to the Senate, where the competing Senate bill is already on the docket.
House advances BSU, U of I budget cuts
House members debated whether DEI-related budget cuts to Boise State University and University of Idaho are punitive.
But the ultimate vote didn’t reflect the controversy over a bill that would trim $2 million from each university’s budget. The House passed Senate Bill 1209 on a 64-2 vote, sending it to Gov. Brad Little’s desk.
Two Republicans who represent U of I were at the center of the debate.
Rep. Brandon Mitchell, a Moscow Republican and member of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, said the cuts aren’t punitive but rather a “compromise, to pull this budget into control.” Mitchell, who supported the budget cuts, credited U of I administrators and professors for listening to the Legislature’s concerns over diversity, equity and inclusion, and he lauded students who support Republican candidates.
“As I drive through the campus, I see a lot of Trump stickers, I see a lot of pickup trucks. It really does have a very conservative feel. … In this last election, I was watching the numbers as they were coming through, and my numbers were increasing as the student numbers were coming in.”
On the other hand, Rep. Lori McCann, a Lewiston Republican and Mitchell’s District 6 seatmate, said U of I is being “punished” — not only for DEI but also for pursuing a purchase of the University of Phoenix. The universities have already faced budget cuts over DEI, and the situation has been “rectified,” McCann said.
“When we punish our children, we don’t punish them over and over and over,” said McCann, who did vote for the bill.
State universities late last year closed student centers geared toward women or students of color, among other offices and programs that could run afoul of the State Board of Education’s prohibition on “DEI ideology.”
Only Reps. Kyle Harris, R-Lewiston, and James Petzke, R-Meridian, voted against SB 1209. The bill also includes $1 million for the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute.
Senate approves bill allowing local governments to tap state legal defense funds
Senate Republicans Wednesday unanimously endorsed a bill that would allow local governments to seek state aid while defending state laws.
Senate Bill 1125 aims to help local governments defending House Bill 710 — last year’s “harmful” materials library law — and other state laws challenged on constitutional grounds. The bill would allow local governments to apply for assistance from the state’s Constitutional Defense Fund.
The Senate approved the bill on a party-line vote.
Democrats argued against paying for lawsuits that result from laws passed by the Legislature’s Republican supermajority.
“These lawsuits against local governments don’t just happen,” said Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello. “They happen because the Idaho legislature passes laws that are constitutionally dubious.”
Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog took issue with that characterization. Bills have “different understandings” and “different interpretations.”
“The courts are there for a reason,” said Den Hartog, R-Meridian. “We also know that, sometimes, laws are challenged just to be challenged. Sometimes it is on the issue, not on the constitutionality.”
The bill now heads to the House.
Budget-writers redo House Bill 93 administrative costs
Budget-writers Wednesday hit reset on a State Tax Commission spending bill that would fund seven positions to administer House Bill 93’s private education tax credit.
The bill would give the Tax Commission $100 less than a nearly identical budget bill that the Senate rejected Monday. The new bill would fund seven positions at $549,900 along with programming costs at $125,000.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee voted 16-2 to advance the new budget. Sens. Glenneda Zuiderveld, R-Twin Falls, and Phil Hart, R-Kellogg, opposed it.
Senate approves program spending with tobacco settlement funds
The Senate Wednesday approved a budget bill that would divide the Millennium Fund — the state’s tobacco settlement money — for the upcoming fiscal year.
Senate Bill 1215 would spend $2.5 million on youth assessment centers, $2 million on school resource officers, $1.5 million on after-school programs and $500,000 on a fentanyl campaign.
The Senate approved the bill 26-9, after a brief debate.
Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking said she would “reluctantly” support the bill, even though it zeroed out a few recommendations from the Joint Millennium Fund Committee. The advisory committee suggested continued funding for a youth assessment survey along with vape detectors, but the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee declined to fund these line items.
“There’s $40 million sitting in the Millennium Income Fund that could be used to help prevent vaping and substance abuse with our children, and it’s disappointing to see that some of these recommendations were not approved,” said Ward-Engelking, D-Boise.
SB 1215 now heads to the House.
Senate OKs literacy coaching funds
Also Wednesday, the Senate approved a budget bill tied to a literacy coaching program that the Legislature enacted and Gov. Brad Little signed into law earlier this session.
The Senate voted 22-11 to approve $15 million in spending over the next three years to coach K-12 teachers on the science of reading. Senate Bill 1213 funds the program enacted through Senate Bill 1069.
The budget bill now goes to the House.
House kills one education budget, passes another
An ongoing fight over a busing project drove a K-12 budget bill into the ditch, again.
The House rejected a bill to put an additional $600,000 into the K-12 central services budget.
The entire line item would have paid for a pilot program, allowing schools to test a transportation software system. Supporters say the software would enable districts to save money on gas and busing paperwork.
The Idaho Department of Education had requested $5 million for the program. And the budget-writing Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has tried, twice, to come up with a funding number that will pass the House. The House rejected a $2.2 million budget last week. The $600,000 request failed on a 31-35 vote.
State Board of Education. In other budget business, the House passed a State Board of Education budget that zeroes out one of Gov. Brad Little’s budget priorities.
The $361,000 budget bill funds an assortment of State Board line items. But it contains no money for a public-private partnership to help grow career-technical education and workforce training programs.
Little had requested $15 million for the one-time grant program. JFAC proposed $5 million, but the House rejected it.
Rep. James Petzke, a JFAC member, carried the zeroed-out budget bill, but he was lukewarm about it. “This is where we’re at,” said Petzke, R-Meridian.
The budget passed, 40-27, and goes to Little’s desk.