Tennessee lawmakers adjourn after passing bans on DEI initiatives

NASHVILLE Tenn AP Tennessee s Republican-led Legislature adjourned its monthslong lawmaking session on Tuesday by passing a final flurry of bills including ones aimed at diversity equity and inclusion in governments Lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that would ban local governments or higher tuition institutions from making employment decisions based on consideration of someone s race ethnicity sex age or other demographic information rather other metrics such as merit qualifications veteran status or lawful eligibility criteria They passed another bill Tuesday that would unravel offices and programs at various levels of state and local governments that promote DEI and delete age gender or race requirements on certain boards The Tennessee bills follow the lead of President Donald Trump s administration which has hinged the payout of various federal funding on the deletion of DEI considerations in both society and private organizations We want to make sure that we are not discriminating when it comes delivering services to our constituents reported Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson the bill s sponsor Democratic Sen Jeff Yarbro announced the measure goes further and erodes chosen provisions of civil rights law that have been in law for decades This is a vast overreach and we shouldn t be going after civil rights laws and pretending like we re only going after DEI Yarbro stated Specific other prominent bills noticeably didn t cross the finish line during the session that began in January One of them would have installed a state oversight board for Memphis constituents school district but it got entangled in House and Senate differences Another that was sent to die off in a committee would have added restrictions for which bathrooms and similar private areas transgender people can use in correctional facilities juvenile detention centers inhabitants higher guidance institutions and domestic violence shelters And majority of notably a proposal was halted that would have aimed to challenge the constitutional precedent for children to access a constituents instruction regardless of immigration status The bill sponsor opted to ask for federal guidance on it Lawmakers passed several other bills that take a hard line on immigration this session however including one finalized Tuesday that makes it a crime for someone to intentionally transfer house or conceal someone they know is in the country illegally if it is done for commercial advantage or private financial gain The last day of legislative action coincided with the start of jury selection for the criminal corruption trial of former House Speaker Glen Casada and his onetime top aide Cade Cothren just a meager blocks away from the Capitol in Nashville Certain lawmakers will be back downtown in the coming days or weeks to testify specific for federal prosecutors others for the defense House Speaker Cameron Sexton who has assisted federal functionaries is one of them The legislative year started with a sprint on the preponderance contentious topic on lawmakers plates In a special session over a matter of days in January they approved the governor s universal school voucher expansion project Source