Counties and cities in Iowa would be blocked from having diversity, equity and inclusion offices under a bill advanced by an Iowa House panel Tuesday.
The bill would prohibit efforts to make city and county offices more diverse based on factors such as race, sex, color, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation. They also couldn’t require people to submit diversity, equity and inclusion statements.
Chuck Hurley, a lobbyist with The Family Leader, supports the bill. He says DEI ends up discriminating against people based on race and their political beliefs.
“We just think that people should be treated — every person should be treated as an equal human being. And we think this bill does that, [it] moves the state in that direction.”
Recently, the House passed its own bill that would block state entities, including cities and counties, from spending money on DEI offices and staff.