By: Hughes, et al. S.B. No. 689
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to employment practices regarding diversity and
prohibiting the implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion
initiatives by certain governmental entities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle A, Title 6, Government Code, is amended
by adding Chapter 621 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 621. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND
INCLUSION INITIATIVES
Sec. 621.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Diversity, equity, and inclusion office" means an
office, division, or other unit of a governmental entity
established for the purpose of:
(A) influencing hiring or employment practices
or workforce composition at the entity with respect to race, sex,
color, or ethnicity, other than through the use of color-blind,
race-neutral, and sex-neutral hiring processes in accordance with
any applicable state and federal antidiscrimination laws;
(B) promoting differential treatment or
providing special benefits to individuals on the basis of race,
sex, color, or ethnicity;
(C) promoting policies or procedures designed or
implemented in reference to race, sex, color, or ethnicity, other
than policies or procedures:
(i) approved in writing by the attorney
general; and
(ii) implemented for the sole purpose of
ensuring compliance with any applicable federal law;
(D) conducting trainings, programs, or
activities designed or implemented in reference to race, sex,
color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation, other
than trainings, programs, or activities:
(i) developed by an attorney;
(ii) approved in writing by the attorney
general; and
(iii) conducted for the sole purpose of
ensuring compliance with any applicable court order or state or
federal law; or
(E) promoting, as an official position of the
entity, a particular opinion referencing unconscious or implicit
bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology,
microaggressions, group marginalization, anti-racism, systemic
oppression, social justice, intersectionality, neo-pronouns,
heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender theory, racial or
sexual privilege, or any related formulation of these concepts.
(2) "Governmental entity" means:
(A) a department, commission, board, office, or
other agency that is in the executive branch of state government and
that was created by the constitution or a statute, other than an
institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003,
Education Code;
(B) the legislature or a legislative state
agency;
(C) the supreme court, the court of criminal
appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, or the Texas Judicial
Council or another agency in the judicial branch of state
government; or
(D) a county, a municipality, a special purpose
district, or any other political subdivision of this state, other
than a school district.
Sec. 621.002. RESPONSIBILITY OF GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY
REGARDING DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION INITIATIVES. A
governmental entity shall ensure that each unit of the entity does
not, except as required by federal law:
(1) compel, require, induce, or solicit any person to
provide a diversity, equity, and inclusion statement or give
preferential consideration to any person based on the provision of
a diversity, equity, and inclusion statement;
(2) establish or maintain a diversity, equity, and
inclusion office; or
(3) hire or assign an employee of the entity or
contract with a third party to perform the duties of a diversity,
equity, and inclusion office.
Sec. 621.003. COMPLAINT; ENFORCEMENT. (a) A person who has
a reasonable belief that a governmental entity is violating this
chapter may file a complaint with the attorney general.
(b) If the attorney general determines that a governmental
entity named in a complaint received under Subsection (a) is
violating this chapter, the attorney general may file a petition
for a writ of mandamus to compel the governmental entity to comply
with this chapter.
(c) A mandamus action under Subsection (b) must be filed in:
(1) Travis County, if the governmental entity is an
entity described by Sections 621.001(2)(A)-(C); or
(2) the county in which the governmental entity is
located, if the governmental entity is an entity described by
Section 621.001(2)(D).
SECTION 2. Section 21.125(a), Labor Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) Except as otherwise provided by this chapter, an
unlawful employment practice is established when the complainant
demonstrates that race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age,
or disability was a motivating factor for an employment practice,
even if other factors also motivated the practice[, unless race,
color, sex, national origin, religion, age, or disability is
combined with objective job-related factors to attain diversity in
the employer's work force].
SECTION 3. Section 21.452, Labor Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 21.452. DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PERSONNEL
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES. Each state agency shall develop and
implement personnel policies and procedures that comply with this
chapter[, including personnel selection procedures that
incorporate a workforce diversity program].
SECTION 4. The following provisions of the Labor Code are
repealed:
(1) Section 21.121; and
(2) Subchapter J, Chapter 21.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2025.