JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Diversity initiatives would be defunded or banned from universities and other public institutions under a slate of bills pending in Republican-led legislatures, with some lawmakers counting on the issue resonating with voters in this election year. Republican lawmakers have proposed about 50 bills in 20 states this year that would restrict or require public disclosure of DEI initiatives. The bills have a heavy focus on higher education. But Republicans also are sponsoring bills seeking to limit DEI in K-12 schools, state government, state contracting and pension investments. Democrats have filed about two dozen bills in 11 states that would require or promote DEI initiatives. Republican legislators in Wisconsin brokered a narrowly approved deal with regents in December for the state’s public university system to limit diversity positions at its two dozen campuses. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, later said he had only just begun to remove “cancerous DEI practices” and requested a review of diversity initiatives across state government.
