House Bill 9

Actions | Amendments
Last Action 02/14/24: floor amendments (1), (2) and (3) filed
Title AN ACT relating to postsecondary education and declaring an emergency.
Bill Documents Introduced
Bill Request Number 262
Sponsors J. Decker, S. Baker, J. Bauman, D. Bentley, J. Calloway, S. Doan, D. Fister, C. Fugate, M. Lockett, C. Massaroni, B. McCool, J. Nemes, M. Proctor, F. Rabourn, S. Rawlings, N. Tate, T. Truett, B. Wesley
Summary of Original Version Create new sections of KRS Chapter 164 to define terms; prohibit a public postsecondary education institution from providing differential treatment or benefits on the basis of an individual's religion, race, sex, color, or national origin; from influencing the composition of the student body or scholarship recipients on the basis of religion, race, sex, color, or national origin; from implementing a student housing assignment plan on the basis of religion, race, color, or national origin with designated exceptions; from expending any resources on diversity, equity, and inclusion, the promotion of discriminatory topics, or bias incident investigations; from soliciting statements on an applicant's experience with or views on religion, race, sex, color, or national origin; from requiring a course or training on diversity, equity, and inclusion or discriminatory concepts as a program requirement; and from permitting credit from a course dedicated to the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion or discriminatory concepts to count towards the total number of credits required for a degree or certificate, or disseminating or profiting from any research, work product, or material that promotes or justifies discriminatory concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion; establish exclusions; require each governing board of a public postsecondary education institution to amend the institution's policy on nondiscrimination to include a clause on ideological neutrality that prohibits institutional discrimination on the basis of an individual's political or social ideology; prohibit a public postsecondary education institution from requiring or encouraging any individual to endorse or condemn a specific political or social ideology or make any inquiry into the political or social ideology of students, faculty, and staff or from providing preferential or prejudicial consideration or treatment to an individual on the basis of that individual's actual or perceived political or social ideology; prohibit the Council on Postsecondary Education from providing differential treatment or benefits on the basis of an individual's religion, race, sex, color, or national origin or from expending any resources on diversity, equity, and inclusion or discriminatory topics; establish exclusions for legal compliance; require each governing board of a public postsecondary education institution to ensure compliance with specific sections of this Act no later than June 30, 2024; require the council and institutions to collaborate on a standardized procedure to consider denying transfer credit earned in courses dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and to develop data collection and reporting methods; authorize the Attorney General to bring an action for a writ of mandamus to compel the council or a public postsecondary education institution to comply; create a cause of action to permit a qualified individual to file a civil action against council or a public postsecondary education institution for injunctive relief and damages arising from a violation of this Act; waive sovereign and governmental immunity; prohibit retaliation; require each public postsecondary education institution to submit and publish a certified annual report on governmentally mandated discrimination to the Legislative Research Commission by October 1 each year; provide that a public postsecondary education institution or the council cannot claim a federal, state, judicial, contractual, or accreditation mandate as a defense to a civil action filed under this Act unless the policy, practice, or procedure upon which the complaint is founded is listed and clearly and accurately described in the public institution's annual report on governmentally mandated discrimination; require the council to develop and publish an annual assessment to evaluate intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity at public postsecondary education institutions; require each institution to annually distribute the assessment to all students, faculty, and staff and publish the results; require each public postsecondary education institution to provide the Personnel Cabinet and State Treasurer the name, job title, duty station, salary or wages, and amount of any contracted severance or other form of post-employment compensation of each employee of the institution by the twentieth day of each month beginning January 1, 2025, and to post its itemized annual budget; amend KRS 164.020 to prohibit the Council on Postsecondary Education from approving a degree, certificate, or diploma program that is not aligned with Section 2 of this Act; direct the Council on Postsecondary Education to consider alignment with Section 2 of this Act when considering the elimination of an existing program; direct each public postsecondary education institution and the Council on Postsecondary Education to discontinue designated programs and follow designated procedures when implementing this Act; provide specific instructions for public postsecondary education institutions and the Council on Postsecondary Education to follow in implementing this Act; direct public postsecondary education institutions and the council to submit a report on implementation of this Act; require public postsecondary education institutions to submit a series of reports on historical employment data for diversity, equity, and inclusion employees; EFFECTIVE, in part, February 1, 2025; EMERGENCY.
Index Headings of Original Version Education, Finance - Public postsecondary education, diversity, equity and inclusion activities, penalties
Education, Higher - Public postsecondary education institutions, employee compensation, publication
Education, Higher - Public postsecondary education, diversity, equity and inclusion activities, omnibus prohibitions
Education, Vocational - Public postsecondary education, diversity, equity and inclusion activities, omnibus prohibitions
Effective Dates, Delayed - Public postsecondary education, diversity, equity, and inclusion, civil action, February 1, 2025
Effective Dates, Emergency - Public postsecondary education, diversity, equity, and inclusion activities, prohibition
Effective Dates, Emergency - Public postsecondary institution, use of resources on diversity, equity, and inclusion, civil action
Public Officers and Employees - Public postsecondary education institutions, employee compensation, publication
Public Salaries - Public postsecondary education institutions, employee compensation, publication
State Agencies - Council on Postsecondary Education, diversity, equity, and inclusion activities, prohibition
State Agencies - Council on Postsecondary Education, diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, elimination
State Agencies - Personnel Cabinet, public postsecondary institutions, employee compensation, publication
State Employees - Public postsecondary education institutions, employee compensation, publication
Universities and Colleges - Public postsecondary education, diversity, equity and inclusion activities, omnibus prohibitions
Attorney General - Public postsecondary education, use of resources on diversity, equity, and inclusion, civil action
Civil Actions - Public postsecondary institution, differential treatment or benefits on the basis of protected class
Civil Actions - Public postsecondary institution, use of resources on diversity, equity, and inclusion, civil action
Civil Rights - Public postsecondary education, diversity, equity and inclusion activities, prohibition
Claims - Public postsecondary education, use of resources on diversity, equity, and inclusion, civil action
Claims - Public postsecondary institution, differential treatment or benefits on the basis of protected class
Reports Mandated - Public postsecondary education institutions, annual report on federally mandated discrimination
Jump to Proposed Amendments House Floor Amendment 1
House Floor Amendment 2
House Floor Amendment 3

Actions

Top | Amendments
01/19/24
  • introduced in House
  • to Committee on Committees (H)
01/25/24
  • to Education (H)
02/14/24
  • floor amendments (1), (2) and (3) filed

Proposed Amendments

Top | Actions
Amendment House Floor Amendment 1
Sponsor T. Bojanowski
Summary Retain all original provisions except remove restrictions on postsecondary course credit and the dissemination of postsecondary research.
Index Headings Education, Higher - Public postsecondary education, diversity, equity and inclusion course credit, remove prohibition
Education, Higher - Public postsecondary education, diversity, equity and inclusion research, remove prohibition
Universities and Colleges - Public postsecondary education, diversity, equity and inclusion course credit, remove prohibition
Universities and Colleges - Public postsecondary education, diversity, equity and inclusion research, remove prohibition

Amendment House Floor Amendment 2
Sponsor T. Bojanowski
Summary Retain original provisions, except remove the ability of a qualified individual to bring a civil action to seek enforcement of this Act.
Index Headings Civil Actions - Postsecondary education, diversity, equity, and inclusion restrictions,private claim, deletion
Education, Higher - Diversity, equity, and inclusion restrictions, civil action, private cause of action, deletion
Universities and Colleges - Diversity, equity, and inclusion restrictions, civil action, private cause of action, deletion

Amendment House Floor Amendment 3
Sponsor T. Bojanowski
Summary Retain original provisions, except amend the definition of resource to remove donations, endowments, grants, and gifts.
Index Headings Education, Higher - Diversity, equity, and inclusion, restriction on use of resources, definition of resources, narrow
Universities and Colleges - Diversity, equity, and inclusion, restriction on use of resources, definition of resources, narrow

Last updated: 9/26/2024 1:37 PM (EDT)