| 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 |
| 01/19/24 |
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|---|---|
| 01/25/24 |
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| 02/14/24 |
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| 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: 4/22/2024 3:57 PM (EDT)