Rep. Diana Gonzales Worthen, a Springdale Democrat and the Legislature’s first Latina, explains her opposition to a proposed law that would “prohibit discrimination or preferential treatment” by public entities on the House floor on Thursday, February 6, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)
A bill that would “prohibit discrimination or preferential treatment” by public entities in Arkansas passed the House of Representatives on Thursday, less than two years after a similar bill failed in the chamber.
Senate Bill 3 would eliminate required minority recruitment and retention plans and reports from public school districts and higher education institutions. The bill would also repeal language in state procurement proposals that encourage minority participation or require bidders to adopt an equal opportunity hiring program designed to increase the percentage of minority employees.
Legislative Democrats led the bipartisan opposition to the bill in both chambers this week and last. Several Black lawmakers urged their colleagues to vote against the bill, which passed the Senate with 24 yes votes and the House with 65 yes votes.
Rep. Tara Shephard, a Little Rock Democrat, said she felt compelled to speak against the bill as a Black woman and a “daughter of the South.”
“This legislation claims to ban discrimination and special treatment — ban discrimination and special treatment against who?” Shephard said. “What this legislation does is it ties our hands. It takes our power away when disparities exist, when farmers or other businesses can’t get loans or contracts, when communities begin to fall further behind, when women are paid less [than men] for the same amount of work. This legislation puts a target on the backs of decent, hardworking Arkansans.”
Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, presented SB 3 to the House as a policy to expand access to existing programs based on merit. She also said it would align state policy with that of the federal government, specifically an executive order from President Donald Trump declaring an end to all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared unconstitutional the use of affirmative action in higher education.
Rep. Randy Torres, R-Siloam Springs, said he had experienced discrimination firsthand as a Mexican American. He said he would vote for the bill because he was “opposed to any governmental architecture that continues to make you and others victims.”
Torres said he was told in high school that he should not consider going to college. Rep. Diana Gonzales Worthen, a Springdale Democrat and the Legislature’s first Latina, said she encountered faculty that similarly dismissed her Hispanic and Latino students when she taught English as a second language.
Racial disparities between teachers and students in Springdale schools have decreased due to the state’s minority teacher recruitment policy, which SB 3 would eliminate, Gonzales Worthen said.
All 19 House Democrats voted against the bill except Rep. Ken Ferguson, D-Pine Bluff, though lawmakers sometimes cast erroneous votes that can later be remedied. Ferguson spoke against SB 3, saying part of his childhood overlapped with segregation measures such as separate water fountains and bathrooms based on race.
Ferguson also said his work in human resources showed him the bias of white individuals who repeatedly did not hire qualified nonwhite job candidates.
“They said to me, ‘Ken, well, I’m not racist… I just feel like hiring people that look like me,’” Ferguson said.
Rep. James Eaton, R-Huntsville, voted for SB 3 after expressing concern that it would reduce the state’s resources for students with disabilities. Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, had similar qualms during a Wednesday committee meeting.
Bentley insisted Wednesday and Thursday that SB 3 will not have an impact on students with disabilities.
Mayberry and eight other House Republicans voted against SB 3:
- Rep. Joey Carr of Blytheville
- Rep. Fran Cavenaugh of Walnut Ridge
- Rep. Matt Duffield of Russellville
- Rep. Jon Eubanks of Paris
- Rep. Mark McElroy of Tillar
- Rep. Matthew Shepherd of El Dorado
- Rep. Jeff Wardlaw of Hermitage
- Rep. Jim Wooten of Beebe
Eight of the same nine members voted against a similar bill, SB 71, in 2023. Shepherd, who was Speaker of the House at the time, did not vote on it.
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SB 71 failed on the House floor after several passionate speeches from members of both parties, including Rep. Fred Allen, D-Little Rock, who spoke against SB 3 Thursday.
Twenty-seven Republicans voted for SB 71, while a bipartisan majority of 51 House members voted against it.
SB 71 passed the Senate in 2023 with 18 votes, six fewer than SB 3 and the minimum number of votes needed to pass the chamber.
Sen. Alan Clark of Lonsdale was the only Republican senator to vote against SB 3 last week, while two other Republicans voted present and two did not vote.
Clark said he could not support amending a scholarship designed to attract qualified minority teachers to the Delta, a rural area with a significant Black population and a known teacher shortage.
The following House Republicans voted present on SB 3: Brandon Achor of Maumelle, Carol Dalby of Texarkana, Les Eaves of Searcy and Jeremiah Moore of Clarendon. Four more Republicans did not vote on the bill.
The text of the bill would allow anyone “who believes his or her rights have been impacted under this section” to file a civil lawsuit and allow a judge who sides with the plaintiff to issue an injunction and allow the plaintiff to recover court costs and attorneys’ fees.
An earlier version of SB 3 would have made violating it a Class A misdemeanor. Bentley amended the bill to remove this provision, meaning the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs and the full Senate will have to consider the bill again before it can go to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ desk for final approval.