Tue. Jan 28th, 2025

Sen. Dan Sullivan

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Jonesboro) explains a bill he is sponsoring on the Senate floor Feb. 22, 2023. The Jonesboro Republican is reviving a failed 2023 bill that he said aims to end discrimination in state agencies. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)

A Jonesboro Republican filed a bill Wednesday to prohibit discrimination or preferential treatment by state and public agencies that mirrors legislation that failed during the 2023 legislative session. 

Sen. Dan Sullivan is lead sponsor of Senate Bill 3, which again proposes eliminating required minority recruitment and retention plans and reports from public school districts and higher education institutions, as well as amending a scholarship designed to attract qualified minority teachers to the Delta.

SB 3 also would repeal requirements that state procurement proposals include language that encourages minority participation or to adopt an equal opportunity hiring program designed to increase the percentage of minority employees.

Additionally, the bill would eliminate the requirement for bids for certain public improvement contracts exceeding $75,000 to include statements encouraging the participation of minority- and women-owned businesses.

Knowingly violating the bill would result in a Class A misdemeanor. 

SB 3 differs slightly from its predecessor, Senate Bill 71 of 2023, with the addition of language explicitly stating that the intent of the act is “to prohibit discrimination by public entities on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin,” and that it is not meant to affect preferences provided to veterans under law based on their status as veterans. 

During the 2023 legislative session, Sullivan said the intent of his bill was to stop discrimination, noting that “we will not ever end discrimination with more discrimination.”

Sullivan did not return a request for comment Wednesday. 

SB 71 narrowly passed the Senate last March before dying on the House floor on the final day of the session after several passionate speeches from members of both parties. 

Sen. Reginald Murdock, D-Marianna, who will serve alongside Sullivan on the Senate Education Committee next year, voted against SB 71 in 2023.

Murdock told the Advocate Wednesday that when Sullivan broached the subject of reviving the bill for the upcoming legislative session, Murdock responded that the country and state are not ready.

“People have not succumbed to just being civil, being equitable, being fair and being just,” Murdock said. “That’s not the country we live in, and so it does surprise me that he’s filed that bill, but we will fight vigorously again against it in hopes that it will be defeated again.” 

Sullivan’s bill was one of nearly four dozen filed Wednesday that address a variety of topics, including allowing online voter registration, prohibiting book bans and requiring Medicaid coverage for postpartum mothers for one year after giving birth. 

The 95th General Assembly will convene on Jan. 13, 2025. 

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