Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal speaks against House Bill 4. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)
FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Senate has approved a Republican-backed bill that aims to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at Kentucky’s public universities and colleges.
Senators voted 32-6 largely on party lines in favor of House Bill 4 Wednesday afternoon. Sen. Robin Webb, of Grayson, was the lone Democrat to join Republicans in supporting the measure.
For more than an hour, Democrats tried to show their Republican counterparts how prohibiting DEI programs and discussions could harm college students who are members of minority groups, including people of color and LGBTQ+ persons.
Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal, of Louisville, said historically not everyone has had the same “level of playing field” before discussing slavery in America, which was followed by Reconstruction in the South, Jim Crow laws and legal segregation. Neal is one of four Black senators in the chamber.
Neal then noted that he had marched with renowned civil rights activist the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose words envisioning a world where people are not “judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” have been used by Republicans in support of the legislation.
“He said a whole lot more than that, ladies and gentlemen,” Neal said.
Both parties’ caucuses met briefly before the Senate took up the bill. As lawmakers returned to the floor, Neal confronted Senate Republican Floor Leader Max Wise, of Campbellsville, in a tense moment that was defused by other members of leadership.
“I rarely react strongly on this floor. Some may ask, ‘Why are you reacting so strongly today?’ … There’s some things you just can’t avoid,” Neal said.
The bill’s primary sponsor, Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy, said while the House debated the bill last week her legislation “would allow our universities and colleges to return to their focus away from social engineering to provide Kentucky students with excellent academic instruction in an environment that fosters critical thinking through open, constructive dialog.”
If it becomes law, House Bill 4 would increase oversight of public colleges and universities to ensure they do not spend dollars on or have employees devoted to DEI programs. While Kentucky lawmakers considered legislation in 2024 to end DEI in higher education, the latest proposal comes at a time when Republican politicians are seeking to end DEI across a swath of sectors, including President Donald Trump.
The Senate was originally set to vote on the bill Tuesday afternoon, but James Orlick, a graduate student at the University of Louisville, filed an open meetings complaint with House Republicans. He raised questions about a vote on the title amendment taken after the House Postsecondary Education Committee adjourned. The Senate added the title amendment at the end of the debate.
The Senate Education Committee gave its approval to the bill during a special-called meeting Monday afternoon. There, Neal attempted to get the committee to consider a version that he said would address “unintended consequences” of the legislation. However, his version failed to pass in a voice vote.
Neal filed 15 floor amendments to HB 4 that included provisions from his floor amendments. Two failed in floor votes before he withdrew his remaining floor amendments.
Sen. Keturah Herron, D-Louisville, also introduced a floor amendment to include profession and county or region of residency as characteristics that cannot be the basis of differential treatment or benefits in the legislation. That wasn’t adopted either.
Herron, who is Black and the first LGBTQ+ woman elected to the Kentucky Senate, said “it’s very hard and difficult for me to not come to the conclusion that this bill is a direct attack on Black, brown, LGBTQ and anyone who is non-white.” She recalled experiences her mother faced as well as her own, including hearing racial slurs while playing soccer in high school.
“I know that you said that you are not responsible for the sins of the past, and you’re not,” Herron said to Republican Sen. Steve West, who carried the bill in the Senate. “You’re not responsible for the things that have happened to my mother or my life experiences either. However, you are responsible, and we are responsible — this whole body is responsible — for what we do today moving forward.”
Another Black lawmaker, Sen. Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville, said the bill was not “an anti-DEI bill,” but an “anti-forced diversity, equity and inclusion bill” after, too, recalling slavery in America.
“Most people want a hand up. But I would argue that most people don’t want a handout,” Douglas said, before adding that children should be taught “self-respect, self-motivation, self-accomplishment” in their homes.
Students have led protests against the legislation at Kentucky public universities and attended committee hearings in Frankfort. After the Senate committee vote, Savannah Dowell, a student from the University of Louisville, said on the Capitol Annex steps the bill was “far too imprecise, self-contradictory and frankly dangerous to become law in this commonwealth.”
With the Senate’s passage of the bill, it’s protected from a likely veto from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who has repeatedly defended DEI policies. Republicans hold a supermajority in both chambers, meaning they can easily override Beshear’s vetoes.
Over the weekend, the governor attended the 60th anniversary commemoration of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. There, Beshear told the crowd “diversity is a strength and never a weakness.”