photo by: W.Va. Legislative Photography

State Senate Judiciary Committee Vice Chairman Tom Willis, R-Berkeley, said Senate Bill 474 would provide individuals and students protections from views the majority party considers to be divisive.

CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Senate passed a bill Wednesday codifying Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s executive order banning state programs and funding connected to diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Senate passed the committee substitute for the committee substitute to Senate Bill 474 in a 32-2 vote Wednesday, sending the bill to the House of Delegates.

“This is a bill that will eliminate DEI from our classrooms once and for all,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Vice Chairman Tom Willis, R-Berkeley. “This bill addresses some very nefarious things that have been going on, and it provides relief to parents and students that they’ve long sought. Relief from teaching concepts like one race, ethnic group, or sex is morally or intellectually superior to another race, ethnic group, or sex for any inherent or innate reason.”

The purpose of SB 474 is to ensure that the various state departments, divisions, agencies, and boards are treating individuals as equals under the law with respect to recruitment, hiring, promotion, and training.

The bill aims to eliminate DEI programs, trainings, activities, offices, and officers within the executive branch, primary and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education in the state.

These entities are prohibited from establishing or maintaining DEI offices, hiring or contracting employees to promote DEI, compelling or giving preference based on DEI statements, giving preference in employment or participation based on DEI, and requiring DEI training as a condition of employment.

Primary and secondary schools are prohibited from providing instruction in, requiring instruction in, making part of a course, or requiring affirmation of specific concepts related to race, ethnicity, and sex. These include teachings that one group is inherently superior to another; individuals are inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive based on their group identity; and individuals should be discriminated against based on their group identity.

The bill, however, does not prohibit discussion of these concepts in theory if alternative theories are also included, and the discussion of the impact of race, ethnicity, or sex on historical or current events. It also protects freedom of speech outside the employment context. Higher education institutions are provided similar protections on discussion.

SB 474 also states that county boards of education and public charter school employees are not required to use a student’s preferred pronoun if it is inconsistent with the student’s sex based on their birth. The bill provides these employees with protections from civil liability.

One of Morrisey’s first decrees when he took office on Jan. 13 was Executive Order 3-25, prohibiting the use of DEI by state departments and agencies, as well as prohibiting the use of state taxpayer dollars for DEI programs.

Part of the executive order required all cabinet secretaries and department heads to initiate reviews of their agencies for all DEI policies or positions and submit a report to the Governor’s Office by Feb. 12, identifying these DEI positions and policies, as well as any state funds, properties, or resources use to advance DEI. State departments and agencies would have an additional 60 days after Feb. 12 to propose plans to eliminate DEI programs and policies.

State Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, is of Venezuelan heritage, emigrating to the U.S. as a child. She said she has introduced similar bills in the past and was pleased to support this bill.

“This bill is about not being influenced by someone’s race, color, sex, ethnicity, or national origin when hiring, when selecting, or when treating individuals,” Rucker said. “This bill is about equal opportunity for all and I’m happy to support this legislation. As someone who is from some of these categories, I’m an example of how great it is when we treat everyone the same.”

Other members of the Republican supermajority expressed support for the bill, questioning the narrative of systemic racism and alleged disadvantages for marginalized communities.

“We are all Americans and there is only one race, and that is the human race,” said state Sen. Chris Rose, R-Monongalia. “That’s why I support getting rid of this divisive ideology and get to that narrative that we are all one human race.”

“I think we can’t get into business in our country, and particularly in our state, of picking people based on their skin color, their religious background, their gender, and giving them favorability,” said state Sen. Brian Helton, R-Fayette. “We need to have a society based on meritocracy where we judge people by their character.”

The bill was opposed by the Senate’s two Democratic members, who shared stories highlighting the benefits of acknowledging the differences that have existed in society where one race has benefited at the expense of another race and how diversity is a benefit, not a burden.

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion, I still am so surprised how they become words that we either want to take out of our code section or that we want to define altogether as an acronym as something that’s hurtful,” said state Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion. “When in fact, if we think about trying to make sure that maybe, whether it’s the diversity of our views, the diversity of the people that are around us, that those things can be so positive.”