A Republican lawmaker in Montana wants to ban mandatory diversity training for state employees with a bill whose language matches a Florida law temporarily blocked by the courts.
The proposed “Montana Individual Freedom Act” would ban diversity, equity, and inclusion training as a condition of government employment if the training is aimed at making the employee believe that a group of people are responsible for “and should feel guilty, fear or other forms of psychological distress”, because of historical injustice.
A House committee heard testimony Monday after the Senate passed the bill on party lines.
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“I find it interesting and confusing that we’re trying to legislate emotional responses,” Angelina Gonzalez-Aller, executive director of the Montana Human Rights Network, said Monday as she testified against the bill before a House of Representatives committee.
“I have no doubt that this is little more than an attempted censorship rooted in a coordinated national effort to reverse advances in racial and social justice,” Gonzalez-Aller said last month when the bill was passed by a Senate committee. was treated.
The sponsor, Senator Jeremy Trebas, said diversity training at the national level is becoming too political. He was not suggesting that what he considered political training was taking place in Montana, but that his bill seeks to prevent it.
“I think we need to work on definitions and then talk about what’s appropriate to train and who to train on these topics,” Trebas said.
Rep. Jeremy Trebas takes notes at a meeting in Helena, Montana, on Jan. 14, 2021. Trebas is sponsoring legislation that would block diversity training for state employees. (Thom Bridge/independent recording via AP)
The parliamentary committee has not yet voted on it.
“This bill is a gross mischaracterization of what is conventionally called DEI, or workshops on diversity, equality and inclusion,” said Chris Young-Greer of the Montana Racial Equity Project.
“We’re focusing on improving what we all bring to the table in relation to our very different and important backgrounds,” she said Monday. “Diversity is just acknowledging differences. Equality means we all get what we need to be successful. And inclusion means that each of us, regardless of our differences, is included, welcomed and accepted.”
Opponents argued that the language of the bill is word for word in some places, such as Florida’s contested Stop WOKE bill passed in 2022.
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Trebas’ original bill was amended to clarify that discussion of critical race theory was allowed as part of academic instruction, removing one of the reasons why Florida’s law was blocked. Critical race theory is a way of looking at American history through the lens of race.
Montana administrative rules require the Department of Administration to ensure that all new employees receive training in diversity and inclusion, equal opportunity, and harassment prevention within 90 days of employment. Employees must take refresher courses every three years.
Attorney Don Harris said the department supports the bill.
The effort to regulate diversity training appears to have its roots in executive orders issued by then-President Donald Trump in September 2020, following a summer of protests over police racial injustice.
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The first order prohibited taxpayers’ money from being spent on diversity training for federal employees if the training implies that someone is racist or sexist based on race, gender and/or national origin. He later extended the ban to training for the military, government contractors and other federal beneficiaries.
Opponents argued that the order prevented workplaces from addressing the concepts of white privilege, systemic racism and unconscious bias.
Trump’s order cited examples of such training, including a presentation by the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of African American History & Culture, which stated in part, “If you identify as white, recognizing your white racial identity and the privileges it a crucial step to help end racism. Facing your whiteness is difficult and can lead to feelings of guilt, sadness, confusion, defensiveness or fear.”
President Joe Biden has rescinded Trump’s second executive order on his first full day in office. The U.S. Department of Labor had already suspended the order because it related to federal employees after a California federal court issued a preliminary injunction against the order.
