Law Banning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Program Funding At FL Colleges Signed By DeSantis

SARASOTA, FL — Gov. Ron DeSantis signed three higher education reform bills, including legislation banning funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs at state colleges, into law Monday during a news conference at New College of Florida in Sarasota.

SB 266 prohibits colleges and universities from spending public funds on DEI programming and initiatives that promote “dangerous political and social activism,” according to WFLA.

The law also prevents the teaching of critical race theory and DEI in general education courses, and prohibits specific CRT and DEI majors, minors and courses.

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The Republican governor also signed HB 931, which prohibits public higher education institutions from requiring students, faculty or staff from signing support of DEI initiatives, and SB 240, which expands workforce education programs, reports said.

SB 266 and HB 931 take a stand against the “woke agenda,” he said during the news conference, according to Local 10 News.

DEI initiatives are used “to divvy” up students “based on any type of superficial characteristics,” DeSantis said, noting that colleges should “treat people as individuals.”

“If you look at the way this has actually been implemented across the country, DEI is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination,” the governor said, according to The Washington Post. “And that has no place in our public institutions. This bill says the whole experiment with DEI is coming to an end in the state of Florida.”

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The ban on DEI funding is the latest bill to become law after the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature adopted numerous bills pushed by DeSantis. Last month lawmakers approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a proposal supported by the governor as he prepares for an expected presidential run.

DeSantis signed the bill into law on April 13. Florida law previously prohibited abortions after 15 weeks.

A six-week ban should give DeSantisa key political victory among Republican primary voters as he prepares to launch a presidential candidacy built on his national brand as a conservative standard bearer, the Associated Press said.

The policy will also have wider implications for abortion access throughout the South in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year overturning Roe v. Wade and leaving decisions about abortion access to states. Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi have banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, while Georgia forbids the procedure after cardiac activity can be detected, which is around six weeks.