South Carolina – A pair of legislative legislation targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs is causing significant debate and concerns among local businesses and legislators in a divisive action that might change the corporate landscape in South Carolina.
These proposed laws would force businesses who contract with the state to attest that they do not run any DEI initiatives, therefore extending this obligation to their subcontractors as well.
Introduced in the South Carolina House and Senate, the bills are formally named “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity Act”. The law seeks to ban any official South Carolina government endorsement of DEI initiatives. This includes prohibiting state agencies from setting DEI offices or hiring outside contractors to complete DEI projects.
Growing concerns
Frank Knapp of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce expressed concerns about the measure.
“Certainly the state of South Carolina can have an anti-DEI policy for the state, but we don’t believe that the state should be coercing private business about how they handle their HR policies. As long as HR and private businesses are not violating constitutional protections we just don’t need that. I mean, what’s next?,” Knapp said as reported by The State.
Educational institutions also affected
The proposed law also affects state educational institutions, which would be prohibited from mandating staff members or students to engage in DEI theme-related training or events…