DEI Ban & Restrictions Tracker

July 2025 Update

Since 2023, 28 anti-DEI bills have become law. These bills tend to focus on restricting DEI offices/staff, DEI training, diversity statements, and identity-based hiring practices. The Chronicle of Higher Education has created two resources to track these legislative efforts:

DEI Legislation Tracker

Response by Public Colleges to Anti-DEI Legislation

There have been updates in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, and Ohio since our last update in June:

Arkansas: In November 2024, State Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican, introduced a bill that would ban affirmative action by state and local agencies, including public colleges. The bill mirrors SB 71, which Sullivan introduced in 2023 but failed to pass. It was signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on February 18, 2025 and was slated to take effect on July 11, 2025. Senate Bill 3

Iowa: In March 2025, the Iowa House education committee introduced a bill that would ban public entities including state agencies, local governments, and community colleges from preferential hiring, funding DEI offices, or employing DEI officers. (The bill extends the restrictions that were placed on the public four-year colleges in 2024 to the community colleges.) The bill also restricts public colleges from requiring diversity training and having students to enroll in courses that include DEI or critical race theory as part of general-education or graduation requirements. Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, signed the bill into law in May 2025. The bill took effect July 1, 2025. House File 856
      
In April 2024, State Sen. Jeff Taylor, a Republican, introduced an amendment to an education appropriations bill that would prohibit public universities from establishing, maintaining, or staffing a diversity, equity, and inclusion office. The bill would also bar public colleges from requiring diversity statements and giving preferential treatment to anyone based on such statements. The bill passed the Senate and the House on the same day, and Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, signed the bill into law on May 9, 2024. It went into effect on July 1, 2025.       
(Budget Bill) Senate File 2435

Kansas: In April 2024, a conference committee agreed to remove the contents of an earlier version of House Bill 2105, which was unrelated to DEI, and replace it with the contents of House Bill 2460. That bill would prohibit public colleges from requiring students or employees to submit diversity statements for admission, hiring, or promotion. The House and Senate both approved the bill, and Gov. Laura Kelly allowed it to become law without her signature. It took effect on July 1, 2025. House Bill 2105

North Carolina: In February 2025, State Rep. Brenden Jones, a Republican, introduced a bill that would prohibit state agencies, including public institutions of higher education, from using diversity, equity, and inclusion in hiring practices, having DEI offices or staff, or offering diversity training. On July 3, 2025, Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, vetoed the bill. House Bill 171

Ohio: In June 2023, Rep. Jay Edwards, a Republican, introduced into Ohio's two-year state-budget plan several elements of Senate Bill 83, which would ban mandatory diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings, block DEI programs, and prohibit the use of diversity statements in the hiring process. All anti-DEI components had been removed from the budget bill once it reached the House, and the budget was signed by the governor July 1, 2025. House Bill 33