‘Divisive concepts,’ anti-DEI bill passes Alabama Senate

Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, in the Alabama Senate chamber on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. (Stew Milne/Alabama Reflector)

The Alabama Senate Thursday approved a bill that would ban the public funding of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and leave teachers or employees who use “divisive concepts” subject to potential termination.

The 26-7 party line vote came after an hours-long filibuster from Democratic senators, who managed to get amendments on the bill.  

SB 129, sponsored by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, would ban teachers or state employees from making other people “affirm, adopt or adhere” to “divisive concepts.” The bill has examples of divisive concepts such as “individuals, by virtue of race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin, are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.”

“That any race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior,” said Barfoot. “That’s what a divisive concept is.”

Public employees found to violate the law could be subject to discipline or the loss of their job.

The bill comes after conservative groups and politicians have focused on DEI programs across the country. 

A version of the legislation had been sponsored in the two previous years by Rep. Ed Oliver, R-Dadeville. Thursday’s vote marked the first time the legislation passed the Senate.

In a Senate day that lasted from around 10:00 a.m. to around 6 p.m., with a break for lunch, Democratic senators questioned the goals of the legislation and said it would cause harm.

“What we are saying is that I can’t tell you that you are, and you have to consent to, that you’re a sexist because of certain things,” said Barfoot.

“So, I’m going to say ‘No, I’m not,” replied Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham. “What – what’s the problem? ‘No, I’m not.’”

Speaking to reporters after the Senate adjourned, Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, said that perception of the state was one of his biggest concerns. He said that flagship universities might have trouble recruiting and said the state lost Space Command because of legislation.

“We still think it was a bad bill, it was an unnecessary bill,” he said, “A bill that’s based on concepts that were really not happening in Alabama. We just think it is a bill that is bogged down for some national politics.”

Democrats managed to get changes in the legislation.

One amendment, first introduced Wednesday in the Senate County and Municipal Government Committee by Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, said the bill would not impact any provision in state law relating to diversity on the boards. It passed unanimously.

Another, sponsored by Singleton, aimed to maintain women’s sports at state schools and the ability to donate money to fraternities.

“You can continue to have your women’s sports in the state schools,” he said.

Singleton also added an amendment that removed the phrase “slavery and racism are aligned with the founding principles of the United States” from the list of divisive concepts. It also passed unanimously.

The bill contains a number of things that it specifies is not the intention of the bill, including preventing “an employee or a contractor of a state agency, local board of education, or public institution of higher education who provides, as part of his or her job duties, orientation, course work, or training from responding to questions that are raised by participants in the orientation, course work, or training and that pertain to divisive concepts.” 

An amendment from Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, adds “or diversity, equity, and inclusion” to the end of that section. The amendment passed unanimously.

The Republican-controlled Senate rejected a proposed amendment from Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, that would have removed the phrase “meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist” from the list of divisive concepts. 

The Senate also rejected an amendment from Coleman that tried to insert the word “solely” into some of the divisive concepts, such as “That the moral character of an individual is solely determined by his or her race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.”

The bill goes to the Alabama House of Representatives. 

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