A Charleston faith leader told delegates that a bill aiming to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and training across state government is not needed and counterproductive.
“It’s unnecessary. It’s unnecessary because it is a solution in search of a problem,” said the Rev. Matthew Watts, senior pastor for Grace Bible Church of Charleston and a representative of a faith-based collaborative called the Tuesday Morning Group.
“The State of West Virginia does not have a robust diversity, equity and inclusion program in state government. It doesn’t exist. There’s no robust diversity, equity and inclusion program in public schools. It doesn’t exist.”
The House Finance Committee was discussing Senate Bill 474, which aims to eliminate initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion from all departments, divisions, agencies, boards, public primary and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education.
Typically, the process in House committees this year has been to discuss bills one day and consider them for advancement on another day. So committee members could vote on the bill as soon as Thursday.
This bill is also assigned for consideration by another committee, House Judiciary, which presumably has the same process. The regular legislative session concludes in a week and a half, April 12.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey has called for ending DEI initiatives across state government. The acronym stands for diversity, equity and inclusion.
It’s a set of policies in business, government and academia aimed at promoting the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination based on identity or disability.
Social conservatives have taken aim at the policies as a kind of reverse discrimination.
“The basis of this is that no one is going to be giving benefit or detriment based on their race or their sex,” Katie Franklin, deputy general counsel for the governor’s office, told delegates.
Ninety-three percent of West Virginia’s population is White and almost 4% of residents are Black, according to the U.S. Census. About 2% of state residents are Hispanic.
This bill includes the executive branch, primary and secondary schools, and higher education institutions.
The bill restricts the imposition of certain concepts related to race and gender on students and employees, and prevents employees from being compelled to use preferred pronouns that do not align with a student’s biological sex at birth.
It forbids establishing or maintaining an office or division meant to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. And it prohibits directing an employee or contracted third party to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
It would not allow requiring any person to provide a diversity, equity, and inclusion statement or give preferential consideration to any person based on the provision of a diversity, equity, and inclusion statement.
It would prohibit giving employment preference on the basis of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and it would disallow requiring as a condition of employment that an employee participate in diversity, equity, and inclusion training.
The bill calls for official neutrality on associated terms such as unconscious or implicit bias, cultural appropriation, identity group allyship, micro aggressions, group marginalization, systemic oppression, social justice, intersectionality, neo-pronouns, racial privilege and critical race theory.
“The bill, again, in all due respect to the governor, is unsubstantiated. I mean, the governor may be one of the best lawyers in the state, and I’m sure, listening to his counsel, that he has some of the best lawyers in the state around him, but I’ve not seen a case made,” Watts told delegates.
“I’ve seen no data, no information, no statistics, not even anecdotal stories, no witnesses off the problem that diversity is creating in terms of dysfunction or inefficiency in state government or any institution.”
The pastor suggested this legislation will have the unintended consequence of telling people who might consider coming to West Virginia for education or to pursue their careers that they are not welcome.
“And I will close by simply saying that I don’t think that some people understand what it feels like to be excluded based on something that you cannot control, based on an inherent God-given trait that you might have,” he said.
“At best, this bill needs to be postponed. There need to be public conversations all over the state of West Virginia about where we are as a state, and about whether or not we need a bill like this to address a problem that simply has not been clearly articulated.”
He concluded, “And so I would ask that this committee would consider that before they would advance this bill forward.”