A much-discussed anti-DEI bill made its formal debut Friday.

The Senate State Affairs Committee introduced a bill that would ban colleges and universities from opening diversity, equity and inclusion offices or hiring DEI officers. The bill would also outlaw discrimination in campus hiring or admissions — and colleges and universities could face a 2% budget cut if they are found in violation of the law.

Voting on party lines, an informal House-Senate DEI task force endorsed the bill last week.

“(We) put a lot of thought into this,” said Sen. Ben Toews, R-Coeur d’Alene, the bill’s author.

In contrast to the task force’s lengthy discussions, Friday’s Senate State Affairs hearing was brief — and a prelude to a full committee hearing likely to occur at a later date.

The committee voted unanimously to print the bill. But the committee’s lone Democrat feared that the bill could become a “weapon,” blocking colleges and universities from investigating cases of hate speech.

“I have very serious concerns .. that I suspect will not be resolved at (a) hearing,” said Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello.

In content and in tone, the bill could intensify the session’s debate over DEI.

“A subversive ideology … has infected the administration of this state’s system of higher education, promoting a culture of division, ignorance, bigotry and intolerance,” the bill’s introductory section says, in part.

In December, the State Board of Education ordered colleges and universities to close their DEI-aligned student centers, and all three four-year universities have already complied. Even so, during education and budget committee hearings this week, lawmakers spent much of their time grilling college and university presidents about social justice and DEI issues.

A ”fiscal note” claims the anti-DEI bill could save the state up to $3.8 million, “based on the 51 associated positions previously identified in Idaho’s higher education institutions.” That forecast could be optimistic, however.

This week, the university presidents said they have reassigned staffers from their DEI-aligned student centers, and might have to hire staff for the holistic student centers favored by the State Board. And, since 2023, the Legislature has banned the public institutions from using taxpayer money “to support diversity, equity, inclusion or social justice ideology.”

JFAC remains split on employee raises

The Legislature’s budget committee is still deadlocked over state employee raises — and still struggling to agree on rules established by the co-chairs two years ago. 

Friday’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee meeting was plagued by fits and starts as members debated raises. They also argued over procedural rules, mostly off the record and away from public view. 

“We will go back to the drawing board,” co-chair Rep. Wendy Horman said after the committee failed to reach a consensus. 

JFAC unanimously agreed on one thing, however. The committee passed a $48.4 million spending increase for employee health insurance benefits. This was a compromise between Gov. Brad Little’s $56.3 million recommendation and the Change in Employee Compensation (CEC) Committee’s $40.3 million recommendation to JFAC. 

If approved by the House and Senate, more than half of the benefit increases would go to schools, colleges and universities: $24.1 million to K-12 public schools, $5.5 million to the four-year schools and $649,000 to community colleges. 

JFAC members stalled on two issues.

Employee raises. The committee continued to debate whether state employees should get across-the-board hourly raises or merit-based pay increases — a long-running fight over focusing pay increases on lower- or higher-paid employees. 

JFAC first hit a stalemate on raises more than two weeks ago. On Friday, lawmakers considered four motions, including two hail-Mary motions just before the committee adjourned. None garnered majority support from both sides of the House-Senate committee. 

Most Senate members favored a motion from Sen. Kevin Cook, R-Idaho Falls, that would have given agency heads authority to award 4% minimum raises, based on merit. Cook compared the alternative — across-the-board hourly raises — to giving every professional football player a Super Bowl ring, regardless of the outcome of games. “No matter whether you bring your ‘A’ game to work, you’re going to get the same thing.”

But House members unanimously supported an hourly increase proposal from Rep. Steve Miller, R-Fairfield. This option would give state employees between $1 and $1.55 hourly pay hikes, rewarding employees on the lower end of pay scales.

“It does include merit,” Horman noted, since managers could decide where each employee would fall on the spectrum of raises.

The hourly or merit-based raises would apply to college and university workers, but public school teachers, administrators and staff are essentially along for the ride.

All four motions considered Friday included $84.7 million in raises, a 5% increase, for K-12 schools. These funds would be added to the state’s public school allocation next fiscal year, but salaries ultimately are set at the local level.

Voting rules. JFAC spent much of the meeting arguing over procedural rules, including the threshold for a voting majority when some members are absent. Three committee members were missing Friday, and a fourth left before the meeting’s conclusion. 

JFAC is a joint committee, combining the 10-member Senate Finance Committee with the 10-member House Appropriations Committee. Historically, a majority of all 20 members was required for a measure to pass. But the co-chairs, Horman and Sen. C. Scott Grow, established a rule in 2023 requiring that a successful motion garner support from a majority of House members and a majority of Senate members.

Horman halted the meeting Friday when questions surfaced about whether the rule referred to a majority of members assigned to the committee or a majority of members present. A handful of committee members, along with some staff from the Legislative Services Office, discussed the issue behind closed doors before Horman made an on-the-record ruling.

A majority of members assigned to the committee is the threshold, she concluded, referring to a 2023 letter explaining the rule. Horman co-authored the letter with Grow.

“It says ‘members on the committee.’ It does not say ‘members present,’” Horman said. “We will take this up with our respective leadership teams, to make sure that what they agreed to at the beginning of the session, to proceed by this letter, is still their position.”

This interpretation wouldn’t have changed the outcome of Friday’s decisions, but it may establish a new precedent that didn’t sit well with some members. Committee members didn’t vote on the rules when Grow and Horman were appointed chairs two years ago. 

While members privately debated the voting threshold Friday, Senate Assistant Minority Leader Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, told Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, that other committees only require a majority of members present. 

And in a testy, on-the-record exchange with Horman, Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, vented frustrations. “This has been very confusing, and I just don’t know what the rules are for the committee … I feel like I’m being complicit in something that we haven’t voted on.”

Horman fired back. “You weren’t here the last two years in the committee, but this is how we operated.” 

In addition to employee raises, JFAC has one other outstanding statewide decision. The committee has yet to agree on a revenue projection for the upcoming fiscal year. Both decisions will have to be made in a future meeting.