Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-TX) has added a budget rider namely, "Prohibition on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Practices in the Special Provisions Relating Only to State Agencies of Higher Education." The special provision would ban any state funding for DEI offices or practices on public universities and colleges in Texas. 

Texas Republican lawmakers are pushing back against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices at Texas public universities with a bill that will ban them and a new budget rider to prevent any state or federal funding from going to DEI related activity. According to the Austin Journal, Gov. Greg Abbott's chief of staff, Gardner Pate said, "The innocuous-sounding notion of diversity, equity and inclusion has been manipulated to push policies that expressly favor some demographic groups to the detriment of others. Indeed, rather than increasing diversity in the workplace, these DEI initiatives are having the opposite effect and are being advanced in ways that proactively encourage discrimination in the workplace" in a letter to Porter Wilson, executive director of the Employees Retirement System of Texas.

"It is the intent of this Legislature that no funds appropriated by this Act may be expended for diversity, equity and inclusion practices or similar programs, including personnel, training or any activities, on state-supported college campuses, state-supported university campuses or those who receive state funding, not withstanding state and federal law," Texas Republicans said in a document posted to Twitter.

According to Houston Daily, since the governor's letter, many top Texas public universities, including the University of Texas, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, Texas State University and the University of Houston, have announced they are halting or pausing DEI practices within the hiring system. These universities are reviewing their DEI policies in accordance with the governor's directive on fair treatment and discrimination in the workplace.

Creighton, chair of the Senate Committee on Education, filed a bill to ban DEI offices, according to the Austin Journal.

"While every member of a university committee must be treated with equal dignity, so-called DEI offices are in fact the leading threat to true diversity and genuine inclusivity on university campuses," Creighton said in a statement.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that Creighton's bill would prevent public colleges from maintaining DEI offices or requiring DEI statements in admissions or hiring.