House committee passes anti-DEI Senate bill, House version waits to be discussed

CHEYENNE — Efforts were made last year to end all DEI efforts, activities and programs at the University of Wyoming through a budget footnote passed by the state Legislature. However, some of that language was vetoed by Gov. Mark Gordon.

The governor upheld language in the passed 2025-26 biennium budget to dissolve UW’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, but vetoed a second part of the footnote that would have prohibited and defunded all DEI efforts, activities and programs at the university.

Gordon reasoned this second section of the footnote could cost the university millions of dollars in federal grants. This legislative session, however, lawmakers are pushing back against the governor’s actions.

At the beginning of the session, legislative appropriators moved to “override” the vetoed language Gordon made in the budget last year, and reinsert the language prohibiting DEI programs and activities into the supplemental budget. In addition, there are two bills circulating through this legislative session that aim to ban all DEI programs and activities in state governmental and educational entities.

House Bill 147, “Prohibition of institutional discrimination,” passed through the House of Representatives and was assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee — it has yet to be discussed. A similar bill in the Senate also crossed over to the opposite chamber and was discussed Friday morning in the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee.

Senate File 103, “Terminating and defunding diversity, equity and inclusion,” sponsored by Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Torrington, was amended and passed by House committee members on a vote of 7-1, with one member excused.

Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Torrington (2025)

Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Torrington

The 11-page bill prohibits governmental entities, including public K-12 schools and colleges, from requiring or engaging in DEI practices, programs or training. There’s a list of exemptions in the bill, including federally recognized Native American tribes and for purposes of accreditation.

The committee’s sole Democrat, Rep. Mike Yin of Jackson, voted against the bill.

“It’s clearly a censorship bill,” Yin said. “I get the ideology, but I don’t understand why we would legislate the compelling of speech.”

Free speech concerns

A dozen or so members of the public, including education stakeholders and nonprofit representatives, voiced concerns over how this bill would impede on protected free speech under the First Amendment.

The bill originally prohibited all entities from using both private and public funds on DEI-related programs, practices or activities, “unless federal law otherwise requires.” However, Steinmetz brought an amendment before committee members to restrict this provision only to governmental entities.

Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson (2025)

Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson

“I’m surprised this bill made it out of your chamber as it is right now,” Yin said. “Because without that amendment, I think it’s essentially a First Amendment violation for compelling the speech of private institutions.”

Wyoming Humanities Executive Director Shawn Reese told committee members his organization provides funding for museums, historical societies and public scholarships. The mission of this nonprofit, private corporation is to “explore the stories and ideas that shape Wyoming,” Reese said. “And in these stories are often references to race.”

“This bill would prevent us from being able to provide funding for those topics,” Reese said.

He added that the amendment to change “entity” to “governmental entities” would allow Wyoming Humanities to privately fundraise for these public histories. This amendment was successfully added to the bill by Yin.

University of Wyoming spokesperson Mike Smith said the institution has worked hard to abide by legislative intent of the budget footnote, even trying to work under the language that was vetoed by the governor. Last May, the UW Board of Trustees dissolved the DEI office, and reevaluated many of the services and programs that operated under it.

“Many of the provisions of this bill have been implemented already,” Smith said. “The bill itself is, in our view, then unnecessary. It’s overly broad. It’s not well constructed.”

Article 20 of the bill prohibits the “expenditure of funds for diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory.” Smith said this section “usurps the … constitutional and statutory responsibility” of the university’s Board of Trustees to govern university curriculum, as well as infringing on academic freedom.

Wyoming Association of Community Colleges Executive Director Erin Taylor added that she believed the Legislature lacked the purview to decide how public colleges use private donations.

“We have a very similar stance on this bill to the university. In fact, we’ve been working on this from the beginning to just try and make it livable,” Taylor said. “But the colleges are environments of belonging, and, more than any other types of institutions, they meet students where they’re at. We’re just trying to make sure that what’s already happening on their campuses can continue to happen.”

What the bills do

The sponsors of both HB 147 and SF 103 have said they wish to move the state to a “colorblind approach.” Wyoming Freedom Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, the sponsor of HB 147, previously stated that DEI programs “are a distraction.”

Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody (2025)

Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody

“The core of (this bill) really is to mandate a colorblind approach for all government entities,” Rodriguez-Williams said during the bill’s third and final reading in the House. “There is, perhaps, no more important place for this mandate than the justice system.”

Both bills specify that academic instruction would not be a prohibited DEI practice, so educators can still teach about historical events related to race in the classroom. However, both bills prohibit educational institutions, and other governmental entities, from requiring “any student, employee or contractor to attend or participate in any” DEI or institutional discrimination instruction, training or program.

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