DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Senate took up a bill on Tuesday that aims to get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion offices or hirings in local government in the state.

The bill says that a county, or any county board or office is prohibited from having a DEI office, hiring an employee to perform duties of the DEI office, compel any person to provide a DEI statement or give preferential consideration to any person based off of the DEI statement.

The policy advanced in a vote along party lines, 34 to 15. Senate Republicans argued that DEI policies show preferential treatment to every race besides one; Senate Democrats urged the body that the actual discrimination will come when DEI initiatives are removed from local government control.

“We need to recognize that these are not just buzzwords, they are the foundation of fairness, progress and opportunities in our communities and unfortunately, Republicans are once again taking local control away from our communities in the name of a culture war,” said State Senator Liz Bennett (D), District 39 from Cedar Rapids.

“The DEI movement is not about a sincere desire to make local government more diverse, more fair, more inclusive. Equal rights based on merits, talents and skills is what we should have in our local government,” said State Senator Cherielynn Westrich (R), District 13 from Ottumwa.

Senator Westrich was asked to name an example of discrimination through the use of DEI policy in the state, but did not name an example.

The bill heads over to the Iowa House where a similar debate on a much larger DEI bill occurred just last week.

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