Az House resolution gutting equity measures moves closer to the ballot

A ballot referral to gut diversity measures in schools and state contracts is one step closer to being on Arizona’s ballot.

The Senate Government Committee on Wednesday advanced along party lines House Speaker Steve Montenegro’s (R-Goodyear) measure that would act as a de-facto ban
on any state programs that promote race, gender, or sexuality. The
resolution would stop state agencies, including schools, from
prioritizing contracts for businesses run by people of color or women,
block funding that aims to hire racially diverse staff, and prohibit any
funds to programs that discuss gender identity, sexual orientation, and
anti-racist material.

Despite Montenegro’s measure that seeks to
gut civil rights protections and fair hiring practices, he said on
Wednesday that his proposal was similar to federal laws that overturned
slavery and gave rights to Black people in the U.S.

“This is to help restore color blindness to our institutions and to
ensure that the state treats students, employees, job applicants, and
small business owners with equality regardless of any race,” he said.

Montenegro
positioned the resolution as fighting against discrimination of white
people, but civil rights advocates testified that the measure would end
up reversing years of equity programs to favor cis-gender white men, and
hurting small businesses owned by people of color.

An education policy director from the conservative policy group the Goldwater Institute, which sued Arizona State University last spring
over its staff DEI training, was the measure’s lone champion who spoke
at the hearing. Multiple opponents of the bill—including people from
LGBTQ+ nonprofit One-n-Ten and Reproductive Freedom for All
Arizona—showed up to watch.

“HCR 2042 overlooks the complex,
intersectional nature of inequality. People experience discrimination in
different ways based on multiple factors: race, ethnicity, gender,
disability,” said American Civil Liberties Union policy strategist
Katelynn Contreras, adding that the resolution wouldn’t address “nuanced
ways in which various groups experience barriers to education,
employment and simply existing in the world.”

Contreras mentioned a
Washington Post-Ipsos poll from the summer that showed a majority of
Americans—approximately 60%—supported diversity, equity, and inclusion
(DEI) programs.

Jeanne Woodbury, a lobbyist who represented
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, said the bill’s threat to
revoke funding for schools that have a gender-diverse curriculum would
thwart queer student’s development and lead to unequal treatment.

“A segregated society is one that leads to worse health outcomes,” Woodbury said.

Natashia Townsend, with the Black-led nonprofit Our Voice Our Vote,
said the measure will create more disadvantages for small business
owners, students, communities of color, women, and LGBTQ+ people.

“For
Black, Brown, and Indigenous students, programs like diversity
scholarships, fellowships, and recruitment initiatives have provided
crucial access to higher education. HCR 2042 could remove these
supports” Townsend said. “We should be working to make sure that small
businesses, especially those owned by marginalized communities, have
access to resources and opportunities for growth.”

Sen. Lauren
Kuby (D-Tempe) said the measure “feels like another drive-by
legislation,” and expressed “deep concerns about this possible amendment
to our constitution” in her explanation of voting against the measure.

In her yes vote for the measure, Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) said
there was a need to “harken back to rewarding merit and embracing
competition,” a common argument made by Republicans who see,
inaccurately, that diversity practices reward people with fewer
qualifications.

Montenegro’s resolution follows an executive order from President Donald Trump’s second day in office that seeks to dismantle civil rights protections
in hiring and contracts at the federal level, and is a way for
Republicans to circumvent the Governor’s veto. If passed by the Senate,
it will be sent to voters on the 2026 ballot.

Montenegro sponsored a similar ballot initiative in 2010
that changed the state constitution to eliminate equal opportunity
programs, such as affirmative action, from Arizona’s public education,
employment, and contracts. That measure was approved by 60% of voters.