Update on S.B. 289: Bill Passes Through Senate

Published February 7th, 2025

By Daniel Jenkins, Outreach Director

On Thursday, the Indiana Senate passed Senate Bill 289, which would ban state educational institutions from establishing or supporting programs, offices, or individuals from developing any programming that includes “DEI”. The definition of DEI is dangerously vague, defined as any effort to influence the composition of employees with reference to race, sex, color, or ethnicity, or any effort to give differential treatments or benefits on the same grounds.

Senate Republicans took an unconventional and undemocratic approach to passing this bill, adding the anti-DEI language through an amendment on second reading of the bill before immediately advancing it to third reading. This came as a surprise to viewers and Democratic lawmakers who were unaware this would happen, and thus unable to take action against it. In this move, Republicans also made it nearly impossible to pass any further amendments, as once a bill is on third reading it takes a two-thirds majority to amend it.

Finally, the bill requires public school teachers to publish on their school corporation’s website any class material they use to teach that addresses any of the following concepts: nondiscrimination, diversity, equity, inclusion, race, ethnicity, sex, or bias. The legislation fails to offer definitions for any of these terms, and the concepts encompass a large amount of material, only adding to the burden unnecessarily placed on teachers.

Both S.B. 10 and S.B. 289 will be introduced to House committees in the coming weeks.