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House File 856 - EnrolledAn Actprohibiting public entities from engaging in certain
activities relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion,
creating a private cause of action, and including effective
date provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
DIVISION I
State entities — diversity, equity, and inclusion activities
prohibited
Section 1. NEW SECTION. 19.1 Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
1. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion” includes any of the
following:
a. Any effort to manipulate or otherwise influence the
composition of the employees or student body with reference to
race, sex, color, or ethnicity, apart from ensuring colorblind
and sex-neutral admissions and hiring in accordance with state
and federal anti-discrimination laws.
b. Any effort to promote differential treatment of or
provide special benefits to individuals on the basis of race,
color, or ethnicity.
c. Any effort to promote or promulgate policies and
procedures designed or implemented to encourage preferential
treatment of or provide special benefits to individuals on the
basis of race, color, or ethnicity.
d. Any effort to promote or promulgate trainings,
programming, or activities designed or implemented to encourage
preferential treatment of or provide special benefits to
individuals on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, gender
identity, or sexual orientation.
e. Any effort to promote, as the official position of
the state entity, a policy, program, training, practice,
activity, or procedure referencing unconscious or implicit
bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology,
microaggressions, group marginalization, anti-racism, systemic
oppression, social justice, intersectionality, neopronouns,
heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender theory, racial
privilege, sexual privilege, or any related formulation of
these concepts.
2. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion office” means any
division, office, center, or other unit of a state entity
-1-that is responsible for creating, developing, designing,
implementing, organizing, planning, or promoting policies,
programming, training, practices, activities, or procedures
related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Diversity,
equity, and inclusion office” does not include any of the
following:
a. An office staffed exclusively by licensed attorneys and
paralegal and secretarial support for the licensed attorneys,
and certified by the attorney general as operating with the
sole and exclusive mission of ensuring legal compliance with
the state entity’s obligations under Tit.IX of the federal
Education Amendments Act of 1972, 20 U.S.C.§1681 et seq.,
as amended, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990, 42 U.S.C.§12101 et seq., as amended, the federal Age
Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29 U.S.C.§621 et
seq., as amended, the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub.
L.No.88-352, as amended, or any other applicable federal or
state law or a court order.
b. An academic department within a public school that exists
primarily for the purpose of offering courses and that does not
establish a policy or procedure to which other departments of
the public school are subject.
c. An office solely engaged in recruitment.
d. A registered student organization.
e. An office that a state entity is required to maintain
pursuant to a contract or agreement with a federal governmental
entity.
3. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion officer” means an
individual who is either employed by a state entity or who
is an independent contractor of a state entity and whose
duties include coordinating, creating, developing, designing,
implementing, organizing, planning, or promoting policies,
programming, training, practices, activities, and procedures
relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Diversity,
equity, and inclusion officer” does not include any of the
-2-following:
a. Any employee who is a licensed attorney and whose sole
job duties related to diversity, equity, and inclusion are to
ensure compliance with the state entity’s obligations under
Tit.IX of the federal Education Amendments Act of 1972, 20
U.S.C.§1681 et seq., as amended, the federal Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C.§12101 et seq., as amended,
the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29
U.S.C.§621 et seq., as amended, the federal Civil Rights
Act of 1964, Pub.L.No.88-352, as amended, or any other
applicable federal or state law or a court order.
b. Any employee while engaged in teaching, research, or
the production of creative works, the dissemination of the
employee’s research or creative works, or advising a registered
student organization.
c. A guest speaker or performer with a short-term
engagement.
d. Any employee that a state entity is required to employ
pursuant to a contract or agreement with a federal governmental
entity.
4. “Gender identity” means a gender-related identity of a
person, regardless of the person’s assigned sex at birth.
5. “Sexual orientation” means the same as defined in section
216.2.
6. “State entity” means the state, including but not limited
to a state agency, department, division, board, commission,
institution, or authority; a city; a county; a township; or any
other political subdivision or special district in this state
as established pursuant to state or local law.
Sec. 2. NEW SECTION. 19.2 Restrictions on use of moneys.
1. A state entity shall not expend any moneys appropriated
by the general assembly or any other moneys derived from
bequests, charges, deposits, donations, endowments, fees,
grants, gifts, income, receipts, tuition, or any other source
to establish, sustain, support, or staff a diversity, equity,
-3-and inclusion office, or to contract, employ, engage, or hire
an individual to serve as a diversity, equity, and inclusion
officer.
2. Subsection 1 shall not be construed to cover or affect a
state entity’s funding of any of the following:
a. Academic course instruction.
b. Research or creative works by the state entity’s
students, employees, or other research personnel, and the
dissemination of such research or creative works.
c. Activities of registered student organizations.
d. Arrangements for guest speakers and performers with
short-term engagements.
e. Mental or physical health services provided by licensed
professionals.
f. Policies, programming, training, practices, activities,
or procedures related to diversity, equity, and inclusion that
are required pursuant to a contract or agreement with a federal
governmental entity.
3. Subsection 1 shall not be construed as prohibiting bona
fide qualifications based on sex that are reasonably necessary
to the normal operation of the state entity.
Sec. 3. NEW SECTION. 19.3 Enforcement — venue.
1. Any person may notify the attorney general of a state
entity’s potential violation of section 19.2. The attorney
general may bring an action against a state entity for a writ
of mandamus to compel the state entity to comply with section
19.2.
2. A student enrolled in a public school, an alumnus of
a public school, or an employee of a state entity alleging
a violation of section 19.2 may bring a civil action for
injunctive relief against the state entity to prohibit the
state entity from continuing such violation.
3. An action brought under this section may be brought in
any of the following:
a. The county in which all or a substantial part of the
-4-events or omissions giving rise to the action occurred.
b. The county in which the principal office of the state
entity is located.
c. The county in which the claimant resides, if the claimant
is an individual and resides in this state.
d. The county in which a defendant resides, if the defendant
is an individual and resides in this state.
Sec. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. This division of this Act, being
deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
DIVISION II
Community colleges — diversity, equity, and inclusion
activities prohibited
Sec. 5. Section 261J.1, subsection 2, paragraph a, as
enacted by 2024 Iowa Acts, chapter 1152, section 31, is amended
to read as follows:
a. (1) An With respect to an institution of higher
learning governed by the state board of regents, an office
staffed exclusively by licensed attorneys and paralegal and
secretarial support for the licensed attorneys, and certified
by the attorney general as operating with the sole and
exclusive mission of ensuring legal compliance with the public
institution of higher education’s obligations under Tit.IX of
the federal Education Amendments Act of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §1681
et seq., as amended, the federal Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §12101 et seq., as amended, the federal
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29 U.S.C. §621 et
seq., as amended, the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub.
L. No.88-352, as amended, or any other applicable federal or
state law or a court order.
(2) With respect to a community college, an office ensuring
legal compliance.
Sec. 6. Section 261J.1, subsection 3, as enacted by 2024
Iowa Acts, chapter 1152, section 31, is amended to read as
follows:
3. “Public institution of higher education” means an
-5-institution of higher learning governed by the state board of
regents or a community college.
Sec. 7. Section 261J.4, as enacted by 2024 Iowa Acts,
chapter 1152, section 34, is amended to read as follows:
261J.4 Reporting.
Each public institution of higher education governed by
the state board of regents shall, on or before December 1 of
each year, submit an annual report to the general assembly and
the governor that certifies the public institution of higher
education’s institution’s compliance with this chapter.
Sec. 8. 2024 Iowa Acts, chapter 1152, section 36, is amended
to read as follows:
SEC. 36. FY 2025-2026 APPROPRIATIONS — REALLOCATION. At
the close of the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, all
unexpended moneys appropriated by the general assembly for the
fiscal year that would have been expended by an institution
of higher learning governed by the state board of regents on
diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or diversity, equity,
and inclusion officers on or after the effective date of this
division of this Act are reallocated to the Iowa workforce
grant and incentive program fund established pursuant to
section 256.230, subsection 8.
______________________________
PAT GRASSLEY
Speaker of the House
______________________________
AMY SINCLAIR
President of the Senate
I hereby certify that this bill originated in the House and
is known as House File 856, Ninety-first General Assembly.
______________________________
MEGHAN NELSON
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved _______________, 2025
-6-______________________________
KIM REYNOLDS
Governor
-7-sc/ns/md
activities relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion,
creating a private cause of action, and including effective
date provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
DIVISION I
State entities — diversity, equity, and inclusion activities
prohibited
Section 1. NEW SECTION. 19.1 Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
1. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion” includes any of the
following:
a. Any effort to manipulate or otherwise influence the
composition of the employees or student body with reference to
race, sex, color, or ethnicity, apart from ensuring colorblind
and sex-neutral admissions and hiring in accordance with state
and federal anti-discrimination laws.
b. Any effort to promote differential treatment of or
provide special benefits to individuals on the basis of race,
color, or ethnicity.
c. Any effort to promote or promulgate policies and
procedures designed or implemented to encourage preferential
treatment of or provide special benefits to individuals on the
basis of race, color, or ethnicity.
d. Any effort to promote or promulgate trainings,
programming, or activities designed or implemented to encourage
preferential treatment of or provide special benefits to
individuals on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, gender
identity, or sexual orientation.
e. Any effort to promote, as the official position of
the state entity, a policy, program, training, practice,
activity, or procedure referencing unconscious or implicit
bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology,
microaggressions, group marginalization, anti-racism, systemic
oppression, social justice, intersectionality, neopronouns,
heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender theory, racial
privilege, sexual privilege, or any related formulation of
these concepts.
2. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion office” means any
division, office, center, or other unit of a state entity
-1-that is responsible for creating, developing, designing,
implementing, organizing, planning, or promoting policies,
programming, training, practices, activities, or procedures
related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Diversity,
equity, and inclusion office” does not include any of the
following:
a. An office staffed exclusively by licensed attorneys and
paralegal and secretarial support for the licensed attorneys,
and certified by the attorney general as operating with the
sole and exclusive mission of ensuring legal compliance with
the state entity’s obligations under Tit.IX of the federal
Education Amendments Act of 1972, 20 U.S.C.§1681 et seq.,
as amended, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990, 42 U.S.C.§12101 et seq., as amended, the federal Age
Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29 U.S.C.§621 et
seq., as amended, the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub.
L.No.88-352, as amended, or any other applicable federal or
state law or a court order.
b. An academic department within a public school that exists
primarily for the purpose of offering courses and that does not
establish a policy or procedure to which other departments of
the public school are subject.
c. An office solely engaged in recruitment.
d. A registered student organization.
e. An office that a state entity is required to maintain
pursuant to a contract or agreement with a federal governmental
entity.
3. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion officer” means an
individual who is either employed by a state entity or who
is an independent contractor of a state entity and whose
duties include coordinating, creating, developing, designing,
implementing, organizing, planning, or promoting policies,
programming, training, practices, activities, and procedures
relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Diversity,
equity, and inclusion officer” does not include any of the
-2-following:
a. Any employee who is a licensed attorney and whose sole
job duties related to diversity, equity, and inclusion are to
ensure compliance with the state entity’s obligations under
Tit.IX of the federal Education Amendments Act of 1972, 20
U.S.C.§1681 et seq., as amended, the federal Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C.§12101 et seq., as amended,
the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29
U.S.C.§621 et seq., as amended, the federal Civil Rights
Act of 1964, Pub.L.No.88-352, as amended, or any other
applicable federal or state law or a court order.
b. Any employee while engaged in teaching, research, or
the production of creative works, the dissemination of the
employee’s research or creative works, or advising a registered
student organization.
c. A guest speaker or performer with a short-term
engagement.
d. Any employee that a state entity is required to employ
pursuant to a contract or agreement with a federal governmental
entity.
4. “Gender identity” means a gender-related identity of a
person, regardless of the person’s assigned sex at birth.
5. “Sexual orientation” means the same as defined in section
216.2.
6. “State entity” means the state, including but not limited
to a state agency, department, division, board, commission,
institution, or authority; a city; a county; a township; or any
other political subdivision or special district in this state
as established pursuant to state or local law.
Sec. 2. NEW SECTION. 19.2 Restrictions on use of moneys.
1. A state entity shall not expend any moneys appropriated
by the general assembly or any other moneys derived from
bequests, charges, deposits, donations, endowments, fees,
grants, gifts, income, receipts, tuition, or any other source
to establish, sustain, support, or staff a diversity, equity,
-3-and inclusion office, or to contract, employ, engage, or hire
an individual to serve as a diversity, equity, and inclusion
officer.
2. Subsection 1 shall not be construed to cover or affect a
state entity’s funding of any of the following:
a. Academic course instruction.
b. Research or creative works by the state entity’s
students, employees, or other research personnel, and the
dissemination of such research or creative works.
c. Activities of registered student organizations.
d. Arrangements for guest speakers and performers with
short-term engagements.
e. Mental or physical health services provided by licensed
professionals.
f. Policies, programming, training, practices, activities,
or procedures related to diversity, equity, and inclusion that
are required pursuant to a contract or agreement with a federal
governmental entity.
3. Subsection 1 shall not be construed as prohibiting bona
fide qualifications based on sex that are reasonably necessary
to the normal operation of the state entity.
Sec. 3. NEW SECTION. 19.3 Enforcement — venue.
1. Any person may notify the attorney general of a state
entity’s potential violation of section 19.2. The attorney
general may bring an action against a state entity for a writ
of mandamus to compel the state entity to comply with section
19.2.
2. A student enrolled in a public school, an alumnus of
a public school, or an employee of a state entity alleging
a violation of section 19.2 may bring a civil action for
injunctive relief against the state entity to prohibit the
state entity from continuing such violation.
3. An action brought under this section may be brought in
any of the following:
a. The county in which all or a substantial part of the
-4-events or omissions giving rise to the action occurred.
b. The county in which the principal office of the state
entity is located.
c. The county in which the claimant resides, if the claimant
is an individual and resides in this state.
d. The county in which a defendant resides, if the defendant
is an individual and resides in this state.
Sec. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. This division of this Act, being
deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
DIVISION II
Community colleges — diversity, equity, and inclusion
activities prohibited
Sec. 5. Section 261J.1, subsection 2, paragraph a, as
enacted by 2024 Iowa Acts, chapter 1152, section 31, is amended
to read as follows:
a. (1) An With respect to an institution of higher
learning governed by the state board of regents, an office
staffed exclusively by licensed attorneys and paralegal and
secretarial support for the licensed attorneys, and certified
by the attorney general as operating with the sole and
exclusive mission of ensuring legal compliance with the public
institution of higher education’s obligations under Tit.IX of
the federal Education Amendments Act of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §1681
et seq., as amended, the federal Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §12101 et seq., as amended, the federal
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29 U.S.C. §621 et
seq., as amended, the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub.
L. No.88-352, as amended, or any other applicable federal or
state law or a court order.
(2) With respect to a community college, an office ensuring
legal compliance.
Sec. 6. Section 261J.1, subsection 3, as enacted by 2024
Iowa Acts, chapter 1152, section 31, is amended to read as
follows:
3. “Public institution of higher education” means an
-5-institution of higher learning governed by the state board of
regents or a community college.
Sec. 7. Section 261J.4, as enacted by 2024 Iowa Acts,
chapter 1152, section 34, is amended to read as follows:
261J.4 Reporting.
Each public institution of higher education governed by
the state board of regents shall, on or before December 1 of
each year, submit an annual report to the general assembly and
the governor that certifies the public institution of higher
education’s institution’s compliance with this chapter.
Sec. 8. 2024 Iowa Acts, chapter 1152, section 36, is amended
to read as follows:
SEC. 36. FY 2025-2026 APPROPRIATIONS — REALLOCATION. At
the close of the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, all
unexpended moneys appropriated by the general assembly for the
fiscal year that would have been expended by an institution
of higher learning governed by the state board of regents on
diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or diversity, equity,
and inclusion officers on or after the effective date of this
division of this Act are reallocated to the Iowa workforce
grant and incentive program fund established pursuant to
section 256.230, subsection 8.
______________________________
PAT GRASSLEY
Speaker of the House
______________________________
AMY SINCLAIR
President of the Senate
I hereby certify that this bill originated in the House and
is known as House File 856, Ninety-first General Assembly.
______________________________
MEGHAN NELSON
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved _______________, 2025
-6-______________________________
KIM REYNOLDS
Governor
-7-sc/ns/md