Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Nov. 22, 2024 – State Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-District 20) has filed a bill that mirrors previous failed legislation to prohibit discrimination or preferential treatment by state and public agencies.
Sullivan filed this bill, titled Senate Bill 3, on Wednesday ahead of the 2025 legislative session. The bill is nearly identical to Senate Bill 71, which he introduced in 2023. SB71 barely passed the Senate and failed to pass the State House of Representatives.
“[SB3] doesn’t do anything differently than what the Constitution says,” Sullivan said. “People are kind of tired of identity politics. This person gets this preferential treatment, another person gets preferential treatment. The bill just says we’re gonna treat everybody the same. What a great thing to do, is treat everyone the same.”
If passed, SB3 would eliminate required minority recruitment and retention plans at public school districts and colleges/universities. Currently, these plans require public education institutions provide yearly reports to the Division of Higher Education on their progress in hiring and recruiting minority students, teachers and faculty over a five-year period.
It also amends a scholarship designed to attract qualified minority teachers to the Delta. It would remove any mention of awarding scholarships to minority teachers and instead would award scholarships to “individuals declaring an intention to serve in the teaching field who actually render service to this state while possessing an appropriate teaching license.” The bill states this does not affect any preference given to veterans in public education.
Currently, the scholarship is awarded to qualified minority students at state-recognized colleges or universities who have a high school GPA of at least 2.5 and scored at least a 19 composite score on the ACT.
Furthermore, SB3 would repeal language requirements in government agency contracting calling for minority participation or to adopt an equal opportunity hiring program designed to increase the number of minority employees.
Finally, SB3 would eliminate the requirement of language encouraging women and minority owned businesses to bid in public improvement contracts exceeding $75,000.
Knowingly violating this bill would be a Class A misdemeanor. In Arkansas, Class A misdemeanors can carry up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.
SB3 says the state will not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to a person on matters of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in matters of state employment, public education or state procurement. It also adds a stipulation that it does not intend to affect “any preferences provided to veterans under the law based on their status as a veteran.”
This comes after the previous bill was criticized for negatively affecting veterans. Sullivan said the bill did not affect veterans and often cited a letter from Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, retired Maj. Gen. Kendall Penn, in support of SB71 during debates leading up to the 2024 general election.
“It never affected veterans. In order to please people who got excited, we added that line,” Sullivan said. “It came up and scared a lot of people, so now I think we’ve solved that issue.”
The 95th General Assembly begins Jan. 13, 2025. Click here to see all bills filed ahead of the session.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments from Sullivan.