House lawmakers passed a bill Monday that would eliminate race-based policies like affirmative action, racial preferences and racial quotas from being used when making appointments to state boards.
The House adopted an amendment to the bill (HB 1237) that removed a rule requiring the governor to strive to ensure at least one person on certain state boards is a member of a racial minority. But the proposed legislation maintains a current requirement that at least one person appointed to the Board of Medical Examiners be a woman.
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The bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville), said its purpose is to align Tennessee with a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that said such race-based programs violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Zachary noted lawsuits the state is currently facing for not complying with the 2023 ruling.
Democratic lawmakers opposed the legislation during the House floor session on Monday, including Rep. Harold Love (D-Nashville). Love expressed concerns that the bill would cause disparities in membership of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee following a 2023 report that showed non-Hispanic Black women in Tennessee were 2.3 times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as white women.
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Zachary said the legislation only aims to remove quotas and choose members based on merit and expertise, adding that some state boards had trouble filling vacancies because of the quota requirements.
Rep. Jesse Chism (D-Memphis) also opposed the bill, saying affirmative action policies are not meant to give members of minority groups an unfair advantage.
“It wasn’t meant to give a leg up or to make sure someone who’s not qualified to be a part of different boards,” Chism said. “But it was meant to allow those who you don’t normally see at the country club or at your particular church or in your particular neck of the woods, so they can merely be seen, so they can have opportunities. I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong with that.”
No legislators vocally supported the bill during the floor session, but it passed the House 71-23 along party lines and is set to be heard before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 11.
This comes as the Trump administration has made diversity, equity and inclusion programs the target of federal cuts that have trickled down to the Nashville area.
