Petition: Repeal the Cultural Diversity 3 Hr CEU Requirement for All 4 BHEC Licensing Boards

Objective: Repeal immediately the 3 hr Cultural Diversity requirement (§681.140 of the BHEC Rulebooks) for license renewal, by all four licensing boards.

Rationale: This requirement was sold to the Boards and BHEC agency as a potential workforce shortage solution but any rational reading of their original recommendation clearly indicates it has nothing to do with workforce numbers. It is clearly a DEI initiative.

The move away from the DEI ideology by the State legislature and the Governor's office is well under way so I see no reason that an obvious DEI training initiative should be a part of our professional curriculum or continue to be so.

The effort to eradicate the DEI efforts from our society is rapidly gaining momentum in both the public/state and private sectors. Following is a partial list of companies who have very publicly done away with, or are moving away from their DEI programs:

Walmart

Ford Motor Company

Harley-Davidson

Lowe's

Brown-Forman Corporation

Molson Coors

Boeing

John Deere

Tractor Supply Company

Toyota

Nissan Motor

Microsoft

Caterpillar

The TX Legislature passed SB 17 during their last session which outlawed DEI in the HR/hiring practices of the state-run university system. Legislation being proposed in the session that begins Jan 18, 2025 looks to expand that to their curriculums as well.

"Senate Bill 689, filed by State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola), and its companion legislation House Bill 1521, filed by State Rep. Stan Gerdes (R-Smithville), would prohibit official DEI offices in government entities and restrict the ability to contract such services out to a third party."

https://texasscorecard.com/state/lawmakers-file-statewide-ban-on-dei-offices-in-government-entities/

Desired Action: The State of TX is clearly moving away from this ideology and that includes all of its agencies and departments. I am urging the board and Council members to take a proactive approach to the inevitable and repeal this glaringly obvious DEI requirement for license renewal and do it immediately.