How South Carolina GOP efforts to end DEI contradict core Republican principles | Opinion
At the heart of Republican efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs across government agencies and private businesses nationwide and in South Carolina is this incredible irony: The work is being undertaken in fundamentally anti-Republican ways.
If you’re inclined to stop reading this column now, please don’t. I’m going to try to make the Republican case for why a Republican bill to end DEI initiatives in the state is misguided.
There is obviously a vital discussion to be had somewhere between the sanctity and scuttling of government DEI programs that is respectful to all and could honor the values and views of people on either side. But in a bid to erase the words diversity, equity and inclusion from the English language — in short to make DEI D-I-E — Republicans from President Donald Trump on down to 78 members of the South Carolina State House of Representatives have lost their way.
A bill sponsored by nearly two-thirds of the 124 representatives at the Statehouse would greatly increase the size and cost of government, impose cumbersome regulations on big and small business owners alike and maybe even void the eminently sensible policy that requires the state’s retirement system from making investment decisions solely on pecuniary, or financial, factors.
A March 5 fiscal impact summary of House bill H. 3927 said that 19 of 64 surveyed state agencies, several school districts and at least one county government “raised concerns” that a provision requiring certification from contractors or grant recipients that they do not operate any program that promotes DEI may have “a significant impact on government operations.”
The Attorney General’s Office would have to hire nine people at a cost of $1.3 million a year to enforce the law. The Commission on Higher Education, which currently works with 128 vendors, would have to hire two people at a total cost of $175,000 a year for compliance, a cost that would rise if vendors were found to be noncompliant — and soar if vendors were eliminated from consideration, making procurement more expensive in the future. And the pension system?
The Retirement System Investment Commission said if its prohibition on non-pecuniary investment decision factors were to end, it could require bringing the investment and management of the system’s assets in-house with at least 75 new hires at a cost of $83.5 million.
Is that good, responsible, affordable or small government? The answer is no.
The bill doesn’t stop with state agencies. The fiscal impact summary says the bill “establishes restrictions on every state agency and all political subdivisions, including all institutions of higher learning and school districts, regarding DEI practices as defined in the bill,” affecting local school districts, counties and municipalities and forcing local governments “to require that contractors, subcontractors, and grant recipients certify that they do not operate any programs that promote DEI before entering into a contract or awarding any grant.” It sounds like a mess.
Aren’t Republicans the party of smaller government, less taxes, less regulation and fiscal conservatism? Back in the day, at least, the GOP — rightly and righteously! — was the party of financial responsibility, free enterprise and fewer regulations. Those, by the way, are three conservative causes that everyone in America should embrace. They fuel an economy that over decades has sent average income, standards of living, the stock market and life expectancy higher.
In South Carolina, H. 3927 spits in the face of that. Consider two recent headlines in The State about the legislation and the hugely disruptive effect it would have. “Any company that supports diversity can’t do business with SC under proposed law,” reads one. “DEI ban bill would cost SC state agencies, universities at least $86 million, report says,” reads another.
Business works best when the government generally stays out of its way. Yes, laws governing workweeks, overtime pay and meal breaks, for example, are key to any work place. And safety and environmental regulations are vital even if there’s disagreement on where to draw the line.
But Republicans intent on ending DEI programs in government and the private sector seem to have forgotten if not outright abandoned some of their core principles. Under Trump and through shoot-first, aim-second efforts like South Carolina’s, DEI is now a four-letter word and a target.
Think for a second of the words themselves: Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. These are actually longheld principles for our U.S. melting pot. But also, studies show DEI practices can undermine diversity. We should always try to improve the ways we ensure equality for all. It’s a healthy discussion and goal because state and federal laws banning discrimination benefit everyone. Government officials and agencies would do us all a disservice not to be thinking of this subject.
But when the right’s crusade against DEI forces businesses to make decisions they should make for themselves and ditches core GOP principles — fiscal responsibility, free enterprise and fewer regulations, all of which fuel innovation and a limitless economy — something is wrong.
This bill should D-I-E.
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "How South Carolina GOP efforts to end DEI contradict core Republican principles | Opinion."