Prohibition of Considering Race or Ethnicity in Government Contracting:
HB 1613, titled the "End Racism in Contracting Act," would prohibit state and local government awarding bodies from requesting or considering an individual’s race or ethnicity when awarding contracts, grants, or other awards. It also bars those bodies from requiring or encouraging contractors or grantees to use race or ethnicity as a factor when making downstream contracting or award decisions.
The bill would require agencies and local governments that currently have rules or regulations referencing race- or ethnicity-based consideration in contracting to begin rulemaking within 60 days and adopt final rules removing those references within 180 days. It would also require reductions to procurement goals based on race or ethnicity for disadvantaged businesses or businesses in disadvantaged communities, unless the affected entity proposes amendments to change those goals within 60 days. The bill expressly preserves preferences for small, women-owned, and veteran-owned businesses, and it exempts race-neutral preferences and race-based goals required to satisfy federal grant or contract conditions.
If enacted, HB 1613 would create a new section of Florida Statutes, s. 287.05703, and would invalidate any conflicting state or local law, charter amendment, ordinance, resolution, rule, regulation, or policy that violates the act. It would directly affect public procurement practices by limiting the use of race- and ethnicity-based criteria in contracting and by forcing agencies and local governments to revise existing rules and procurement goals. The bill would not affect race-neutral preferences or certain existing programs for small, women-owned, and veteran-owned businesses, and it would allow race-based requirements only where needed to comply with federal funding or contracting conditions.
The available record suggests the bill was not advanced out of committee and ultimately died in the Government Operations Subcommittee. The bill’s framing and title indicate strong support from sponsors for eliminating race- and ethnicity-based considerations in government contracting, but the lack of recorded votes or transcripts means there is no detailed public committee debate in the provided materials. Its failure to move forward suggests it did not secure enough support to proceed through the committee process.
The main point of contention is the bill’s restriction on race- and ethnicity-conscious contracting policies, which would likely be viewed by supporters as a ban on discriminatory preferences and by opponents as a limitation on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in public procurement. Another likely dispute is the bill’s requirement to reduce existing procurement goals tied to disadvantaged businesses or disadvantaged communities, even though it preserves some exceptions. The carve-outs for women-owned, veteran-owned, and federally required programs may also have been important in narrowing opposition, but the bill still appears to have raised concerns about how far the state should go in eliminating race-based procurement criteria.