The Tallahassee City Commission will consider a series of changes Wednesday designed to bring city operations into compliance with a new Florida law restricting local government diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The Sept. 23 agenda item outlines the results of a citywide review of policies, programs, expenditures, contracts, grants and official activities potentially affected by Senate Bill 1134. The law, approved by the Legislature as Chapter 2026-43, takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.
City staff is recommending commissioners accept the report and authorize administrative changes needed for compliance. The review identifies potential impacts involving the City’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Community Human Service Partnership grants, the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, procurement practices, special events and proclamations.
Under SB 1134, municipalities are prohibited from funding or promoting DEI or taking certain official actions related to DEI. Local governments also cannot spend money to establish, support or staff a DEI office or officer. The law allows residents to bring legal action against a municipality for violations and requires recipients of local government contracts or grants to certify that public funds will not be used for specified DEI-related instruction.
One significant change involves Tallahassee’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. According to the agenda, the office currently handles functions including anti-harassment training, equal-employment-opportunity complaint intake and investigations, ADA accommodations and Career Mapping programs. Staff concluded those functions can continue if they are open to all city employees without reference to categories covered by the new law.
The Commission on the Status of Women and Girls presents a more direct conflict. The joint City-County commission was established in 2013 to promote issues involving women and girls. Because that mission explicitly focuses on sex, city attorneys concluded its current enabling resolution “appears to violate SB 1134” and would likely become void Jan. 1.
The City and County are working on a revised mission for the commission. Meanwhile, commissioners are being asked to extend the City’s contract with the Oasis Center for Women and Girls for administrative support through Dec. 31, along with the terms of seven commission members.
Special events could also be affected. City staff identified Experience Asia, Filipino Festival and Pride in the Park as events that may fall under the law’s restrictions. If ultimately determined to violate SB 1134, those events would no longer qualify for city-funded co-sponsorship beginning Jan. 1. The law, however, expressly permits municipalities to issue event permits in a content-neutral manner and provide public-safety services.
The City’s Emancipation Day holiday is expected to remain. The City Attorney’s Office concluded Tallahassee has a “reasonable and defensible” legal basis for continuing the May 20 paid holiday, citing its historical basis and statutory exceptions.
Procurement rules will also change. New and renewed contracts will no longer include race- or sex-based minority- and women-owned business goals, and existing MBE/WBE goal provisions will become unenforceable beginning Jan. 1. The city is reviewing procurement documents and plans to transition its MWSBE program to a race- and gender-neutral framework.
Staff also cautioned that future city proclamations will have to be reviewed individually because some official proclamations promoting activities based on protected characteristics could run afoul of the law.
The agenda lists no direct fiscal impact from the recommended actions.
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