Florida Affirmative Action Laws: 1999 Ban, DEI, and Talented 20

Florida affirmative action laws sit in an unusual middle position. Since 1999, the state has banned the use of race, sex, or ethnicity as a preference in public university admissions, state employment, and government contracting. At the same time, Florida statutes still require every executive agency to maintain a written affirmative action plan with annual goals for hiring women, minorities, and people with disabilities. Preferences are prohibited; measurement and outreach are mandatory.

The 1999 Ban on Preferences

The framework starts with Executive Order 99-281, signed by Governor Jeb Bush on November 9, 1999, and known as the One Florida initiative. It eliminated racial and gender set-asides, quotas, and preferences in three areas: state university admissions, state contracting, and state employment.¹

Implementation was staggered. State contracting rules changed in fiscal year 2000–01. Undergraduate admissions at the state universities shifted in the 2000–01 school year, and graduate admissions followed in 2001–02.¹ The order is still the backbone of Florida’s race-neutral policy more than 25 years later.

What State Agencies Still Have to Do

Despite the ban on preferences, Section 110.112 of the Florida Statutes requires every executive agency head to develop and maintain an affirmative action plan designed to ensure “full utilization of women, minorities, and individuals who have a disability” in the agency’s workforce.²

Each agency has to compare its workforce demographics against the relevant labor market and set annual goals for underrepresented groups. Every agency files an annual progress report. Each one appoints an affirmative action–equal employment opportunity officer who monitors compliance and identifies deficiencies, and the Department of Management Services trains supervisors on equal employment opportunity principles and goal-setting.²

The critical limit: the goals are aspirational. An agency cannot use quotas, set-asides, or preferential scoring in an actual hiring decision to hit its numbers. The plans are accountability tools that force measurement and reporting; they do not grant any applicant a preference in the selection process.

Protection Without Preference: the Florida Civil Rights Act

Florida’s anti-discrimination law lives in the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992, Chapter 760 of the statutes. It covers employers with 15 or more employees and prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing, pay, and other conditions of employment based on race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, or marital status.³ Employment agencies, labor organizations, and licensing bodies are also covered.

Here is the distinction that catches people out. Florida law protects individuals from being discriminated against because of their race, but does not permit race to be used as a positive factor in their favor. Refusing to hire someone because of their ethnicity is unlawful. Giving an applicant a hiring advantage because of their ethnicity is also unlawful. Both count as discrimination under the same statute.³

University Admissions and the Talented 20

Florida’s public universities have not considered race in admissions since 1999. When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down race-conscious admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina in 2023, the ruling had no practical effect in Florida.¹

The main race-neutral pathway the state adopted instead is the Talented 20 program. It guarantees admission to one of the 12 state university system institutions for any student who graduates in the top 20 percent of their Florida public high school class, earns a standard diploma, submits college entrance exam scores, and meets minimum admissions eligibility requirements set by the Board of Governors.⁴

Because rank is measured within each individual high school, students compete against peers in their own school rather than a statewide pool. Talented 20 students also receive priority consideration for the Florida Student Assistance Grant, a need-based aid program.⁵

DEI Restrictions in Schools and Workplaces

Florida has gone further than most states in restricting diversity, equity, and inclusion programming. Section 1000.05 of the Florida Statutes, as amended in 2022 and 2023, prohibits public K-20 educational institutions from subjecting students or employees to instruction that promotes certain race- or sex-based concepts. Those include the idea that members of one race are inherently superior, that a person bears responsibility for historical actions of others of the same race, or that a person should receive differential treatment to achieve diversity.⁶

The line the law draws is between discussion and endorsement. Instructors can teach about these concepts, but cannot present them as established fact or require students to affirm them.

On funding, both the Board of Governors and the State Board of Education adopted rules prohibiting state or federal money from supporting programs that categorize people by race or sex for preferential treatment.⁷ Institutions that previously ran DEI offices have had to dismantle or restructure them.

The Individual Freedom Act

The 2022 Individual Freedom Act, often called the “Stop WOKE Act,” extended similar rules into private workplaces. Under Section 760.10(8), an employer cannot require employees to attend training that promotes certain concepts as true, including:

One race or sex is morally superior to another
A person is inherently racist or oppressive because of their race or sex
A person should feel guilt for historical actions committed by others of the same race
Merit, hard work, and objectivity are racist or sexist concepts
A person should receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion

Employers can still offer diversity training. The statute says explicitly that discussing these concepts in training is not prohibited, so long as the training presents them objectively rather than compelling employees to believe them.³ A violation is treated as employment discrimination under the Florida Civil Rights Act.

Contracting and the Veterans’ Preference

One Florida ended the set-aside programs that had reserved a percentage of state contracts for minority-owned and women-owned businesses. The state cannot use race or gender as a preferential factor in competitive bidding. All vendors compete on the same terms, and awards go on qualifications and price.

The largest preference Florida does allow in public employment is for veterans. Under Section 295.07, the state and its political subdivisions must give preference in hiring and retention to veterans, disabled veterans, certain military spouses, and Gold Star family members. The categories run, in priority order, from disabled veterans with a service-connected disability, to spouses of totally disabled veterans and spouses of service members missing in action or held as prisoners of war, to wartime veterans, to surviving family members of service members who died in combat-related conditions, to all other veterans and current members of reserve components or the Florida National Guard. The state may also waive postsecondary education requirements for veterans and reservists who are otherwise qualified.⁸

The Federal Shift in 2025

The federal picture changed in January 2025 when President Trump signed Executive Order 14173, revoking Executive Order 11246. For more than 60 years, EO 11246 had required federal contractors to maintain written affirmative action programs for women and minorities and to submit to compliance reviews by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. That obligation is gone. Federal contractors are no longer required to develop affirmative action plans or submit to OFCCP enforcement related to them.

For Florida-based businesses holding federal contracts, the state and federal rules now largely line up: neither requires race- or gender-based preferences in employment. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act still applies, so employers with 15 or more employees cannot discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Combined compensatory and punitive damages under federal law for intentional employment discrimination are capped by employer size, from $50,000 for employers with 15 to 100 employees up to $300,000 for employers with more than 500 employees.⁹

If You Think You’ve Been Discriminated Against

The Florida Commission on Human Relations handles complaints under the Florida Civil Rights Act. You have 365 days from the date of the alleged violation to file a signed complaint.¹⁰ That is shorter than many people assume, and missing it closes the state administrative door.

You can also file a charge with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which has a cross-filing agreement with the Florida Commission. Filing with one agency generally preserves your rights with the other, but the deadlines differ: the federal window in Florida is 300 days from the discriminatory act, and the state window is 365 days.¹⁰ File to the shorter clock if you want to keep both options open.

1
State University System of Florida. Fast Facts – One Florida
2
Florida Senate. Florida Code 110.112 – Affirmative Action Equal Employment Opportunity
3
Florida Senate. Florida Code 760.10 – Unlawful Employment Practices
4
Florida Department of Education. Talented Twenty Program
5
Florida Department of Education. Talented Twenty Program Overview
6
Florida Senate. Florida Code 1000.05 – Discrimination Against Students and Employees in the Florida K-20 Public Education System Prohibited
7
Florida Department of Education. State Board of Education Passes Rule to Permanently Prohibit DEI in the Florida College System
8
Florida Senate. Florida Code 295.07 – Preference in Appointment and Retention
9
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Remedies For Employment Discrimination
10
Florida Commission on Human Relations. File a Complaint