House Bill 4: Kentucky’s DEI Ban, Veto Override, and HB 424

Kentucky’s House Bill 4, the state’s DEI ban for public colleges and universities, became law on March 27, 2025, when the Republican-controlled legislature overrode Governor Andy Beshear’s veto. The statute prohibits public postsecondary institutions and the Council on Postsecondary Education from spending money on diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, staff, or training, and it bars differential treatment based on race, sex, religion, color, or national origin in admissions, scholarships, hiring, and housing.¹

What HB 4 Prohibits

The law reaches further than a spending ban. Public institutions and the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) cannot fund DEI initiatives, “discriminatory topics,” or bias incident investigations, and they cannot try to influence the composition of student bodies or scholarship rosters on the basis of protected characteristics.¹

A “discriminatory concept” is defined broadly as any concept that “justifies or promotes differential treatment or benefits” based on protected characteristics. “Indoctrinate” is defined as imbuing or attempting to imbue someone with “an opinion, point of view, or principle without consideration of any alternative.”²

Additional restrictions cover the full pipeline of university life:

Institutions cannot ask applicants for statements about their experiences with, or views on, race, religion, sex, color, or national origin.
No individual can be required to endorse or condemn a specific ideology or viewpoint.
Institutions cannot require courses whose “primary purpose is to indoctrinate participants with a discriminatory concept,” and CPE cannot approve new degree or certificate programs that mandate such courses.
Professional licensing boards cannot require DEI training for initial or renewal licenses; any pre-existing requirement of that kind is void.¹

What the Law Still Allows

The statute carves out narrow exceptions. Initiatives required by federal, state, judicial, contractual, or accreditation mandates remain permitted, provided they are clearly described in the institution’s annual report. Veterans and first-generation students may continue to receive special benefits.³

Programs for student retention, mentorship, academic advising, and career development are not explicitly carved out. They remain permitted only so long as they do not involve DEI spending or differential treatment based on protected characteristics. Proposed amendments that would have explicitly protected academic freedom, faculty sponsorship of student organizations, and retention and mentorship programming were not adopted in the final version.¹

How the Ban Is Enforced

The Kentucky Attorney General may bring an action for a writ of mandamus to compel any institution or CPE to comply. An institution cannot defend against such an action by pointing to a federal, state, or accreditation mandate unless the specific initiative was clearly described in its certified annual report to the Legislative Research Commission.¹

The state Auditor of Public Accounts must audit each public institution at least once every four years to determine whether money was spent in violation of the law. Institutions may cure or appeal violations identified through that process.¹

Earlier versions of the bill had more teeth. A private cause of action allowing individuals to sue institutions for injunctive relief and damages, together with a waiver of sovereign immunity, was stripped before final passage. A proposed one percent penalty on state-appropriated funds for repeat violations was also withdrawn.¹

The Veto and the Override

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Decker, a Republican from Waddy, with roughly two dozen House cosponsors.² Decker described DEI initiatives as “social engineering” and said the bill would refocus universities on “excellent academic instruction” and “critical thinking,” citing the 2023 Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.⁴

The House passed HB 4 on March 5, 2025, by a vote of 81–18. The Senate followed on March 12. Governor Beshear vetoed the bill on March 20, saying, “This bill isn’t about love. House Bill 4 is about hate. So I’m going to try a little act of love myself, and I’m going to veto it right now.”⁵ In a separate statement he said, “We should be embracing diversity, not banning it.”⁶

On March 27, 2025, the legislature overrode the veto by votes of 79–19 in the House and 32–6 in the Senate, and the bill was delivered to the Secretary of State the next day.¹ Opponents in the Senate had questioned the bill’s legal footing. Sen. Gerald Neal argued there was “no unconstitutionality that’s been determined” regarding DEI initiatives, noting that Students for Fair Admissions addressed admissions specifically, not the broader activities HB 4 targets.⁴

How Kentucky Universities Are Complying

Council on Postsecondary Education

CPE certified full compliance with HB 4 as of June 30, 2025, after eliminating DEI initiatives through formal actions on April 17 and June 30. The council discontinued all DEI trainings, removed its “Cultural Competency Credential Certification” process, and revised several internal policy frameworks. A staff position titled “Executive Director for Access, Engagement, and Belonging” was eliminated in May 2025; the employee was reassigned as “Executive Director for Student Access” with narrowed duties. CPE also asked for removal of a regulation that had required institutions to meet equal opportunity goals as part of degree program approval.⁷

Going forward, CPE now routes all new initiatives through executive leadership and the General Counsel for compliance review, and it began promoting a “Kentucky Graduate Profile” learning framework emphasizing “intellectual diversity” and “viewpoint neutrality.”⁷

University of Louisville

UofL redirected $2 million in scholarship funds that had previously been allocated based on race and gender. The Martin Luther King Scholarship, which had been restricted to Black and Hispanic students, was opened to all applicants, and its application questions were modified.⁸

The university disbanded five employee resource groups: the Women’s Network; the Black Faculty/Staff Association; the Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander Faculty and Staff Association; the Hispanic Latino Faculty and Staff Association; and the LGBTQ+ Faculty and Staff Association. Two university commissions, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Diversity and Racial Equity, were dissolved and replaced by a new “Presidential Commission on Climate Culture and Well-being.”⁹ The “Arts and Humanities Diversity” course designation was renamed “Arts and Humanities Perspective.”⁸ No employees were fired directly because of the law, though positions and programs were restructured.

The decision to disband the employee groups drew criticism from Prof. Ricky Jones, a Pan-African Studies professor and former president of the Black Faculty/Staff Association, who said HB 4 makes no explicit mention of employee resource groups and the university went “further than required.”¹⁰

University of Kentucky

UK had already disbanded its Office for Institutional Diversity in August 2024, before HB 4 was enacted. After the law took effect, UK created an “institutional statements policy” barring the university from taking official positions on social issues not directly tied to its mission.¹¹

In August 2025, the Goldwater Institute wrote to Attorney General Russell Coleman alleging UK was not fully compliant because its Board of Trustees had not formally adopted a viewpoint neutrality policy, instead delegating that task to the university president. UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said the university believed it was compliant but would bring a recommendation to the Board of Trustees at its September 2025 meeting to “endorse a policy of institutional neutrality.”¹¹

Northern Kentucky University and Others

Northern Kentucky University renamed its “Center for Student Inclusiveness” to the “Center for Community and Connections” and had closed its DEI offices in 2024.¹² NKU filed its required annual certification with the Legislative Research Commission by the October 1, 2025, deadline.¹³ At a July 2025 education budget subcommittee meeting, universities across the state reported to legislators that they were in compliance.¹¹

The Companion Tenure Law: HB 424

HB 4 does not stand alone. On the same day the legislature overrode Beshear’s veto of HB 4, it also overrode his veto of House Bill 424, which reshapes faculty employment at comprehensive universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. HB 424 removes existing limits on employment contract duration, requires governing boards to approve a performance and productivity evaluation process for all faculty by January 1, 2026, and mandates evaluations at least every four years. It permits removal of employees who fail to meet performance standards “regardless of status,” language critics view as weakening tenure protections.¹⁴ The House override vote was 80–20; the Senate’s was 29–9.¹⁵

1
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 4 – 2025 Regular Session
2
Kentucky Lantern. Kentucky House Passes Bill to Eliminate DEI in States Public Universities, Colleges
3
Inside Higher Ed. Kentuckys Legislature Rushing Through Bill to Ban DEI
4
LPM. Kentucky General Assembly One Vote Closer to Eliminating DEI at Public Colleges
5
Kentucky Lantern. Saying Its About Hate, Beshear Vetoes Ban on DEI in Kentucky Public Higher Education
6
Higher Ed Dive. Kentucky Gov Andy Beshear Vetoes Bill to Ban DEI at Public Colleges
7
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. CPE HB 4 Compliance Report
8
Manual RedEye. How Kentucky Higher Education Is Navigating State Wide DEI Ban
9
WAVE 3 News. UofL Gives Update Implementing New Kentucky Law That Bans DEI Programs Public Colleges
10
Kentucky Lantern. University of Louisville Shuts Down Employee Groups in Response to Kentucky Anti-Diversity Law
11
Lexington Herald-Leader. Kentucky Education
12
Kentucky Lantern. Kentucky Public Universities Are Reviewing How to Implement Anti-DEI Law
13
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. NKU HB 4 Certification
14
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 424 – 2025 Regular Session
15
Kentucky Lantern. KY Bills Ending DEI in Public Colleges, Creating Uncertainty About Tenures Future, Become Law