LA HB685

Prohibits Louisiana state agencies, departments, and public postsecondary institutions from maintaining DEI offices, employing DEI personnel, requiring DEI statements from applicants or employees, or extending preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation in hiring, admissions, or state-supported financial aid.

Bars public colleges and universities from requiring DEI-related instructional content in undergraduate degree programs, including topics such as critical race theory, systemic racism, implicit bias, intersectionality, and gender identity, with exceptions for programs explicitly focused on racial, ethnic, or gender studies.

Requires each public postsecondary education management board to adopt a compliance plan by May 30, 2026, and all agencies must submit annual compliance reports to the legislature beginning that date.

Preserves individual faculty academic freedom to include DEI-related topics at their own discretion, protects First Amendment rights, and exempts compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws including Title IX, Title VI, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Allows continued teaching of historical discrimination (slavery, Holocaust, Japanese internment), medical/biological discussions of genetic differences, privately funded scholarships, student organization activities, and mental/physical health services provided by licensed professionals.