Race-based nicknames, logos, mascots, and team names; providing an exemption from rule-making and emergency rule procedures; and making an appropriation. (FE)

Under current law, the Division of Hearings and Appeals is required to hold a hearing on a complaint objecting to a school board's use of a race-based nickname, logo, mascot, or team name. Under the bill, unless the state superintendent determines that a contested case hearing is not necessary or otherwise postpones the hearing, the state superintendent must hold a hearing within 45 days of receiving such a complaint. The bill also reverses the burden of proof at a hearing challenging the use of a race-based nickname, logo, mascot, or team name so that the burden is on the school board to demonstrate that the nickname, logo, mascot, or team name does not promote discrimination, pupil harassment, or stereotyping.

Under current law, the state superintendent may forego a hearing on a complaint if a school board demonstrates that a federally recognized American Indian tribe that has historical ties to this state has, under an agreement with the school board, approved the school board's use of the nickname, logo, mascot, or team name. The bill restricts the state superintendent's authority to forego a hearing to only those situations in which the American Indian tribe that is referenced, depicted, or portrayed in the nickname, logo, mascot, or team name approved the use.

Under current law, a school district is prohibited from being a member of an interscholastic athletic association that bars a member from using a race-based nickname, logo, mascot, or team name unless the use violates a decision and order issued on or after December 21, 2013. The bill eliminates this prohibition. The bill also eliminates a prohibition against the state superintendent promulgating rules that create a presumption of what constitutes a race-based nickname, logo, mascot, or team name that promotes discrimination, pupil harassment, or stereotyping.

Under the bill, DPI may award a grant to a school board that terminates the use of a race-based nickname, logo, mascot, or team name, regardless of whether the termination is voluntary, in response to an objection, or to comply with an order. The bill specifies that the amount of the grant may not exceed the greater of $50,000 or the actual cost incurred by the school board to replace the race-based nickname, logo, mascot, or team name. Under the bill, these grants are funded from Indian gaming receipts.