stop HB 2868

May 8, 2025

Dear Governor Hobbs,

We are coming together with an urgent ask: Please veto House Bill 2868 and protect opportunities for students and working families in Arizona. 

Everyone signing this letter shares a basic belief: It is imperative that we continue to build a fairer future where all individuals, especially those historically excluded, have equal access to education, careers, and support that reflects our diverse society. That’s what a prosperous Arizona looks like.  

Unfortunately, the lawmakers who passed HB 2868 believe that opportunity should only exist for SOME of us, not ALL of us. They passed this legislation to roll back key programs designed to help students and working families get ahead and build comfortable lives. 

Opportunity should not be optional. We should be protecting programs that lift people up instead of keeping us down. That’s why you must veto HB 2868.

If this bill is signed into law, it will:

1. Make It Harder for Racial and Ethnic Minorities to Access Higher Education:

   HB 2868 bans diversity and equity-focused scholarships and constrains access to higher education for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other students of color.
    

2. Eliminate Programs that Support Historically Marginalized Groups:

   This bill could eliminate diversity offices at the state, county, and city levels and block funding for educational institutions, threatening programs that support marginalized groups, like Northern Arizona University’s Inclusion & Multicultural Services office and the Arizona Commission on African American Affairs. These exist to help everyday people break through historic barriers that have kept them out of positions of power.
   

3. End Job Programs That Benefit Arizonans:

   HB 2868 could dismantle initiatives that expand career access for underrepresented groups, and would ban any training that ensures a safe and inclusive environment for minorities in the workplace, limiting pathways to stable public employment.
   

4. End Fair Hiring Practices:

   The bill could make it harder for marginalized workers to access secure, upwardly mobile state, county, city, and school district jobs.
   

5. Disenfranchise Teachers of Color:

   The bill risks worsening teacher shortages by deterring qualified BIPOC educators and creating a less welcoming environment for faculty of color.

This is a limited list of HB2868's dangerous consequences, but the intent is crystal clear: This legislation doesn’t fight discrimination; instead, it revives it. This bill threatens students, faculty, and working families by dismantling programs that expand opportunity. It’s driven by fear, not progress.

Please join us in giving students and working families a better shot. Don’t cut the ladder to a better life! VETO HB 2868 TODAY. 

Thank you for standing with students, business owners and working families.

Signed,

concerned Arizonans

including Arizona NAACP, the ACLU of Arizona, Arizona Poor People’s Campaign, the Arizona Psychological Association, and AFSCME