The Trump administration on Wednesday announced it is opening an investigation into the California Environmental Protection Agency, including the powerful California Air Resources Board, over potentially discriminatory employment practices.
In a notice addressed to CalEPA Secretary Yana Garcia, the Department of Justice said its investigation will determine whether the state agency is “engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, color, sex, and national origin” in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
“In publicly available guidance documents, CalEPA highlights ‘hiring, promotion and retention practices and policies’ that indicate it may be using protected characteristics to ‘advance racial equity,’” the DOJ wrote in a news release accompanying the notice. “Further, CARB, a division of CalEPA, appears to use these policies to engage in discriminatory employment practices in its ‘Racial Equity Framework,’ which aims to advance race-based decision-making within the agency.”
President Trump campaigned in staunch opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, or DEI, which seek to promote fairness and equal representation in workplaces, educational institutions and other organizations. Trump in January signed a flurry of executive orders targeting DEI practices in the federal government.
The items in question include CalEPA’s “Practices to Advance Racial Equity in Workforce Planning” — a 2020 document intended to guide agency officials in equitable hiring, promotion and retention practices and policies.
The DOJ referenced language in the document that includes applying a “racial equity lens to every phase of workforce development,” to engage in “screening practices” that account for “cultural competency and lived experience,” and to ensure that interview panels “reflect racial, ethnic, gender and other diversity as much as possible,” among other examples.
“Race-based employment practices and policies in America’s local and state agencies violate equal treatment under the law,” read a statement from Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet K. Dhillon with the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. “Agencies that unlawfully use protected characteristics as a factor in employment and hiring risk serious legal consequences.”
Officials with CalEPA and CARB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Wednesday’s announcement marks another escalation of the Trump administration’s confrontation with California. In May, Trump signed legislation attempting to nullify the state’s long-held authority to set strict tailpipe emission standards, including its plan to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in 2035, which prompted a lawsuit from California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta in return.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department filed two complaints in federal court to prevent CARB from enforcing its rules for cleaner light-duty vehicles and heavy-duty trucks. The suits advance the president’s commitment to ending the “the electric vehicle [EV] mandate,” the DOJ said.
Trump has repeatedly clashed with Gov. Gavin Newsom over environmental issues, including the state’s response to the devastating January wildfires in Los Angeles, and has moved to cancel federal funding for electric vehicle infrastructure and California’s high-speed rail.
The Newsom administration has filed more than 75 legal actions in opposition to the White House’s efforts, including lawsuits and amicus briefs.
In its notice, the DOJ said it has not yet reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation and that it intends to consider “all relevant information.”
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