SB 980 - This act creates new provisions relating to the business practices of entities doing business in this state. ECONOMIC BOYCOTTS (Section 34.650) Under this act, public entities are prohibited from entering into certain contracts with a company unless the contract includes a written certification that the company is not currently engaged in, and agrees for the duration of the contract not to engage in, any kind of economic boycott, as that term is defined in the act. Any contract failing to comply with the provisions of this act shall be void against public policy. Provisions are included allowing the Attorney General to enforce this act. A company that enters into a contract with a public entity that is subject to this act and engages in any economic boycott during the term of the contract shall be obligated to pay damages to the state in an amount equal to three times all monies paid to the company under the contract. Additionally, any person injured as a result of any violation or threatened violation of this act may bring a cause of action in Cole County Circuit Court and shall be entitled to injunctive relief as well as damages, including costs and attorney fees. This act does not apply to contracts with a total potential value of less than $100,000 or to contractors with fewer than 10 employees. This provision is identical to SB 430 (2023) and substantially similar to SB 1061 (2024). UNLAWFUL BUSINESS PRACTICES - DEI CLASSIFICATIONS (Section 431.205) The act also creates unlawful business practices relating to DEI classifications. A DEI classification is defined as race, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity. Pursuant to the act, it is an unlawful business practice for any private business, in entering into, maintaining, or seeking to establish contractual relations with any other private business to: · Fail or refuse to enter into a contract, maintain a contract, or entertain bids or offers to contract, based, in whole or in part, on the fact that the other private business: (a) does not provide information or data, or does not provide sufficient information or data, about the extent to which its workforce or ownership exhibit particular DEI classifications; or (b) Fails to satisfy any rule, standard, policy, goal, aspiration, or preference, whether express or implied, regarding the extent to which its workforce, managers, executives, or ownership exhibit or claim to exhibit particular DEI classifications. · Consider, including as one criterion among many other criteria, whether or not it is treated as a dispositive criterion in making a decision, and whether or not it is part of an express or implied scoring or grading system: (a) Whether the owners, controllers, officers, or employees of another private business exhibit or claim to exhibit particular DEI classifications; or (b) Whether another private business has adopted or endorsed any particular policy or practice that promotes the hiring and promotion of employees based on the fact that those employees or prospective employees exhibit or claim to exhibit particular DEI classifications; · Require or suggest that individuals exhibiting particular DEI classifications, because of their DEI classifications, work on the contract or have particular roles in performing the contract, or to require or suggest that a particular quota or percentage of individuals working on the performance of a contract exhibit one or more particular DEI classifications; and · Require or suggest that any other contracting party provide data regarding the extent to which its workforce, managers, executives, or ownership exhibit or claim to exhibit particular DEI classifications. A civil action for violation of this provision may be brought within two years after the alleged unlawful business practice occurred or after its reasonable discovery by the alleged injured party. In any civil action brought pursuant to this act, the plaintiff shall bear the burden of proving the alleged unlawful practice was the direct proximate cause of the claimed damages. The court may award certain fees, damages, and court costs as described in the act. The act additionally empowers the Attorney General to issue a civil investigative demand or bring a civil action in the Cole County Circuit Court seeking appropriate remedies if there is reasonable cause to believe that any private business or group of private businesses is engaged in an unlawful business practice prohibited by this provision. This act contains various exemptions. SCOTT SVAGERA