Jan. 18, 2021
The proposed regulatory actions, if they are finalized and adopted, would negatively treat the capability and potential for self-determination of people in the workplace, while disregarding the progress our organizations, including many management and executive groups, have already made in organizational formation and development, and similarly would limit the ability of board(s) to determine their own relationships, composition, and future. Indeed, to have people mandated into business organizations across the United States is a direct assault on the free market and will of the American people and an assault on the policies of people in places of business management who daily labor to help run not only these businesses, but the ship we call America itself. If diversifying the board(s) is indeed good for business and society, then free market forces will achieve it without the need for any such proposed mandates. This proposal would emphasize racial differences and sexual orientation, mandating alterations to business associations across the United States, and would punish people for free association in business with penalties. The proposal is a clear assault on U.S. business interests, distressingly similar to AB 979 (2020) (recently passed into law in California, which is subject to legal challenge due to its inherent discrimination against specific groups of persons). This proposal is intrinsically discriminatory and racist and must be rejected in its entirety. I would also like to add that as we celebrate Martin Luther King I think we need to remember what his message was --- " I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." This still holds true to today and goes for those who run a company. We would be going backwards if we started to judge people by their race or sexual preference rather than their ability to do the job.. Sincerely, Paul Kraft