Texas leaders defend Black official after lawmaker’s public interrogation of DEI policies left her in tears

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

Texas Water Development Board Chair L’Oreal Stepney wiped tears from her eyes Thursday as a House hearing turned into a tense line of questioning over race and the future of state hiring practices.

The exchange left Stepney visibly distraught, ignited a broader discussion about political rhetoric and respect in state government and caught the eye of Texas’ “Big Three” — Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows.

During an appropriations subcommittee meeting, where state agencies present their financial requests for the next state budget, Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, pressed TWDB officials, including Stepney and another Black official, Edna Jackson, on whether the agency’s hiring policies prioritized diversity over merit.

Hours after Stepney and Democrats on the committee defended her experience and record during the hearing, the state’s three top officials also weighed in, in support of Stepney. Each of them sidestepped any direct comment on race or hiring while making clear they broadly support her qualifications and service. In an interview on Friday, Harrison said he never challenged Stepney's qualifications and he defended his line of questions as “perfect.”

The hearing turned tense when Harrison pushed Stepney on the water board’s written plan favoring a diverse workforce. “I'm unaware of any statute or regulation that requires your agency to engage in race-based employment determinations that require you to mirror the diversity of society in general,” Harrison said. “...I would believe this is facially unconstitutional because we should not be discriminating on the basis of race for employment decisions, certainly not in jobs that are subsidized by my taxpayers.”

Citing language in the board’s strategic plan that calls for staff to mirror the diversity of Texas, Harrison suggested this amounted to unconstitutional, race-based hiring. He pointed to an Abbott executive order last year telling state agencies to stop considering DEI initiatives in hiring, fueling tensions over how state hiring and funding decisions should be made. The diversity, equity, and inclusion policies support groups that have been historically underrepresented or discriminated against.

Although Abbott has been vocal in opposing policies on DEI, the governor’s public comment Thursday evening simply voiced support for his appointee Stepney. On social media, Abbott wrote:

“Water is one of the most important issues that the State of Texas will address this session. There is no one better and no one I have more confidence in to lead and implement our water solutions than TWDB Chairwoman L'Oreal Stepney.”

At the hearing, the exchange drew in Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, who called out what she saw as an unfair and aggressive line of questioning and forcefully defended Stepney’s credentials.

“The need to correct 246 years of systemic racism when we had slavery is offensive,” Collier said. “It's offensive to me and it's offensive to all Black people.”

“So I want to thank you so much for doing your job based on your qualifications as a person. And I appreciate you and I see you. And I said that for not just myself, I said it for all Black women and all women because sometimes we all get, we all get the short end of the stick on that.”

Collier and the chair of the subcommittee Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, stood up and brought tissues to Stepney, who was fighting back tears.

After a moment Stepney then found herself defending not only her agency’s work but her own qualifications and dedication to Texas. She pointed to her two degrees from UT-Austin in civil and aerospace engineering and her more than three decades of experience managing the state’s most “precious resource.”

“I am never this emotional, and I respect, I respect the Legislature so much,” Stepney said. “But what have I done? I have protected the drinking water supply of 31 million Texans.”

“Wastewater treatment facilities? I was responsible for issuing 600 of them a year. There's 3,500 in Texas. There's 7,000 drinking water facilities in Texas. It was my responsibility to make sure that they were done. They not only protected the environment, but they protected the economy of Texas.”

Though Harrison never directly accused Stepney of being a DEI hire, the intensity of his questioning, particularly toward the two Black women representing TWDB, crystallized an ongoing political fight over DEI policies in Texas — a battle that is increasingly shaping how the state approaches hiring, governance, and public services. The incident also highlighted the intensifying political rhetoric around DEI policies in Texas government.

Harrison has positioned himself in recent months as the chief opponent of anything related to DEI — for example, regularly identifying and targeting universities on social media for curriculum offerings about diversity, even though such courses are not banned under current state law. The discussion including pushback from Democrats grew intense at the Thursday hearing.

“We've reached our goddamned limit already to attacks on people's character, on people's qualifications, based on only one single thing: the color of their skin,” Walle said. “We're proud Americans… That flag, it belongs to all of us… So I call on my colleagues to quit those attacks.”

Lt. Gov. Patrick also went public with praise for Stepney Thursday evening in a social media post that called her “one of the most respected, experienced, and talented water experts in the nation.”

Harrison’s questioning raised concerns about how such debates are conducted.

Burrows, R-Lubbock, weighed in as well, issuing a statement on Twitter/X that underscored the importance of respectful discourse.

“House Members are afforded great latitude to ask probing questions; however, I expect all public servants to be treated with utmost respect and decency in the Texas House,” Burrows said, adding that he had personally reached out to Stepney to express appreciation for her service.

Harrison has asked other state agencies, including the Texas Department of Transportation, similar questions about their DEI policies. Asked in an interview with The Texas Tribune on Friday about the exchange at the hearing, he called his questions “perfect” and “professional.” He said he did not question Stepney's qualifications, but just asked questions about policies.

“There clearly was a decision to coordinate a completely dishonest smear campaign because I'm exposing government sanctioned DEI,” Harrison said. “I'm not backing down. I'm going to keep fighting. Texans deserve it. Texans do not want their hard earned tax dollars used for racially discriminatory employment practices.”

---

We can’t wait to welcome you to the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas’ breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Step inside the conversations shaping the future of education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and so much more.

Hear from our CEO, Sonal Shah, on TribFest 2025.

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.