Depoliticize Government Property Act.

"Depoliticize Government Property." Nobody wants political fights at the DMV. Makes sense, right? Keep government buildings neutral.

The bill creates an approved list of flags that can fly on government property. US flag, state flag, military branches, POW/MIA, county and city flags. That list covers the obvious ones. What it doesn't include is everything else. Pride flags. BLM flags. Juneteenth flags. Thin blue line flags. Any flag representing a community, a movement, or a moment.

The word "depoliticize" is doing a lot of work here. Flying a Pride flag at a county building during Pride Month is, in the bill's framing, political. But flying a POW/MIA flag is not. The bill decides which symbols count as political and which count as official... and the approved list happens to exclude the ones that the bill's sponsors find objectionable.

Government employees who display an unapproved flag... even on a breakroom wall... face disciplinary action, including termination. The sponsor said the intent is to make everyone feel welcomed. A local official tied it directly to HB 171, the DEI ban, saying both serve the same purpose. It passed the House on straight Republican votes.