Gov. Mike Braun is ending Indiana’s race- and sex-based contracting preferences, saying state contracts should be awarded based on merit, not race or gender.

The move follows a legal opinion from Attorney General Todd Rokita, who says parts of the state’s Minority and Women Business Enterprises violate the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

“It declares the race- and sex-based components of the Diversity Business Enterprise Program as unconstitutional under the Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Rokita said on Wednesday.

Braun says the change creates a level playing field where every Hoosier has the same opportunity to compete for state contracts.

The program, created in 1983, set goals for awarding state contracts to minority- and women-owned businesses. Rokita says those requirements are unconstitutional because they give preference based on race or sex.

“Merit, not race, not sex, determines who wins in business in this state,” the attorney general added.

The opinion says Indiana can still give contracting preferences to veteran-owned businesses. It also says the state can create new programs that help small businesses, veteran-owned businesses, and Indiana-based companies, as long as they don’t consider race or gender.