Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey sued Starbucks on Tuesday for using "race-based hiring practices" in alleged violation of anti-discrimination laws.

Bailey's lawsuit alleges that Starbucks violates the Missouri Human Rights Act. The lawsuit highlights programs Starbucks offers to promote "BIPOC" employees, referring to Black, indigenous and people of color. It also targets the company for "setting and tracking annual inclusion and diversity goals of achieving BIPOC representation of at least 30 percent at all corporate levels and at least 40 percent of all retail and manufacturing roles by 2025," according to a draft of the lawsuit obtained by Fox News Digital.

"With Starbucks’ discriminatory patterns, practices, and policies, Missouri’s consumers are required to pay higher prices and wait longer for goods and services that could be provided for less had Starbucks employed the most qualified workers, regardless of their race, color, sex, or national origin," Bailey claimed in a statement.

Starbucks did not respond by press time to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

TRUMP ADMIN HITS BACK AS ACLU LAUNCHES LAWSUIT ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: ‘READY TO FACE THEM'

"As Attorney General, I have a moral and legal obligation to protect Missourians from a company that actively engages in systemic race and sex discrimination," Bailey said. "Racism has no place in Missouri. We’re filing suit to halt this blatant violation of the Missouri Human Rights Act in its tracks."

Bailey's lawsuit relies on the Supreme Court ruling that federal law prohibits discrimination based on race in college admissions, arguing that the decision also applies to hiring practices.

TRUMP DHS REPEALS KEY MAYORKAS MEMO LIMITING ICE AGENTS, ORDERS PAROLE REVIEW

By allegedly linking its hiring practices to race and gender quotas, Starbucks has "blatantly violated the law," the lawsuit claims.

"Additionally, the company discriminates based on race and gender when it comes to board membership. All of these actions are unlawful," Bailey's office said in a statement.

The lawsuit comes just weeks after news that Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol warned the company's employees about incoming layoffs in March.

In a message to employees, he highlighted how the company aims to deliver on its "Back to Starbucks" strategy, a series of changes announced last year that aims to enhance customers' in-store experience, but also said it needs to strive for better efficiency, which will ultimately result in layoffs.

"We have recently begun the work to define the support organization for the future. We are approaching this work thoughtfully, but it will involve difficult decisions and choices. I expect that, unfortunately, we will have job eliminations and smaller support teams moving forward," Niccol wrote.

The spread of DOGE-centric legislation and bureaucracies has taken off like a SpaceX rocket in several states across the country since Elon Musk and lawmakers like Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., began their work this year.

Bean, chair of the bipartisan DOGE Caucus, was asked about copycat initiatives popping up around the country and remarked, "America has DOGE fever."

"As elected officials, we must ensure we are good stewards of taxpayer dollars. This means we must identify, investigate and eliminate wasteful spending."

With a governor’s race in November and President Donald Trump only losing their state by a historically small margin, Garden State Republicans appeared bullish this week as they put forth a proposal to "bring DOGE to New Jersey."

‘DOGE MEETS CONGRESS’: LAWMAKER LAUNCHES NEW PANEL ON GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY

GOP Assemblymen Alex Sauickie and Christopher DePhillips recently introduced Resolution 213 to create the NJ Delegation on Government Efficiency within the Treasury Department.

Sauickie quoted former President Ronald Reagan’s 1985 retort that "government is like a baby – an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other."

"Except babies, if raised and disciplined rightly, grow into adults who usually become productive members of society. Those adopting our state budgets show no such discipline," Sauickie said, adding that it is time for "grownups to take responsibility and say ‘no’" to reckless spending.

Some Trenton lawmakers have painted New Jersey’s financial outlook as a "fiscal cliff," and DePhillips blamed outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy for claiming he inherited the problem from Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

"Taxpayers want accountability for how their hard-earned money is spent," DePhillips said.

He also called on Murphy to "stop fighting Trump" and lower New Jersey’s business taxes before the third-founded state in the union "loses out" on the potential upswing of the new administration.

Republican state Sen. Joe Pennacchio added in a recent Fox News Digital interview that he would be forming a DOGE committee in the state legislature.

"We're mirroring what the federal government and what [Musk is] doing," said Pennacchio.

TOP DOGE LAWMAKER SAYS TRUMP ALREADY RACKING UP WINS

This week, Kentucky lawmakers also prioritized government efficiency measures, with Republican state Rep. Jared Bauman forwarding a bill to establish a working group to help the state treasury modernize its tax collections and accounting.

In Texas, lawmakers in both the state Senate and House are working on DOGE-centric initiatives.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Brandon Creighton, a Republican, first oversaw the passage of the strongest DEI ban in the U.S. during the 2023 session, which eliminated billions in taxpayer-funded waste and refocused public universities on education over social issues.

After DOGE formed at the federal level, Creighton said Texas is already a model for how a jurisdiction that prioritizes government efficiency will work.

"Seeing the swift action by President Trump and Elon Musk with DOGE is a welcome and necessary new era in Washington, D.C. – and I know they are just getting started," Creighton told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

"Many have said that Washington should take notes from Texas – because the Texas economic engine is proof that when government is committed to efficiency, accountability and conservative results, taxpayers win."

Meanwhile, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, officially the president of the Senate, announced a bill late last month called "Texas DOGE – Improving Government Efficiency," according to Bloomberg.

Another reported bill by Republican state Sen. Bryan Hughes would form a DOGE office in the executive branch.

Meanwhile, the Texas House is considering forming a DOGE committee to analyze government efficiency through a 13-member panel.

It would investigate fraud claims, inefficient use of tax dollars, and the use of AI, according to FOX-7.

In Missouri, Republican state Rep. Ben Baker told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Missourians believe the state government is not as efficient or responsive as it should be.

"We want to look into that," said Baker.

Baker recently announced he was named to lead the state’s new DOGE Standing Committee, adding his work will "align with federal efforts."

In New Hampshire, newly-inaugurated Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s first executive order created a 15-member Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE).

"COGE will make us smarter than ever before when it comes to saving taxpayer dollars and finding better ways to serve the people of our state," she said in her inaugural address.

It will be led by former Gov. Craig Benson and businessman Andy Crews.

North Carolina also sought to get in on the DOGE trend.

Republican House Speaker Destin Hall unveiled the new NC Select Committee on Government Efficiency.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

State Reps. Keith Kidwell and John Torbett, both Republicans, will lead the initiative, looking into waste, duplication, mismanagement and constitutional violations.

"As the new Trump administration rightfully takes aim at Washington D.C.’s wasteful spending and inefficient bureaucracy, it is time for us in Raleigh to do the same," Kidwell said in a statement.

Bean, the U.S. House’s DOGE leader, further remarked on the collective efforts: 

"It’s exciting to see states pick up the DOGE baton, and I applaud their efforts to improve government efficiency and stop the abuse of taxpayer dollars."

Some in Congress, however, have cast doubt on DOGE. Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., said at an anti-DOGE rally that some of the actions at the federal level are "completely illegal."

Sheriff’s deputies in Missouri say they responded to a "bananas situation" on Monday when they responded to a report of a subject "monkeying around."

In an unusual police stop, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said they discovered a spider monkey wearing a pink-colored tutu near Route 21 and Highway M in eastern Missouri. Spider monkeys are typically found in tropical forests of Central and South America.

In a light-hearted post on X, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said that first-responding units found the subject "naked except for what appeared to be a tutu."

"After careful negotiations, deputies were able to get close enough to go 'hands-on’ with the subject and bring this bananas situation under control without incident," the law enforcement agency wrote. 

CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL GETS IN SOME MONKEY BUSINESS DURING ROUTINE STOP

Officials said the exotic primate was staying at a nearby home when it managed to open a door and get outside. 

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office posted several pictures of its deputies with the black-colored monkey. In one heart-warming image, a deputy is holding hands with the animal.

MONKEY MAYHEM AS DOZENS OF PRIMATES ESCAPE SOUTH CAROLINA RESEARCH CENTER

"In all seriousness, this is a great example of law enforcement officers never knowing what they’ll face on any given call and having to be prepared to handle whatever the job throws at them," the post continues. 

"Deputies surrounded the animal and eventually got it back to its caretaker. Nice work by everyone involved. What a day in #JeffCo."

A permit is required to own a spider monkey in Missouri. 

The news comes days after a spider monkey dressed in a onesie was discovered by police in California.

A California Highway Patrol official stopped a 2022 Rolls-Royce Ghost in Madera County last week for excessive speeding on Highway 99 and found the monkey in the car.

Meanwhile, in November, 43 rhesus macaque monkeys escaped a testing facility in South Carolina. A majority of them were recaptured. 

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., says H1-B visas are being "abused" in the U.S. and argues that many American workers are being forced to "train their replacements."

Schmitt made the comments on Fox News Sunday with host Shannon Bream, cutting against a push for more migrant workers from Elon Musk.

"I think there's an important, thoughtful debate that's happening. But the context that we need to, I think, keep in mind here is that American workers have been left behind by this economy. Many factory jobs have been sent overseas," Schmittt said. 

"I think the abuses of the H-1B program have been evident, where you have sort of the sons and daughters of those factory workers who lost their jobs, got white collar jobs as accountants, and they're, you know, training their replacements, the foreign workers who are undercutting their wages," he continued.

GOP SENATORS ‘VERY IMPRESSED’ WITH MUSK, RAMASWAMY DOGE FRAMEWORK AMID MEETINGS ON CAPITOL HILL

"So I think the solution here President Trump has actually articulated in 2020 is to reform that system and, you know, get rid of the abuses, make it merit-based and make sure that we're not undercutting wages and having, you know, Americans train their foreign replacements," he added.

'WE'RE GOING TO GUT THE FISH': REPUBLICANS GIVE DETAILS FROM CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS WITH DOGE'S MUSK, RAMASWAMY

Schmitt went on to argue that the U.S. needs to "invest" more in Americans workers, as well as defend President Trump's plans for deportations.

"The idea of deporting people who are here illegally is not a new concept. In fact, the policy in the law of the United States of America, since, you know, for 200 years, is if you come here illegally, you are detained. If you don't have a valid reason, like asylum. And by the way, nine out of ten asylum claims are bogus. Then you are deported," Schmitt said.

He stated that it has "only been in the last four years" that Democrats in control of the federal government have refused to enforce existing laws.

Musk and DOGE counterpart Vivek Ramaswamy ignited an intra-MAGA battle with their proposals to increase immigration visas for high-skill workers last week.

Ramaswamy argued on social media that American culture has glorified "mediocrity" for decades and that importing skilled labor from other countries is the solution.

Trump restricted access to foreign worker visas during his first administration and has critiqued the H-1B visas program, which allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations.