Kera Birkeland
Kera Birkeland served as a Republican member of the Utah House of Representatives for District 4, and is an educator and coach. Entries naming her record her sponsorship of legislation and resolutions later passed by the legislature, so she appears as a chief sponsor rather than an enacting authority.
2024 Events (3)
Utah Gov. Cox signed HCR301, invoking the state Sovereignty Act to bar officers from enforcing federal Title IX transgender protections
On June 21, 2024, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed House Concurrent Resolution 301, which the Legislature had passed two days earlier during a special session. The resolution invoked the newly enacted Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act to direct state officers, elected officials, and public and higher-education employees not to enforce the U.S. Department of Education's 2024 Title IX regulations extending protections to transgender and pregnant students where they conflict with Utah law. It was the first use of the Sovereignty Act mechanism.
Utah Gov. Cox signed SB 219 adding a gender-identity screening test and sealing transgender-athlete eligibility proceedings
On March 21, 2024, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 219, "School Activity Eligibility Commission Modifications," amending the commission that determines whether transgender students may participate in sex-designated interscholastic athletics. The law adds a requirement that the commission consider whether a student's assertion of a gender identity is consistent with the statutory definition, and it removes individual eligibility proceedings from Utah's open-meetings law while expanding confidentiality to records held by schools. It also directs the Attorney General to defend, and the state to indemnify, persons enforcing the law.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB257 mandating birth-sex facility use in schools, public buildings, and prisons
Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 257, "Sex-based Designations for Privacy, Anti-bullying, and Women's Opportunities," into law on January 30, 2024. The act requires restrooms, showers, and locker rooms in public K-12 schools and government-owned or controlled buildings to be used according to sex assigned at birth, creates new and enhanced criminal penalties for using a facility inconsistent with that designation, and extends the birth-sex standard to government athletic programs and to correctional facilities. It is codified at Utah Code 63G-31-201 et seq.
2022 Events (1)
Utah Legislature overrode Cox veto to enact HB 11, barring transgender girls from school sports
On March 25, 2022, the Utah Legislature voted to override Gov. Spencer Cox's veto and enact H.B. 11, requiring public K-12 schools to designate athletic teams by sex and barring students of the male sex from competing on teams designated for female students, based on their original birth certificate. The House voted 56-18-1 and the Senate 21-8-0 to override; as a fallback if a court blocks that provision, the law creates a School Activity Eligibility Commission to gate transgender students' participation through a case-by-case approval process.