Spencer Cox
Spencer Cox is the Governor of Utah, in office since January 2021 and re-elected in 2024. The entries naming him record his signature on bills passed by the Utah State Legislature, including measures on medical treatment for transgender minors, housing, and refusal of care on religious grounds. He appears as the signing authority; the bills themselves are also recorded against the legislature.
Also known as Gov. Spencer Cox
2026 Events (3)
Utah Gov. Cox signed S.B. 174, letting health care providers refuse treatment on religious or moral grounds
On March 25, 2026, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed S.B. 174, the "Exercise of Religious Beliefs and Conscience Amendments," sponsored by Sen. Keven Stratton (R-Orem). The law permits health care providers to decline non-emergency treatments or services that conflict with their religious or moral beliefs, requiring them only to notify the Utah Department of Health and Human Services and post notice. Public-health groups and LGBTQ advocates warned it could create barriers to vaccine, reproductive, and LGBTQ-related care.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB404 letting landlords bar transgender renters from sex-designated housing
On March 23, 2026, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed HB404, the Sex-Designated Housing Amendments, into law. The measure adds an exemption to the Utah Fair Housing Act allowing landlords to designate shared-occupancy housing as single-sex based on biological sex and to restrict occupancy accordingly, permitting the exclusion of transgender renters based on birth sex rather than gender identity.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB 174, permanently banning hormone therapy for transgender minors
On March 18, 2026, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed House Bill 174, the "Sex Characteristic Change Treatment Amendments," converting the state's temporary 2023 moratorium on hormone therapy for transgender minors into a permanent ban. The law bars new hormone treatment for minors and requires most minors already receiving care to taper off within roughly six months of the law's May 2026 effective date, with a narrow exception for certain older adolescents. It passed both chambers by wide margins over the objections of civil-liberties groups.
2025 Events (6)
Utah enacted HB77, banning Pride flags from public schools and government buildings; first such state ban
On March 27, 2025, Utah enacted House Bill 77, "Flag Display Amendments," after Gov. Spencer Cox declined to sign or veto it and allowed it to become law. The measure bars government entities and public schools from displaying any flag except an approved list — the U.S. flag, Utah's state flag, and official government, military, and comparable flags — and was widely promoted as a ban on Pride flags in classrooms and public buildings. Utah became the first state to enact such a ban, enforced by the state auditor through fines.
Utah enacted H.B. 424 tightening the commission that bars transgender students from sex-designated school sports
On March 26, 2025, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed H.B. 424, "School Activity Eligibility Commission Amendments," strengthening the state commission that decides eligibility for sex-designated interscholastic sports based on an unamended birth certificate. The law broadens who may be appointed to the commission, modifies its quorum, sets a standard of proof for eligibility determinations, and makes each determination specific to a single school year. It also bars public schools from participating with any athletic association that does not provide administrative staff support to the commission.
Utah enacted S.B. 74 barring people in state custody from legal name and birth-certificate sex-designation changes
On March 25, 2025, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed S.B. 74, "Corrections Modifications," which prohibits an individual in the custody of the Department of Corrections from filing a district-court petition to legally change their name and broadens the class barred from a court-ordered birth-certificate sex-designation change from those on probation or parole to any "offender" as defined in state law. The practical effect is to deny incarcerated and supervised transgender people the ability to change their legal name or correct the gender marker on their birth certificate.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB283 shielding foster parents who refuse children and limiting care for youth in custody
Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 283, "Child and Family Services Amendments," into law on March 19, 2025. Among its child-welfare provisions, the law bars the Division of Child and Family Services from placing a child with, or taking adverse action against, a foster parent who expresses discomfort caring for a child; prohibits the division from initiating certain medical treatment for a child in its custody without parental consent; and forbids courts from basing custody or reunification decisions on a parent's disagreement with a child's sexual orientation or gender identity. It passed the House 69-0 and the Senate 25-0.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB252, barring gender-affirming care for transgender people in state custody
On March 19, 2025, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 252, "State Custody Amendments," which bars government entities from providing gender-affirming medical care — including hormone therapy — to transgender people held in state prisons and juvenile detention. Sponsored by Rep. Karianne Lisonbee and carried in the Senate by Sen. Derrin Owens, the measure was enacted while the federal government was suing Utah over inadequate care for transgender prisoners.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB269 restricting transgender access to sex-designated spaces and college housing
Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 269, "Privacy Protections in Sex-designated Areas," into law on February 14, 2025, tightening birth-sex restrictions on access to sex-designated privacy spaces in education and government facilities. The law requires degree-granting institutions to assign students to sex-designated housing by their sex at birth, narrows the exception for sex-based distinctions in interscholastic activities, and removes a medical-treatment documentation route that had supported access to certain sex-designated spaces. It passed the House 59-14 and the Senate 22-7.
2024 Events (5)
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 HB316, requiring jail and prison housing by birth sex and restricting transgender inmate placement
On March 18, 2024, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 0316, "Inmate Assignment Amendments," which bars the Department of Corrections and county jails from housing inmates with others of the opposite biological sex at birth. Sponsored by Rep. Karianne Lisonbee and carried in the Senate by Sen. Heidi Balderree, the law lets a transgender inmate seek gender-matching placement only after a discretionary multi-factor security analysis required of no other inmate. The measure took effect May 1, 2024.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB157 barring a parent's stance on a child's gender identity as a custody or removal factor
Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 157, "Child Custody Factor Amendments," into law on March 14, 2024. The law amends Utah Code 30-3-10 to prohibit courts from considering a parent's agreement or disagreement with a minor child's asserted or expressed gender identity when awarding custody or parent-time, and amends Utah Code 80-2a-202 to bar peace officers and caseworkers from removing a child from parental custody solely on that basis. Chief sponsor Rep. Stephanie Gricius carried the bill, which passed the House 73-0 and the Senate 16-7 before the House concurred 63-0.
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.
2023 Events (4)
Utah enacted S.B. 93, adding evidentiary barriers and an age ban to transgender birth-certificate sex changes
On March 23, 2023, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed S.B. 93, "Birth Certificate Modifications," rewriting Utah Code 26-2-11 to impose new limits on court-ordered sex-designation changes. A court may now grant a change only on clear-and-convincing findings that the petitioner is not in litigation or on probation, has expressed the sought sex "in a consistent and uniform manner for at least six months," and suffers clinically significant distress. The law bars any change for a child under 15 years and 6 months and requires a guardian ad litem, at the family's expense, for older minors.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB209 mandating statewide birth-certificate collection to enforce K-12 transgender-athlete sports ban
On March 17, 2023, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed H.B. 209 into law, adding a provision that requires every athletic association to collect and review a birth certificate or equivalent identifying document from each student athlete as a condition of registration. Chief sponsor Rep. Jordan Teuscher stated the mandate was designed to enforce H.B. 11, Utah's 2022 ban on transgender girls in girls' sports, by letting the state verify each athlete's birth-certificate sex against the sex designation of the interscholastic activity. The law built statewide verification infrastructure that operationalized enforcement of the ban.
Utah enacted S.B. 100, barring schools from changing students' gender-identity records without parental consent
On February 16, 2023, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed S.B. 100, "School Gender Identity Policies," enacting Utah Code 53E-9-205. The law requires schools and local education agencies to ensure no policy shields a student's education record from the parent, and specifically bars any change to a student's education record regarding gender identity that does not conform to the student's sex without written parental consent. Because gender identity is the only record category singled out for this requirement, a school cannot document a student's social transition without parental notification and sign-off.
Utah Gov. Cox signed S.B. 16, banning gender-affirming surgery and new hormone treatment for transgender minors
On January 28, 2023, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 16, the "Transgender Medical Treatments and Procedures Amendments," one of the earliest state gender-affirming-care bans of the 2023 legislative wave. The law prohibits health care providers from performing sex-characteristic surgical procedures on minors and bars them from starting hormonal transgender treatment for any minor not already diagnosed with gender dysphoria before the bill's effective date. Minors already diagnosed and in treatment before that date were permitted to continue.