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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.

Jurisdiction
Utah
Location
Salt Lake City, Utah

Abuses documented

Actors

On June 21, 2024, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed House Concurrent Resolution 301, a measure the Legislature had approved along party lines two days earlier during the 2024 Third Special Session. HCR301 invoked the Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act (Utah Code Title 63G, Chapter 16) — enacted earlier in 2024 — to direct state agencies, elected officials, and public and higher-education employees not to enforce the U.S. Department of Education's 2024 Title IX regulations (34 CFR Part 106) where those rules conflict with Utah law. The federal regulations, set to take effect August 1, 2024, extended Title IX's sex-discrimination protections to cover gender identity and sexual orientation, reaching transgender and pregnant students.

The resolution was the first use of the Sovereignty Act, a mechanism that lets the Legislature declare a federal action an unconstitutional overreach and instruct state officials not to comply. HCR301 identified conflicts with Utah's HB11 (barring transgender students from girls' and women's sports teams), HB257 (restricting bathroom and locker-room access in government facilities), the Campus Individual Rights Act, and state abortion law, and told government entities to follow state law where it conflicts with the federal rule. Rep. Kera Birkeland sponsored the resolution and Sen. Curtis Bramble carried it on the Senate floor; both are Republicans.

During debate, Democratic lawmakers warned the directive raised Supremacy Clause concerns and could expose the state to litigation or loss of federal funding. Bramble argued the Tenth Amendment permits states to disregard federal action they deem an overreach. Utah was among 26 states that had also sued over the 2024 Title IX rule. Cox signed HCR301 alongside five other special-session bills and did not issue a statement explaining his approval.

Updates

2025-01-09 — Federal court vacated the 2024 Title IX rule nationwide [5, 6]

On January 9, 2025, U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky vacated the Department of Education's 2024 Title IX regulations nationwide in State of Tennessee v. Cardona, holding the rule exceeded the department's authority. The ruling ended the federal regulation that HCR301 had directed Utah officers not to enforce.

Why we recorded this

Federalism and civil rights: the Supremacy Clause makes validly issued federal regulations binding on states, and Title IX bars sex discrimination in federally funded education. Utah's resolution directs state officers to refuse enforcement of a federal rule extending those protections to transgender and pregnant students, treating a group differently based on gender identity while asserting a state power to disregard federal civil-rights standards. This archive records when a government directs officials to withhold anti-discrimination protections from a protected group.

Sources

  1. H.C.R. 301 Concurrent Resolution-directives to Government Officers Under the Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act in Regard to Title IX — Utah State Legislature primary accessed July 16, 2026
  2. Gov. Spencer J. Cox signs six bills from special session — Office of the Governor of Utah primary accessed July 16, 2026
  3. Utah invokes sovereignty to ignore Biden admin's Title IX transgender protections — KUER secondary accessed July 16, 2026
  4. Cox signs bill blocking Utah's compliance with new Title IX regulations — Utah News Dispatch secondary accessed July 16, 2026
  5. Judge scraps Biden's Title IX rules, reversing expansion of protections for LGBTQ students — NBC News investigative accessed July 16, 2026
  6. Biden's Title IX Rule to Expand Protections of Trans Students Struck Down — Education Week investigative accessed July 16, 2026

See also