2,044 events on record Subscribe September 10, 2026
Standing Record home The Standing Record A non-partisan record of US democratic norms —
and the events that erode them.

Timeline › 2022

2022

31 entries from 2022.

October(3)

Former Kechi, Kan. police Lt. Victor Heiar arrested for using Flock cameras to stalk estranged wife

On October 26, 2022, Wichita police arrested then-Kechi, Kansas Police Department Lieutenant Victor Heiar, 32, after discovering he had used his access to the Wichita Police Department's Flock license-plate reader system to track his estranged wife's location without any law-enforcement purpose. Heiar pleaded guilty to computer crime and stalking, both misdemeanors, and was sentenced in April 2023 to a 24-month term probated to 18 months.

Lawsuit revealed Clayton County police's airport jet-bridge unit disproportionately stopped Black travelers, seized over $1M in cash

A federal lawsuit filed October 11, 2022, against Clayton County, Georgia, revealed that the county police department's airport "jet bridge interdiction" unit had disproportionately stopped Black travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Drawing on open-records data, the suit found that of 402 documented jet-bridge stops between August 2020 and April 2021, 56% fell on Black passengers -- versus roughly 8% of U.S. air travelers nationally -- while the program produced only three drug seizures against more than $1 million in cash and money orders seized. After a district court dismissal was partly reversed on appeal, Clayton County settled the lawsuit for $30,000 on August 18, 2026, confirming the program had already been terminated.

Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB3XX, cutting ARPA hospital funding tied to gender-affirming care for minors

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 3XX on October 4, 2022, appropriating $39.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the University Hospitals Authority while barring their use at any facility providing gender-transition medical treatment to patients under 18. Facing the funding cutoff, OU Health's Oklahoma Children's Hospital announced it would stop providing gender-affirming care to minors.

July(2)

Border Patrol agent shot unarmed teen in Calexico eight times after two prior disciplined civilian shootings

On July 11, 2022, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Marcos Javier Andrade fired eight shots at 19-year-old Anthony Flores during an attempted traffic stop in Calexico, California, striking the unarmed driver in the neck, hip, shoulder, and hand. Flores, who was not engaged in any smuggling activity, survived with permanent disabilities and lasting psychological trauma. Federal prosecutors later revealed Andrade had previously been disciplined twice — in 2012 and 2017 — for firing his weapon at civilians, yet remained on active duty through the date of the 2022 shooting and for nearly four years after it.

South Carolina enacted FY2022-23 budget Proviso 23.4, barring MUSC from using state funds for gender-affirming care for transgender minors under 16

On July 1, 2022, South Carolina's FY2022-23 General Appropriations Act (H.5150, Act No. 239) took effect carrying Proviso 23.4, which bars the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) from using state appropriated funds for gender-affirming care for patients under 16. The General Assembly adopted the proviso in its June 15, 2022 conference report, and Governor Henry McMaster's June 22 line-item veto message did not strike it. This is the first-year enactment of a proviso South Carolina has renewed annually since.

June(3)

Federal judge found Arizona's prison healthcare system unconstitutional after 15-day trial

On June 30, 2022, U.S. District Judge Roslyn O. Silver ruled that the Arizona Department of Corrections had "failed to provide, and continues to refuse to provide, a constitutionally adequate medical care and mental health care system" for the roughly 34,000 people in its custody, violating the Eighth Amendment. The 200-page ruling followed a 15-day bench trial in a class action originally filed in 2012, after Silver rescinded a 2014 settlement in 2021 upon finding the state had committed "pervasive material breaches" of its terms.

South Carolina Gov. McMaster signed medical-conscience law shielding only race from care-refusal discrimination

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed H4776, the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act, into law on June 17, 2022, after it passed the House 76-31 and the Senate concurred 23-13. The law lets medical practitioners, institutions, and payers refuse to provide or pay for any nonemergency health care service that violates their religious, moral, or ethical conscience, with its sole anti-discrimination carve-out protecting patients only on the basis of race. LGBTQ+ advocacy groups and roughly 50 health care professionals who had urged a veto warned the law would restrict access to care such as gender-affirming treatment and fertility services for same-sex couples.

Louisiana Legislature enacted SB 44, banning transgender girls from school sports, without governor's signature

Louisiana's Senate Bill 44, the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," became Act No. 283 on June 6, 2022, after Gov. John Bel Edwards declined to sign or veto it within the constitutional window. The law requires schools receiving state funding to designate athletic teams by biological sex and bars transgender girls and women from competing on female-designated K-12 and college teams, effective August 1, 2022.

May(5)

Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB 615, requiring K-12 students to use restrooms matching birth-certificate sex

On May 25, 2022, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed SB 615, requiring every public school and public charter school serving pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade to designate multiple-occupancy restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms for the exclusive use of one sex as listed on a student's original birth certificate. A noncompliant student is limited to a single-occupancy facility, and a noncompliant district faces a 5% state funding cut. Three transgender students later sued to block the law; a federal judge dismissed the suit, and the dismissal remains on appeal.

Indiana Legislature overrode Gov. Holcomb's veto to enact HB 1041, a K-12 transgender sports ban

The Indiana General Assembly voted to override Gov. Eric Holcomb's veto of HB 1041 on May 24, 2022 — the House 67-28 and the Senate 32-15 — enacting House Enrolled Act 1041 into law. The statute bars students who are male based on sex assigned at birth from participating on girls'-designated K-12 athletic teams, creating a civil cause of action against schools that allow a transgender girl to compete while immunizing schools that exclude her.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB 2153, barring transgender women from college sports

On May 9, 2022, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB 2153 (Public Chapter 1005), barring students of the male sex from intercollegiate or intramural sports designated for "females," "women," or "girls" at public (and certain private) institutions of higher education, requiring institutions to rely on a student's original birth certificate. The same act created a private civil cause of action for violations of Tennessee's existing K-12 transgender sports ban enacted in 2021.

Georgia High School Association voted to bar transgender athletes based on birth-certificate sex

On May 4, 2022, the Georgia High School Association's executive committee voted unanimously, meeting in Thomaston, Georgia, to require student athletes to compete on teams matching the sex listed on their birth certificate, barring transgender students from teams matching their gender identity. The vote came five days after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed HB 1084, which authorized a separate committee to investigate and decide the same question — a process GHSA's executive committee bypassed. GHSA, which governs athletics for 465 public and private Georgia schools, said the rule would take effect for the coming school year.

April(9)

Georgia Gov. Kemp signed HB 1084, authorizing K-12 ban on transgender athletes in girls' sports

On April 28, 2022, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed HB 1084, the "Protect Students First Act," into law at the State Capitol in Atlanta. A last-minute floor amendment added April 5, 2022 empowers a newly created executive oversight committee to adopt a policy barring students whose gender is male from competing on girls'-designated K-12 athletic teams, with noncompliant schools forfeiting state QBE funding.

Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB 1100, barring nonbinary sex designations on birth certificates

On April 26, 2022, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 1100, amending the state's vital-records statutes to require that the biological sex designation on a birth certificate be either male or female and expressly prohibiting a nonbinary designation or any symbol representing one, including "X." The bill carried an emergency clause and took effect immediately, reversing a nonbinary-marker option the Oklahoma State Department of Health had begun permitting the prior year under a lawsuit settlement.

Florida Gov. DeSantis signed HB 7 restricting classroom and workplace speech on race and sex

On April 22, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 7 (Stop W.O.K.E. Act), barring K-12 schools, public colleges and universities, and employers from teaching or requiring training that endorses specified concepts about race, color, sex, or national origin. Federal courts subsequently blocked the law's workplace and higher-education provisions as unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in separate lawsuits; the K-12 classroom provisions were not enjoined and remain in effect.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB1895, penalizing school districts that don't enforce the state's transgender sports ban

On April 22, 2022, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed House Bill 1895 (Public Chapter 909), amending the state's 2021 K-12 transgender sports ban to add a funding penalty. Under the law, the Tennessee Department of Education must withhold a portion of state education-finance funds from any local school district that fails to determine a student's sex at birth for school-sports eligibility purposes. The bill passed both chambers before Lee's signature and took effect July 1, 2022.

Kentucky General Assembly enacted a budget rider letting state child-placement contractors refuse services on religious grounds

On April 13, 2022, Kentucky's General Assembly enacted the 2022-2024 executive branch budget (House Bill 1, delivered to the Secretary of State as Acts Chapter 199), which included a rider barring state contracts for Department for Community Based Services child-placement work from interfering with a contractor's exercise of religion and letting a contractor who cannot perform a service due to religiously held beliefs have the state substitute another licensed contractor. The provision codifies a religious-refusal carve-out for state-funded foster-care and adoption placement contracting.

Kentucky Legislature overrode Beshear's veto to enact SB 83, banning transgender girls from school sports

The Kentucky General Assembly voted to override Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of Senate Bill 83 on April 13, 2022, enacting the bill as Acts Chapter 198. The law requires the Board of Education to designate school athletic teams by biological sex and bars transgender girls from competing on girls'-designated teams from sixth grade through college, creating a civil cause of action against noncompliant schools.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB 184, nation's first felony ban on gender-affirming care for minors

On April 8, 2022, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB 184, the "Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act," after the Alabama Legislature passed it a day earlier. The law makes it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine, to provide puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or gender-affirming surgery to minors. It took effect May 8, 2022, becoming the first such criminally enforced ban in the United States.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed HB 322, barring trans students from birth-sex-assigned school restrooms and restricting K-5 LGBTQ instruction

On April 8, 2022, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed HB 322 (Act No. 2022-290) into law, requiring K-12 public school students to use multi-occupancy restrooms and changing areas designated by the sex listed on their birth certificate. The act, passed by the Alabama Legislature on the final day of its session, also prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-5 that is not deemed age-appropriate under state board standards, a provision added by last-minute floor amendment. The measure was enacted in Montgomery on the same day Ivey signed the separate SB 184 gender-affirming care ban.

Arizona Gov. Ducey signed SB 1399 shielding faith-based adoption agencies that deny LGBTQ+ and minority-religion families

On April 6, 2022, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed Senate Bill 1399, sponsored by Sen. Sine Kerr (R-Liberty), enacting A.R.S. § 8-921. The law bars the state from taking discriminatory action against faith-based adoption and foster-care agencies that decline to provide placement services consistent with their religious beliefs. Advocates warned it lets state-contracted agencies turn away LGBTQ+ and minority-religion prospective parents where foster children already outnumber licensed families roughly four to one.

March(7)

Arizona Gov. Ducey signed SB 1138, banning irreversible gender-reassignment surgery for minors

On March 30, 2022, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed SB 1138 into law, adding A.R.S. 32-3230 to prohibit physicians from providing "irreversible gender reassignment surgery" to any individual under 18, with narrow exceptions for intersex conditions, treatment of complications, and life-threatening emergencies. The statute restricts only surgery and does not limit puberty blockers or hormone therapy. Ducey signed it the same day as the separate SB 1165 transgender-athletes sports ban.

Arizona Gov. Ducey signed SB 1165, barring transgender girls from female school sports statewide

On March 30, 2022, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed SB 1165, the "Save Women's Sports Act," requiring public K-12 and college athletic teams to be designated by biological sex and barring transgender girls and women from female teams. The law passed the Senate 16-13 and the House 31-24 and overrode an existing Arizona Interscholastic Association policy that had accommodated transgender athletes.

Florida Gov. DeSantis signed HB 1557 barring K-3 LGBTQ instruction and mandating parental notification enabling forced outing

On March 28, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1557, "Parental Rights in Education," barring classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and requiring schools to notify parents of changes to a student's mental, emotional, or physical wellbeing while barring procedures that would let a student withhold that information from a parent. Critics said the notification mandate risks forcing schools to out LGBTQ+ students to parents without consent, and the law became widely known as the "Don't Say Gay" law.

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.

Iowa Gov. Reynolds signed HF 2416, banning transgender girls and women from school sports

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed HF 2416 into law on March 3, 2022, barring transgender girls and women from competing on female sports teams in the state's K-12 public and accredited nonpublic schools, community colleges, and Board of Regents universities. The Iowa House had passed the bill 55-39 on February 21 and the Senate passed a substitute 31-17 on March 2, with the law taking immediate effect as Iowa Acts Chapter 1003.

Peter Navarro defied House Jan. 6th committee subpoena, refused to testify or produce documents

On March 2, 2022, then-White House senior trade adviser Peter Navarro failed to appear for his subpoenaed deposition before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack, having already missed the committee's February 23 deadline to produce documents and asserting executive privilege on his own authority rather than the president's. The House voted to hold him in criminal contempt in April 2022, the Justice Department indicted him in June 2022, and a jury convicted him in September 2023 on two counts of contempt of Congress, resulting in a four-month prison sentence in January 2024. The D.C. Circuit unanimously affirmed both convictions on July 21, 2026, rejecting Navarro's argument that a mistaken belief in executive privilege excused his noncompliance.

February(1)

South Dakota Gov. Noem signed SB 46, barring transgender athletes from female school and college sports

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed SB 46, "An Act to protect fairness in women's sports," on February 3, 2022, after it passed both chambers of the legislature in late January. The law requires K-12, intramural, club, and college athletic teams sponsored or sanctioned by an accredited school, school district, activities association, or the state Board of Regents or Board of Technical Education to be designated by biological sex, barring transgender girls and women from competing on female teams. South Dakota was the first state to enact such a law in 2022, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

January(1)

Hawaii state Rep. Sylvia Luke agreed to accept $35,000 in campaign funds in exchange for steering COVID-19 testing emergency appropriations

On January 20, 2022, Hawaii state Rep. Sylvia Luke — then chair of the House Finance Committee — attended a dinner at Morton's Steakhouse in Honolulu at which businessman Tobi Solidum promised her $35,000 (half of a committed $70,000) in campaign contributions in exchange for her assistance in directing emergency state appropriations to fund COVID-19 testing contracts held by the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii, which Solidum's consulting firm managed. Luke was indicted on 12 bribery and conspiracy counts by a Hawaii grand jury on July 25, 2026, alongside four co-defendants.