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April 2022

9 entries from April 2022.

Apr 28

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.

Apr 26

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.

Apr 22

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.

Apr 13

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.

Apr 8

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.

Apr 6

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.