SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah’s H.B. 257 came a step closer to being passed on Friday, Jan. 19, after the State House passed it 52-17, mostly along party lines. It will now move to the State Senate.
The bill, officially known as Sex-based Designations for Privacy, Anti-Bullying, and Women’s Opportunities, is co-sponsored by Rep. Kera Birkeland and Sen. Daniel McCay. It would largely prevent transgender persons from using publicly owned or funded bathrooms that differ from the sex they were assigned at birth
The bill would carve out an exemption for transgender persons who have undergone sexual reassignment surgery and for those who have legally changed their sex on their birth certificate.
While the bill would require government entities to provide “single-occupant” restroom facilities in new construction, it would only require entities to “consider” the feasibility of retrofitting existing facilities. The bill also has no appropriated funds attached to it at this time.
The bill also states it would establish “elements of the crime of emergency reporting abuse for making repeated false reports alleging a violation of a sex designation in a publicly owned, publicly funded restroom, shower, or locker room facility where the general public has an expectation of privacy.”
Six Republicans were reported as absent or not voting. Three other Republicans broke ranks and voted Nay on the bill. See how each House member voted below.
The bill will move next to the Senate Business and Labor Committee for debate before making it to the Senate floor.
Following the passage of the bill in the House, Utah Democratic Party Chair Diane Lewis released the following statement:
“The latest anti-transgender bill passed by the House, which bans members of the transgender community from using public restrooms corresponding with their gender identity, is a shameful, discriminatory attack on a community that is already extremely marginalized and vulnerable. Unfortunately, despite trans people making up just 1% of our state’s population, Republican legislators have spent a massively disproportionate amount of time legislating their basic human rights.
“Not only does House Bill 257 perpetuate harmful and dangerous stereotypes about transgender Utahns, it is also not based on any facts or data, which the sponsor herself admitted. Repeatedly using vulnerable communities as a political punching bag, as the supermajority has done, is shameful and self-serving, and Utahns will hold extreme Republicans accountable for their votes in November.”
Utah Democratic Party Chair Diane Lewis, 1.19.24
