Gov. Cox signs school voucher, transgender youth bills

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has signed two hotly-debated bills implementing a school voucher program and imposing new regulations on medical care for transgender youth.

This comes less than 24 hours after the Senate gave final approval to Senate Bill 16, sponsored by Sen. Mike Kennedy (R-Alpine), following an emotional debate.

“Legislation that impacts our most vulnerable youth requires careful consideration and deliberation,” Cox said in a statement Saturday morning. “While not a perfect bill, we are grateful for Sen. Kennedy’s more nuanced and thoughtful approach to this terribly divisive issue. More and more experts, states and countries around the world are pausing these permanent and life-altering treatments for new patients until more and better research can help determine the long-term consequences.”

The bill, which bans transgender surgeries for minors and prohibits teens not already been diagnosed with gender dysphoria from beginning hormone treatments or taking puberty blockers, takes effect immediately.

House lawmakers removed a sunset date on the moratorium for new hormone treatments, and they made it easier for medical providers to be sued for malpractice for transgender in certain situations. On the Senate floor Friday, Kennedy acknowledged the bill will almost certainly result in a lawsuit against the state.

"This brings me a heavy heart. Healthcare for transgender youth is medically proven and that science has not been recognized in this effort," said Sue Robbins with Equality Utah after the governor signed the bill. "Know that we are not done working this."

Just last year, Cox attracted national attention for vetoing a bill banning transgender athletes from competing in girls' sports. The Legislature later overrode his veto, and the ban is on hold while a lawsuit proceeds.

The governor has also signed House Bill 215, sponsored by Rep. Candice Pierucci (R-Herriman), which passed earlier this week. It establishes a $42 million school voucher program known as the “Utah Fits All” scholarship. The bill also gives teachers an extra $6,000 pay raise.

“This bill strikes a good balance,” Cox said. “More than 90% of parents support Utah schools and so do we. Our top priority this session has been a significant increase in teacher compensation and education funding. We commend the Legislature for supporting our teacher pay proposal which will help address the state’s teacher shortage and give Utah teachers the much-needed pay raise they deserve.”

The measure was contentious and attracted strong opposition from the Utah Education Association and other groups who argued public money should not be taken from public schools. They also said teacher raises should not be tiedto a voucher program.

But supporters argued the program would give parents more options in their children’s education. The program, if fully utilized, would give $8,000 scholarships to roughly 5,000 students in Utah. Parents could use that money to pay for private school or other educational options.

These two bills moved rapidly through the process and dominated attention during the first two weeks of the legislative session. House and Senate leaders said Friday they planned to focus on water conservation measures and tax cuts as they enter the third week.

Senate Bill 16 and House Bill 215 are the first two measures the governor has signed this session, which runs through March 3.

Here is Gov. Cox's full statement on Senate Bill 16, the transgender youth measure:

Legislation that impacts our most vulnerable youth requires careful consideration and deliberation. While not a perfect bill, we are grateful for Sen. Kennedy’s more nuanced and thoughtful approach to this terribly divisive issue. More and more experts, states and countries around the world are pausing these permanent and life-altering treatments for new patients until more and better research can help determine the long-term consequences.

We will continue to push the Legislature for additional resources to organizations that work to help this important Utah community. While we understand our words will be of little comfort to those who disagree with us, we sincerely hope that we can treat our transgender families with more love and respect as we work to better understand the science and consequences behind these procedures.

Here is Gov. Cox's full statement on House Bill 215, the school voucher/teacher pay raise measure:

This bill strikes a good balance. More than 90% of parents support Utah schools and so do we. Our top priority this session has been a significant increase in teacher compensation and education funding. We commend the Legislature for supporting our teacher pay proposal which will help address the state’s teacher shortage and give Utah teachers the much-needed pay raise they deserve. We also appreciate that HB 215 gives Utah parents additional options to meet the needs of their families. School choice works best when we adequately fund public education and we remove unnecessary regulations that burden our public schools and make it difficult for them to succeed. We are especially appreciative of our teachers and education leaders who helped push for more accountability measures which were not included in the original bill.