Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed two significant bills: Transgender Medical Treatment and Procedures and Funding for Teacher Salaries and Optional Education.
I hate seeing the media use “gender-affirming” regarding the bill. No. It bans doctors from “performing sex characteristic surgical procedures on a minor for the purpose of effectuating a sex change.”
Here are the other highlighted provisions in the bill (emphasis mine):
The portion I highlighted is important because the left is freaking out. The ACLU screamed because “the bill compromises the health and well-being of adolescents with gender dysphoria.”
The bill doesn’t except the ban on surgery. Utah did not outright ban hormonal treatment on minors.
“Legislation that impacts our most vulnerable youth requires careful consideration and deliberation,” Cox wrote in a statement. “While not a perfect bill, we are grateful for Sen. [Michael] 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 school choice bill gives teachers a $6,000 salary increase. But the unions hate the bill because it has a school choice option for some students.
The bill formed the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program, which will give 5,000 qualifying students $8,000 to attend a school not in his or her district. The students can use the money to attend a private school or even home school.
Cox said: “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.”
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