Interscholastic athletics

AN ACT Relating to the organization of interscholastic athletics; 1
amending RCW 28A.600.200 and 28B.10.703; adding a new section to 2
chapter 28A.600 RCW; and adding a new section to chapter 28B.10 RCW.3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 28A.600 5
RCW to read as follows: 6
(1) Except as provided in subsection (5) of this section, 7
interschool athletic activities and other interschool extracurricular 8
activities of an athletic nature, including those administered by a 9
school district board of directors under RCW 28A.600.200, must be 10
organized using the following groupings for the purposes of 11
participation and competition: 12
(a) Students who have the same kind of sex chromosome (xx) who 13
identify as a woman or girl; 14
(b) Students who have the same kind of sex chromosome (xx) who 15
identify as a man or boy; 16
(c) Students who have two different kinds of sex chromosomes (xy) 17
who identify as a man or boy; 18
(d) Students who have two different kinds of sex chromosomes (xy) 19
who identify as a woman or girl; and 20
S-0219.1
SENATE BILL 5012
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Senators Fortunato, Christian, and McCune
Prefiled 12/03/24. Read first time 01/13/25. Referred to Committee
on Early Learning & K-12 Education.
p. 1 SB 5012
(e) Students who do not meet the criteria in (a) through (d) of 1
this subsection. 2
(2) For the purposes of this section, a student's eligibility for 3
a particular grouping may be determined by any medical documentation 4
that demonstrates the chromosomal makeup of the student.5
(3)(a) Any student who is deprived of an athletic opportunity or 6
suffers any direct or indirect harm as a result of a violation of 7
this section has a private cause of action for injunctive relief, 8
damages, and any other relief available under law against the school 9
district. 10
(b) Any student who is subject to retaliation or other adverse 11
action by a school, school district, or an athletic association or 12
organization as a result of reporting a violation of this section to 13
an employee or a representative of the school, school district, or 14
athletic association or organization, or to any state or federal 15
agency with oversight of schools or public postsecondary institutions 16
in this state, has a private cause of action for injunctive relief, 17
damages, and any other relief available under law against the school, 18
school district, or athletic association or organization.19
(c) Any school district that suffers any direct or indirect harm 20
as a result of a violation of this section has a private cause of 21
action for injunctive relief, damages, and any other relief available 22
under law against the governmental entity, licensing or accrediting 23
organization, or athletic association or organization.24
(d) A school district or a student of a school district that 25
suffers any direct or indirect harm as a result of a public or 26
private school, a school district, or other organization not 27
structuring their athletics in alignment with this section has a 28
private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages, and any other 29
relief available under law against the school, school district, or 30
other organization. 31
(e) A civil action brought under this section must be initiated 32
within two years after the alleged harm occurred. Students or school 33
districts who prevail on a claim brought under this section are 34
entitled to monetary damages, including for any psychological, 35
emotional, or physical harm suffered, reasonable attorneys' fees and 36
costs, and any other appropriate relief. 37
(4) A governmental entity, licensing or accrediting organization, 38
or an athletic association may not entertain a complaint, open an 39
investigation, or take any other adverse action against any school 40
p. 2 SB 5012
district in this state for maintaining separate interscholastic 1
athletic teams or sports for students based on the designations 2
required under this section. 3
(5) The requirements of this section do not apply to interschool 4
athletic activities and other interschool extracurricular activities 5
of an athletic nature that consist primarily of students in grades 6
kindergarten through six. 7
Sec. 2. RCW 28A.600.200 and 2012 c 155 s 2 are each amended to 8
read as follows: 9
Each school district board of directors is hereby granted and 10
shall exercise the authority to control, supervise and regulate the 11
conduct of interschool athletic activities and other interschool 12
extracurricular activities of an athletic, cultural, social or 13
recreational nature for students of the district , subject to the 14
requirements provided in section 1 of this act . A board of directors 15
may delegate control, supervision and regulation of any such activity 16
to the Washington interscholastic activities association or any other 17
voluntary nonprofit entity and compensate such entity for services 18
provided, subject to the following conditions: 19
(1) The voluntary nonprofit entity shall not discriminate in 20
connection with employment or membership upon its governing board, or 21
otherwise in connection with any function it performs, on the basis 22
of race, creed, national origin, sex or marital status((,)).23
(2)(a) Any rules and policies adopted and applied by the 24
voluntary nonprofit entity that governs student participation in any 25
interschool activity shall be written; and 26
(b) Such rules and policies shall provide for notice of the 27
reasons and a fair opportunity to contest such reasons prior to a 28
final determination to reject a student's request to participate in 29
or to continue in an interschool activity. 30
(3)(a) The association or other voluntary nonprofit entity is 31
authorized to impose penalties for rules violations upon coaches, 32
school district administrators, school administrators, and students, 33
as appropriate, to punish the offending party or parties;34
(b) No penalty may be imposed on a student or students unless the 35
student or students knowingly violated the rules or unless a student 36
gained a significant competitive advantage or materially 37
disadvantaged another student through a rule violation;38
p. 3 SB 5012
(c) Any penalty that is imposed for rules violations must be 1
proportional to the offense; 2
(d) Any decision resulting in a penalty shall be considered a 3
decision of the school district conducting the activity in which the 4
student seeks to participate or was participating and may be appealed 5
pursuant to RCW 28A.600.205 and 28A.645.010 through 28A.645.030.6
(4) The school districts, Washington interscholastic activities 7
association districts, and leagues that participate in the 8
interschool extracurricular activities shall not impose more severe 9
penalties for rule violations than can be imposed by the rules of the 10
association or the voluntary nonprofit entity. 11
(5) As used in this section and RCW 28A.600.205, "knowingly" 12
means having actual knowledge of or acting with deliberate ignorance 13
or reckless disregard for the prohibition involved.14
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 28B.10 15
RCW to read as follows: 16
(1) Interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, or club 17
athletic activities and other interschool extracurricular activities 18
of an athletic nature sponsored by an institution of higher 19
education, including those established under the authority granted by 20
RCW 28B.10.703, must be organized using the following groupings for 21
the purposes of participation and competition: 22
(a) Students who have the same kind of sex chromosome (xx) who 23
identify as a woman or girl; 24
(b) Students who have the same kind of sex chromosome (xx) who 25
identify as a man or boy; 26
(c) Students who have two different kinds of sex chromosomes (xy) 27
who identify as a man or boy; 28
(d) Students who have two different kinds of sex chromosomes (xy) 29
who identify as a woman or girl; and 30
(e) Students who do not meet the criteria in (a) through (d) of 31
this subsection. 32
(2) For the purposes of this section, a student's eligibility for 33
a particular grouping may be determined by any medical documentation 34
that demonstrates the chromosomal makeup of the student.35
(3)(a) Any student who is deprived of an athletic opportunity or 36
suffers any direct or indirect harm as a result of a violation of 37
this section has a private cause of action for injunctive relief, 38
p. 4 SB 5012
damages, and any other relief available under law against the 1
institution of higher education. 2
(b) Any student who is subject to retaliation or other adverse 3
action by an institution of higher education or an athletic 4
association or organization as a result of reporting a violation of 5
this section to an employee or a representative of the institution of 6
higher education, or athletic association or organization, or to any 7
state or federal agency with oversight of schools or institutions of 8
higher education in this state, has a private cause of action for 9
injunctive relief, damages, and any other relief available under law 10
against the institution of higher education or athletic association 11
or organization. 12
(c) Any institution of higher education that suffers any direct 13
or indirect harm as a result of a violation of this section has a 14
private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages, and any other 15
relief available under law against the governmental entity, licensing 16
or accrediting organization, or athletic association or organization.17
(d) An institution of higher education or a student of an 18
institution of higher education that suffers any direct or indirect 19
harm as a result of a public or private postsecondary institution or 20
other organization not structuring their athletics in alignment with 21
this section has a private cause of action for injunctive relief, 22
damages, and any other relief available under law against the 23
postsecondary institution or other organization. 24
(e) A civil action brought under this section must be initiated 25
within two years after the alleged harm occurred. Students or 26
institutions of higher education who prevail on a claim brought under 27
this section are entitled to monetary damages, including for any 28
psychological, emotional, or physical harm suffered, reasonable 29
attorneys' fees and costs, and any other appropriate relief.30
(4) A governmental entity, licensing or accrediting organization, 31
or an athletic association may not entertain a complaint, open an 32
investigation, or take any other adverse action against any 33
institution of higher education in this state for maintaining 34
separate interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, or club 35
athletic teams or sports for students based on the designations 36
required under this section. 37
Sec. 4. RCW 28B.10.703 and 1977 ex.s. c 169 s 32 are each 38
amended to read as follows: 39
p. 5 SB 5012
The governing boards of each of the state universities, the 1
regional universities, The Evergreen State College, and community 2
colleges in addition to their other duties prescribed by law shall 3
have the power and authority to establish programs for 4
intercollegiate athletic competition. Such competition may include 5
participation as a member of an athletic conference or conferences, 6
in accordance with conference rules. Programs created under this 7
section are subject to the requirements provided in section 3 of this 8
act.9
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