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HB0060 • 2025

Student eligibility in sports-amendments.

AN ACT relating to education; amending student eligibility requirements in interscholastic or intercollegiate activities; specifying requirements for the University of Wyoming and community colleges for student eligibility; prohibiting participation in athletic activities as specified; providing definitions; repealing alternate procedures for determining student eligibility; making conforming amendments; and providing for effective dates.

Education
Inactive

Wyoming marks this bill as inactive, which usually means it is no longer moving in the current session.

Sponsor
Representative Lawley
Last action
2025-03-03
Official status
inactive
Effective date
3/1/2025

Plain English Breakdown

The bill is inactive and will not move forward in the current session.

Student Eligibility in Sports

This act changes rules about which students can join girls' sports teams and provides protections for schools against complaints related to these rules.

What This Bill Does

  • Defines 'female' and 'male' based on reproductive systems, not just gender identity.
  • Prohibits boys from joining girls' sports teams in school or college.
  • Allows schools to keep separate sports teams for girls without facing complaints or investigations.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Students and their families
  • Schools, including public and private ones

Terms To Know

Individual sport
A competition where people compete alone, not as part of a team.
Institution of higher education
Colleges and universities.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill is inactive and will not move forward in the current session.
  • It does not specify how schools should handle boys who want to join girls' sports teams but are allowed to practice with them.
  • Some parts of the bill might be unclear or need further explanation.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HB0060HW001

Committee of the Whole • Representative Lawley

Corrected, Adopted

Plain English: The amendment changes eligibility rules for individual sports by allowing female students to compete against male students under certain conditions.

  • Adds a new definition for 'individual sport' as an athletic competition where participants compete individually, regardless of whether their performance affects the team score.
  • Inserts a new rule that allows female students to compete in individual sports against known or reasonably believed male competitors.
  • The amendment does not specify all details about how schools will determine if a student is 'reasonably believed' to be of the opposite sex.
HB0060HW002

Committee of the Whole • Representative Jarvis

Corrected, Corrected, Adopted

Plain English: The amendment changes certain eligibility requirements for students participating in interscholastic and intercollegiate activities, adding protections against false accusations.

  • Adds 'or intercollegiate' after the word 'interscholastic' where it appears to include both high school and college-level sports.
  • Inserts language about false accusations of violations to protect students from being harmed or losing eligibility due to unfounded claims.
  • Specifies that a male's participation in an athletic activity cannot be used as a reason for denying someone else’s eligibility.
  • The amendment text does not provide full details on how these changes will be implemented or enforced, which may require further clarification.

Bill History

  1. 2025-03-03 Senate

    S:Died in Committee Returned Bill Pursuant to SR 5-4

  2. 2025-02-28 Senate

    S No report prior to CoW Cutoff

  3. 2025-02-10 Senate

    S Introduced and Referred to S04 - Education

  4. 2025-02-04 Senate

    S Received for Introduction

  5. 2025-02-03 House

    H 3rd Reading:Passed 51-6-5-0-0

  6. 2025-01-31 House

    H 2nd Reading:Passed

  7. 2025-01-30 House

    H COW:Passed

  8. 2025-01-24 House

    H Placed on General File

  9. 2025-01-24 House

    H04 - Education:Recommend Do Pass 9-0-0-0-0

  10. 2025-01-16 House

    H Introduced and Referred to H04 - Education

  11. 2025-01-02 House

    H Received for Introduction

  12. 2024-12-18 LSO

    Bill Number Assigned

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
25LSO-0382
2025
STATE OF WYOMING
25LSO-0382
ENGROSSED
3.0

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0060

Student eligibility in sports-amendments.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Lawley, Andrew, Angelos, Banks, Clouston, Guggenmos, Haroldson, Heiner, Kelly, Larson, JT, Neiman, Singh and Williams and Senator(s) Brennan, Crago, Hutchings, Jones, Olsen, Schuler and Steinmetz

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to education; amending student eligibility requirements in interscholastic or intercollegiate activities; specifying requirements for the University of Wyoming and community colleges for student eligibility; prohibiting participation in athletic activities as specified; providing definitions; repealing alternate procedures for determining student eligibility; making conforming amendments; and providing for effective dates.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.

W.S. 21
‑
25
‑
103 is created to read:

21
‑
25
‑
103.

Participation in female sports; violations; remedies.

(a)

Any student or a parent or guardian of a student who is harmed by a false accusation of a violation of this chapter or a violation of this chapter shall have a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages, attorney fees and any other relief available under law against the school, government entity, licensing or accrediting organization, athletic association or athletic organization violating this chapter.

(b)

Any school that suffers any direct or indirect harm as a result of a false accusation of a violation of this chapter or a violation of this chapter shall have a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages, attorney fees and any other relief available under law against the government entity, licensing or accrediting organization, athletic association or athletic organization violating this chapter.

(c)

A civil action commenced under this section shall be brought not later than two (2) years after the violation of this chapter occurred.

Section 2
.

W.S. 21
‑
25
‑
101(a)(iii) and by creating new paragraphs (v) through (ix) and 21
‑
25
‑
102(a)(intro), (b), (c), (d)(i), (ii), (e) and by creating new subsections (g) and (h) are amended to read:

21
‑
25
‑
101.

Definitions.

(a)

As used in this chapter:

(iii)

"School" means a school consisting of grades
seven (7)
kindergarten (K)
through 12 (twelve), or any combination of grades within this range,
as determined by the plan of organization by the school district board of trustees
or an institution of higher education
;

(v)

"Athletic activity" means an interscholastic, intercollegiate or intramural athletic team or sport that is sponsored by a school or an organization of which the school is a member;

(vi)

"Female" means a person who naturally has, had, will have or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that, at some point, produces, transports and utilizes eggs for fertilization;

(vii)

"Individual sport" means an athletic activity where participants compete as individuals for a time, score or result, regardless of whether their individual time, score or result contributes to an overall team score;

(viii)

"Institution of higher education" means the University of Wyoming and Wyoming community colleges;

(ix)

"Male" means a person who naturally has, had, will have or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that, at some point, produces, transports and utilizes sperm for fertilization.

21
‑
25
‑
102.

Participation in school athletic activities.

(a)

A public school or a private school that competes against a public school shall expressly designate
school
each
athletic
activities and teams
activity
as one (1) of the following based on sex:

(b)

A student of the male sex shall not compete, and a
public
school shall not allow a student of the male sex to compete, in an athletic activity
or team
designated for students of the female sex.

(c)

A government entity or licensing or accrediting organization shall not entertain a complaint, open an investigation or take any other adverse action against a school described in subsection (a) of this section for maintaining separate
school
athletic activities
and teams
for students of the female sex.

(d)

Nothing in this section shall be construed to:

(i)

Restrict the eligibility of any student to participate in any
interscholastic
athletic activity designated for students of the male sex or designated as coed or mixed; or

(ii)

Prohibit a school from permitting males to train or practice with an
interscholastic
athletic activity that is designated for females so long as no female is deprived of a roster spot on a team
or sport
for an athletic activity
, opportunity to participate in a practice or competition, scholarship, admission to an educational institution or any other benefit that accompanies participating in the
interscholastic
athletic activity
because of a male's participation in the athletic activity
.

(e)

A government entity, any licensing or any athletic association shall not
entertain or consider a complaint, open an investigation,
retaliate or take any adverse action against:

(i)

A school for maintaining separate athletic
teams or sports
activities
for students of the female sex; or

(ii)

A student if the student or the parent or guardian of a student requests a contested case pursuant to subsection (f) of this section or that reports a violation of this section to an employee or representative of the school or athletic association
or to any state or federal agency with oversight of the school
.

(g)

No school shall participate in any athletic activity designated for students of the female sex with or against a team that the school knows or, to a reasonable degree of certainty believes, has on the team a student of the male sex.

(h)

In the case of an individual sport, only the students of the female sex directly competing against a student that the school knows or, to a reasonable degree of certainty believes, is a student of the male sex are prohibited from competing in that athletic activity.

Section 3.

W.S. 16
‑
4
‑
405(a)(xiii), 21
‑
25
‑
101(a)(ii) and 21
‑
25
‑
201 through 21
‑
25
‑
204 are repealed.

Section 4.

Not later than July 1, 2025, the University of Wyoming and each Wyoming community college shall take all actions necessary to implement this act.

Section 5
.

(a)

Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, this act is effective July 1, 2025.

(b)

Sections 4 and 5 of this act are effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution.

(END)

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HB0060