Utah
What's next in Utah's fight against new Title IX regulations as enactment date approaches?
As state lawmakers prepared for a special session to consider the impacts of new federal Title IX regulations, state education leaders met with a legislative commission urging the Utah Legislature to provide clarity over an apparent conflict between the regulations and a public school restrooms bill.
HB257 requires K-12 students to use public school restrooms that match their sex designated at birth, restricting transgender access to “privacy spaces” in public schools and other publicly-owned buildings.
The Department of Education’s new Title IX rules, set to take effect on Aug. 1, change the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity and sexual orientation.
Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.
Utah State Board of Education Chairman Jim Moss, addressing the Legislature’s Federalism Commission on Tuesday, said the state school board recently unanimously agreed to ask state lawmakers to apply the Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act to eschew enforcement of the new Title IX regulations.
Under the act, the Utah Legislature could “in appropriate circumstances, prohibit a government officer from enforcing or assisting in the enforcement of the federal directive within the state if it violates the principle of state sovereignty…or a right reserved to the state by the 10th Amendment or in order to provide for the health, safety and welfare and promote the prosperity of the state’s inhabitants,” Moss said.
“We know very well that federal law is typically supreme law of the land, but the state Sovereignty Act was set up to effectively set up a challenge (if) actions of a particular bureaucratic agency might exceed its power. That could only be ultimately resolved by court, but that’s what the act was set up to do. So we’ve asked for the consideration of whether that might apply here, and that will be on the special session call tomorrow,” Moss said.
Federalism Commission House Chairman Keven Stratton, R-Orem, said he appreciated the board’s actions.
“I was very grateful for the unanimous decision, because I know there’s a broad spectrum of ideological perspectives on the board,” Stratton said.
The state school board has also allocated $50,000 to hire a contract attorney to help state assistant attorneys general assigned to the board to evaluate “if and how” state law is out of compliance with federal law in light of the new Title IX regulations.
The board also agreed to spend $50,000 to hire an independent auditor to determine how much federal money the board has received in recent years and how much it spends to comply with federal laws.
State School Board vice chairwoman Jennie Earl told commission members that schools want guidance on how to be in legal compliance.
“With the August 1 deadline coming forward, there is confusion out there,” she said.
Rep. Gay Lynn Bennion, D-Cottonwood Heights, asked Moss and Earl if prior to the Legislature’s General Session whether schools around the state had raised concerns about students using restrooms corresponding with their gender identity.
“I’ve been on the board for about three and a half years, so I’ve heard those concerns throughout my time,” Moss said.
He continued, “You’ve got somebody who says, identify this way, this my sexual orientation. So how do you accommodate that person while protecting others? That’s been a challenge throughout my time on the board.”
Moss said Utah school districts and charter schools have expressed concern about how to proceed.
“There’s state law that very clearly says, ‘Do this in order to protect girls in separate space facilities and there’s federal law that says ‘You can’t do that,’ ” he said.
HB257 went into effect in January, “so that has been the law since January. Title IX regulations go into effect August 1. So currently, we’ve explained to our schools we’re under the state law requirements,” he said.
Meanwhile, Utah has joined three other GOP-led states and four private entities in a lawsuit that challenges the Title IX rules.
The other plaintiffs include the states of Kansas, Wyoming and Alaska, along with a parent, Shawna Rowland, who filed on behalf of her daughter, K.R.; and three private organizations, Moms for Liberty, Female Athletes United and Young America’s Foundation.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Topeka, seeks a declaratory judgment holding that the final rule is unlawful and that plaintiff states are not bound by it.
It also seeks declarative judgement that does not require “Title IX recipient’s employees or students to use an individual’s preferred pronouns or honorifics,” the lawsuit states.
Attorneys general in more than 20 GOP-led states have filed at least seven legal challenges to the new Biden administration policy.
On Monday, a federal judge in Kentucky temporarily blocked the new Title IX rule in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves referred to the regulation as “arbitrary in the truest sense of the word” in granting the preliminary injunction.
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Louisiana temporarily blocked the new rule from taking effect in Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana.
U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty called the new rule an “abuse of power” and a “threat to democracy,” ruling that the Department of Education had overstepped its authority.
Arizona State basketball is at a crossroads. After back-to-back road losses to Baylor and TCU, the Sun Devils are suddenly fighting just to stay above .500.
Now, with Utah coming to town Saturday afternoon, this isn’t just another conference game. It feels bigger than that. It feels like the moment that decides whether this season still has life or if it quietly fades away.
The Danger of Falling Below .500
All season long, Arizona State has had one strange pattern.
Every time they dropped to .500, they responded with a win. They never let things spiral.
But now they’re sitting right on the edge again.
A loss to Utah would push them below .500 for the first time all year. That might not sound dramatic, but it matters for team morale.
Teams feel that shift. Confidence changes. Urgency changes. And with only a few games left before the Big 12 Tournament, there isn’t much time to recover.
That’s why this Utah game feels different.
Utah Is Playing Better — Especially on Defense
When these two teams met a few weeks ago, Utah was struggling.
Since then, they’ve improved. They’re still built around their top scorers, who combine for around 40 points per game, but the real difference lately has been defense.
Utah has started putting together more complete defensive performances. They’re contesting shots better. They’re finishing possessions. They’re not folding as easily in the second half.
That matters because Arizona State’s biggest issue right now isn’t effort, it’s physical depth.
The Real Niche Problem: Guard-Heavy and Worn Down
Here’s something that doesn’t get talked about enough: Arizona State’s roster balance is off.
Because of injuries, especially the likely season-ending absence of Marcus Adams Jr., the Sun Devils are extremely guard-heavy right now. More than half of the available players are guards. That creates matchup issues, especially against physical teams.
We saw it against TCU. They got to the free-throw line 36 times.
They won the physical battle. Even when their best scorer struggled, they still controlled the game inside.
ASU just doesn’t have the same frontcourt depth.
With only a few true bigs available and some undersized forwards playing bigger roles than expected, the team can get worn down.
Late in games, that shows up in missed rebounds, second-chance points, and tired legs.
It’s not about hustle. It’s about bodies.
Why Saturday Truly Matters
If Arizona State beats Utah, everything changes.
Suddenly, you’re heading into Senior Night against Kansas with momentum. Win that, and you’re talking about a possible 7–11 conference finish and a much better Big 12 Tournament matchup.
From there? Anything can happen.
But if they lose Saturday, the math and the hope get much harder.
That’s why this game isn’t just about Utah.
It’s about belief. It’s about roster limitations. And it’s about whether this team has one more push left in them before the season runs out.
SALT LAKE CITY — A controversial Utah proposal to crack down on the presence of immigrants in the country illegally that had seemed stalled gained new life Friday, passing muster in new form in a relatively narrow vote.
In a 39-33 vote, the Utah House approved HB386 — amended with portions of HB88, which stalled in the House on Monday — and the revamped measure now goes to the Utah Senate for consideration.
The reworked version of HB386, originally meant just to repeal outdated immigration legislation, now also contains provisions prohibiting immigrants in the country illegally from being able to tap into in-state university tuition, certain home loan programs and certain professional licensing.
The new HB386 isn’t as far-reaching as HB88, which also would have prohibited immigrants in the country illegally from being able to access certain public benefits like food at food pantries, immunizations for communicable diseases and emergency housing.
Moreover, Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton and the HB88 sponsor, stressed that the new provisions in HB386 wouldn’t impact immigrants in the country legally. He touted HB88 as a means of making sure taxpayer money isn’t funneled to programming that immigrants in the country illegally can tap.
Rep. Lisa Shepherd, R-Provo, the HB386 sponsor, sounded a similar message, referencing, with chagrin, the provision allowing certain students in the country illegally to access lower in-state tuition rates at Utah’s public universities. Because of such provisions “we’re taking care of other countries’ children first, and I want to take care of Utahns first. In my campaign I ran and said Utahns first and this bill will put Utahns first,” she said.
If we stop young folks who have lived here much of their life from going to school and getting an education, it is really clear to me that we have hurt that person. It’s not clear to me at all that we have benefitted the rest of us.
–Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful
The relatively narrow 39-33 vote, atypical in the GOP-dominated Utah Legislature, followed several other narrow, hotly contested procedural votes to formally amend HB386. Foes, including both Democrats and Republicans, took particular umbrage with provisions prohibiting immigrants in the country illegally from being able to pay in-state tuition and access certain scholarships.
As is, students in the country illegally who have attended high school for at least three years in Utah and meet other guidelines may pay lower in-state tuition, but if they have to pay out-of-state tuition instead, they could no longer afford to go to college.
“If we stop young folks who have lived here much of their life from going to school and getting an education, it is really clear to me that we have hurt that person. It’s not clear to me at all that we have benefitted the rest of us,” said Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful.
Rep. Hoang Nguyen, D-Salt Lake City, noted her own hardscrabble upbringing as an immigrant from Vietnam and said the changes outlined in the reworked version of HB386 run counter to what she believes Utah stands for.
“I fear that what we’re doing here in Utah is we are eroding what truly makes Utah special, the Utah way. We are starting to adopt policies that are regressive and don’t take care of people. Utahns are one thing. Citizens are one thing. People is the first thing,” she said.
Rep. John Arthur, D-Cottonwood Heights, said the measure sends a negative message to the immigrant students impacted.
“If we pass this bill today, colleagues, we will be telling these young people — again, who have graduated from our high schools, these kids who have gone to at least three years of school here — that you’re no longer a Utahn,” he said.
If we are compassionate to those who come the legal way and we are compassionate to those who already live here, that does not mean that we lack compassion for others in other ways.
–Rep. Kristen Chevrier, R-Highland
Rep. Kristen Chevrier, R-Highland, said the debate underscores a “fallacy” about compassion. She backed the reworked version of HB386, saying Utah resources should be first spend on those in the country legally.
“If we are compassionate to those who come the legal way and we are compassionate to those who already live here, that does not mean that we lack compassion for others in other ways,” she said.
The original version of HB386 calls for repeal of immigration laws on the books that are outdated because other triggering requirements have not been met or they run counter to federal law.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A man died after he was caught in an avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon over the weekend.
A spokesperson for the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office confirmed on Thursday that Kevin Williams, 57, had died.
He, along with one other person, was hospitalized in critical condition after Saturday’s avalanche in the backcountry.
MORE | Big Cottonwood Canyon Avalanche
In an interview with 2News earlier this week, one of Williams’ close friends, Nate Burbidge, described him as a loving family man.
“Kevin’s an amazing guy. He’s always serving, looking for ways that he can connect with others,” Burbidge said.
A GoFundMe was set up to help support Williams’ family.
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