LINCOLN — A legislative committee narrowly advanced Thursday a bill that would define Nebraska's K-12 school restrooms and sports teams as male or female based on gender at birth.
School board members voted 5-3 to advance Legislative Bill 575, the Sports Spaces Act, sponsored by state Sen. Kathleen Kaus of Omaha. Public, private, and parochial schools would be required to implement policies such as classifying group restrooms and locker rooms as male or female and sports teams as male, female, or mixed if LB 575 passes. .
The amendment, also adopted 5-3, would remove legal remedies for students who could be “deprived of athletic opportunities” or suffer other harm if public schools knowingly violate the law. It is something to do.
The changes also added a second ban on women's sports, including “biological female students taking cross-sex hormones and competing as transgender men.”
Athletic teams and sports designated for boys are not allowed to include female students unless there is an equivalent female team.
“I'm very happy,” Kaus said after voting. He said he “guessed” the debate would be on Friday.
“I believe I have the votes and what happens is going to happen. If it doesn't work out, I'll bring it back next year,” Kaus said.
1 vote remains a “mystery”
State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenville, chairman of the Education Committee, said LB 575 has been tied up in committee for two years and said, “We don't want to be held hostage by a portion of the Legislature, perhaps a small portion.'' ” he said.
Mirman said a vote on the bill was premature because Kaus and state Sen. Rob Clements, R-Elmwood, have made it a priority for two years in a row.
State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston criticized the State Board of Education for not addressing issues such as LB 575.
Mr. Riepe signed the bill when it was introduced, but removed his name last May. At the time, he revealed a memo he had written to Kaus and other senators regarding LB 575, suggesting that the amendment be made to require the State Board of Education, rather than the Legislature, to address the issue.
“The greatest victory is one that requires no battle,” Liepe wrote, quoting Chinese general Sun Tzu.
Riepe again declined to say Thursday how he would vote on LB 575, saying it would be a “mystery” until the last moment.
Other senators who expressed hesitation about the bill last year also declined to say Thursday how they would vote on LB575. Debate on the bill is scheduled for as early as Friday and could last up to four hours before calling for a procedural vote. 33 votes are required to end the debate.
State Sen. Teresa Eibach of Sumner, who replaced Mr. Kaut, counted 32 votes this week, with one senator “leaning” toward voting in favor of the shutdown. Mr. Kaus confirmed the count.
“Put politics aside”
State Sen. Daniel Conrad, a member of the Lincoln State Board of Education who led the opposition to LB575, which included defeating the bill (5-3 vote), said the bill could be the bill to repeal the bill. He said that one thing is known. Like its sister bill, LB 574 of 2023, it is the most divisive bill of the session.
LB 574 included stricter restrictions on abortion and restrictions on transgender medical care for minors.
Conrad said LB 575 does not solve the most important issues for schools, from needed resources and teacher shortages to the desire to increase parent involvement.
“I'm asking you to put politics aside,” he told his fellow commissioners, noting that gasoline could be thrown into the 2024 session.
State Sens. Lynn Walz of Fremont and Justin Wayne of Omaha also opposed LB 575.
Conrad asked her colleagues why discrimination was more important than tax cuts and other issues. State Sen. Fred Meyer, R-St. Paul, said the question was unfair because in his district the issue was simply about the difference between boys and girls.
He said several superintendents in his district have asked the Legislature not to have to intervene. He declined to reveal Conrad's name after the executive meeting.
Allyn Huck, a community organizer with OutNebraska, a major statewide LGBTQ organization, said OutNebraska wants all children to grow up and succeed in school, and that transgender youth have confidence, confidence, and confidence. He said no one should be excluded from opportunities to develop self-esteem and teamwork.
“By excluding children from sports and denying them continued access to the school facilities they have been using, LB 575 sends a message that not everyone is welcome,” Hack said. he said. “Singling out kids who want to belong will only harm them in the long run.”
NSAA Gender Participation Policy
During the executive session, Conrad repeatedly pointed to the Nebraska School Activities Association. The association governs school activities and athletics for many public and private schools in the state and already has gender participation policies in place.
Fewer than 10 students have taken advantage of the policy since it took effect in 2016. The policy would allow transgender students a path to play on sports teams that match their gender identity. The relevant committee must unanimously approve the student's application, including confirmation of the student's gender identity.
For transgender girls, this process requires that the student have been taking cross-sex hormones for at least a year and “has no physical… or physiological advantage over genetic females of the same age group.” It also includes a physical examination and physiological tests to confirm.
Conrad said it was a “very expensive and difficult process” but there were no problems.
Meyer said that from his experience, the NSAA is weak and may not be able to hold its policies firmly in place. Murman said he has heard second-hand concerns about the policy, although he has “not personally reviewed it.”
Gov. Jim Pillen supported LB575 and made it a priority in his State of the State address, calling it “just common sense” and consistent with Nebraska's values.
Senator Bellevue listens to concerns
Bellevue Public Schools has a policy for dealing with transgender students, allowing them to use the restroom with the gender they identify. Bellevue School Board Trustee Sarah Centineo testified against LB 575 last year.
Centineo testified with “absolute certainty” that there were no problems with Bellevue's policies, which have been in place since 2015. She also says that her husband is a bowling coach and that she has questions about whether a girl should be allowed to bowl with other girls and how she needs to “prove” that she is a girl. She personally expressed concern that her husband would be questioned.
“It destroys the trust between coach and student,” Centineo testified.
State Sen. Rita Sanders, a former mayor of Bellevue, said after numerous phone calls and emails regarding LB 575, it was time to make a decision. I’ll move on,” he said.
Mr. Centineo and Mr. Sanders disagreed over whether Mr. Centineo spoke on behalf of Bellevue Public Schools when he testified last year. Centineo is running against Sanders this election cycle.
Sanders said he confirmed with the district that Centineo was not representing the district during his testimony.
Centineo told the Examiner that he represented the district and provided an email from the district's email to the committee that said Sanders responded a week after testifying.
Bellevue Public Schools did not respond to a request for comment.
Sanders said he would listen to any concerns “that come to light” during the LB575 debate, stressing that senators must remember they are talking about children.
“I think with any bill, we need to explore concerns and concerns, and I think those will be addressed in a proper discussion,” Sanders added.
Policy enforcement
Sanders said that regarding the implementation of LB575, there will be a need for discussions among lawmakers regarding matters such as chromosomes, and that there is a possibility that lawmakers and lobbyists will propose amendments.
“Either we come up with a better bill or the bill dies,” Sanders said.
Murman told the Examiner it was unclear how schools would track students' chromosomes or enforce the bill.
“I never thought about that,” Murman said, noting that the school would have to make a decision.
Kaus said a doctor's certification, such as a birth certificate or a student's annual sports physical, could meet the bill's requirements. She also pushed back against “fear mongering” from some opponents of her own bill that would have schools conducting “genital exams.”
“Come on,” she said. “I'm very concerned about the people who are pushing it.”
Opposition party strategy formation
Thursday's committee action marks one of the final moments for lawmakers to advance LB 575 through the full Legislature. Mirman declined to say whether Speaker Arch, who sets the agenda for floor debate, had asked the committee to postpone consideration until Thursday.
“Every bill that comes to the floor is a negotiation between the chair and the bill sponsor or committee sponsor, and that includes this bill,” Mirman said.
Merman has supported the LB 575 since its launch. When asked why LB 575 didn't move forward or come to a vote sooner, he said 2023 will be a year of how “a very small minority” can control what happens in Congress. , and “proved that they could, in their own words, “burn down the session.'''' ”
“We don't want that to happen and I don't think it will happen because we've been trying to keep waiting and so on,” he said.
State Sen. Makaela Kavanaugh of Omaha, who fought against Mr. Kaus' LB574 last year, extending consideration of all bills to the allotted time and often muddying the debate, used the Education Committee vote as an excuse to stop debate at the end of the legislative session. He promised to stop it.
“Prepare to hear my recipes, movie synopses, and more,” Kavanaugh said Thursday afternoon. “That's what we're going to do until 575 dies.”
She added that LB 574 was a “travesty” and harmed transgender children, but LB 575 “makes it impossible for transgender children to exist in this state.”
Kavanaugh later said he would focus his opposition on LB575 rather than other bills.
Attorney General's opinion
Mr. Kaus, Mr. Mirman and other supporters of LB 575 deny any discrimination and stated so during the school board's executive meeting. They argue that the bill is intended to protect all school-age children and protect women's sports, including Title IX.
“Protecting women's sports and girls' sports is so important, especially for kids at that age,” Kaus said. “…We have a lot of great opportunities, but if girls start competing against boys in high school and middle school, those opportunities will be lost.”
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers said that although the opinion requested by Kaut does not carry the same weight as a judicial opinion, LB 575 does not violate federal law, including the Equal Protection Clause of Title IX of the federal Education and Civil Rights Act. insisted.
The attorney general is responsible for upholding state law.
Hilgers said the bill does not mention gender identity, so the plain text of the bill “doesn't give any special treatment to transgender students.”
However, the amendment adopted by the committee now makes the measure refer to gender identity.
