Bill
HB 2915
HB2915 restricts female-designated teams to birth-sex participants, requiring annual signed verifications of age and birth sex, with schools immune from external investigations.
Status & procedural history
- Introduced Feb 6, 2025 (sponsor: Rep. Joe C. Sosnowski). Additional sponsor names appearing in the provided materials include Reps. Quantá Crews and Cesar Aguilar.
- Early actions in the provided record: filed in February 2025, referred to committee and subcommittee, public hearing and testimony in May 2025, recalled from subcommittee, and on 2025-05-02 the measure “failed to receive affirmative vote in committee.” The top-of-document status lists “Referred to Rules Committee.”
- Note: the packet provided contains unrelated Arizona statutory text (on school district receivership). This summary focuses on the interscholastic-athletics language in the Illinois bill text labeled HB2915.
Purpose / intent
- To require that athletic teams or sports designated for females be restricted to participants who are female “based on their biological sex,” and to impose documentation and verification requirements on schools for student participation in interscholastic athletics.
Key provisions
- New Section added to the Interscholastic Athletic Organization Act (proposed Sec. 1.30).
- Sex-based team designation: Any interscholastic athletic team or sport that is designated as female may be available only to participants who are female based on their biological sex.
- Annual written verification: Before allowing a student to participate each school year, the student’s school (public or nonpublic) must obtain a signed written statement (parent/guardian if under 18; the student if 18+) verifying:
1. the student’s age;
2. the student’s biological sex “as ascertained at or before birth in accordance with the student’s genetics and reproductive biology”; and
3. that the student has not taken performance‑enhancing drugs (including anabolic steroids) in the preceding 12 months.
- School action on suspected falsehoods: If a school has “reasonable cause” to believe the verification is false or misleading, the school may prohibit the student from participating in any sport for the remainder of the school year.
- Immunity from external enforcement actions: A governmental entity or any athletic association that governs interscholastic athletics may not entertain complaints, open investigations, or take adverse action against a school for maintaining teams in accordance with this Section.
- Penalty for false statements: The synopsis indicates a penalty is provided for false or misleading statements, though the introduced text in the packet does not specify the exact penalty mechanism or amount.
Who would be affected
- Public school districts and nonpublic (private/parochial) schools that sponsor interscholastic athletics.
- Students seeking to participate on teams designated female — notably, transgender girls and other students whose current gender identity differs from sex as recorded at birth.
- Parents/guardians (required to sign verifications for minors).
- Athletic associations and state/local education authorities (restricted from investigating or sanctioning compliant schools).
Potential impacts and considerations
- Administrative: Schools would need to collect and store annual verification statements and establish procedures for handling disputes or “reasonable cause” determinations.
- Participation & access: The sex‑based rule would generally exclude students whose current gender identity differs from their birth‑sex designation from female‑designated teams, which may reduce participation opportunities for transgender girls.
- Legal risk: The measure raises potential legal issues concerning nondiscrimination laws, constitutional equal‑protection claims, and federal law interpretations (including Title IX and federal civil‑rights protections). The bill’s prohibition on investigations by other entities could also create enforcement and liability questions.
- Privacy: Requirements to document “biological sex as ascertained at or before birth” may implicate student privacy and health‑record concerns.
Limitations & ambiguities in the text
- The bill’s enforcement and penalty provisions are not fully detailed in the introduced text shown (the synopsis references a penalty but the specific sanction language is not included).
- The meaning and standard for “reasonable cause” are not defined, leaving discretion to schools.
- The bill text does not specify any accommodations, appeals process, or exceptions.
Prepared by: Legislative summary analyst (based on introduced bill text and provided legislative actions).
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
Sign in to ask a question.
