Text of HI HB 2708 (2024)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B. NO. 2708 THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024 STATE OF HAWAII A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to protecting women's sports. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII: SECTION 1. The legislature finds that it is both proper and healthy for a society to maintain opportunities for female athletes to demonstrate their skill, strength, and athletic abilities while also providing them with opportunities to obtain recognition and accolades, college scholarships, and the numerous other long-term benefits that result from success in athletic endeavors. The legislature also finds that in recent years, the question of transgender athletes competing against biologically opposite genders has stirred controversies across the nation, with male-to-female transgender athletes winning female events ranging from state high school championship titles to a college five-hundred-yard freestyle swimming event. The legislature further finds there is a dire need to promote sex equality by ensuring that female athletes have a designated space to compete against other females. While it has become part of a national conversation, the legislature finds that for this particular issue, the male and female designation is to mean biological male and biological female, respectively. The purpose of this Act is to require the designation of separate sex-specific athletic teams or sports. SECTION 2. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new subpart to part II, to be appropriately designated and to read as follows: " . Sex-specific Athletic Teams §302A- Sex-specific athletic teams. (a) The department shall designate separate sex-specific athletic teams or sports within interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, and club athletic teams or sports, including sports teams sponsored by a public, primary, or secondary school, a public postsecondary institution, or any school or institution whose students or teams compete against a public school or public postsecondary institution. The teams shall be expressly designated as one of the following based on biological sex: (1) Males, men, or boys; (2) Females, women, or girls; or (3) Co-ed or mixed. (b) Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex. (c) A dispute regarding a student's sex shall be resolved by the student's school or institution by requesting that the student provide a health examination and consent form or other statement signed by the student's personal health care provider that shall verify the student's biological sex. The health care provider may verify the student's biological sex as part of a routine sports physical examination by relying on only one or more of the following: (1) The student's reproductive anatomy; (2) The student's genetic makeup; or (3) The student's normal endogenously produced testosterone levels. (d) The board shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 regarding the receipt and timely resolution of disputes by schools and institutions consistent with this subsection. §302A- Protection for educational institutions. A governmental entity, any licensing or accrediting organization, or any athletic association or organization shall not accept a complaint, open an investigation, or take any other adverse action against any school or public postsecondary institution for maintaining separate interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, or club athletic teams or sports for students of the female sex. §302A- Cause of action, civil remedies. (a) Any student who is deprived of an athletic opportunity or suffers any direct or indirect harm as a result of a violation of this subpart shall have a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages, and any other relief available under the law against the school or public postsecondary institution. (b) Any student who is subject to retaliation or other adverse action by a school, postsecondary institution, or athletic association or organization as a result of reporting a violation of this subpart to an employee or representative of the school, institution, or athletic association or organization, or any state or federal agency with oversight of schools or public postsecondary institutions in the State, shall have a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages, and any other relief available under law against the school, institution, or athletic association or organization. (c) Any school or public postsecondary institution that suffers any direct or indirect harm as a result of a violation of this subpart shall have a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages, and any other relief available under law against the governmental entity, licensing or accrediting organization, or athletic association or organization. (d) All civil actions brought under this section shall be initiated within two years after the alleged harm occurred. Persons or organizations who prevail on a claim brought under this section shall be entitled to monetary damages, including for any psychological, emotional, or physical harm suffered, reasonable attorney fees and costs, and any other appropriate relief." SECTION 3. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date. SECTION 4. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the Act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are severable. SECTION 5. New statutory material is underscored. SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval. INTRODUCED BY: _____________________________ Report Title: DOE; Sex-specific Athletic Teams; School Sports Description: Creates the requirement that the Department of Education designate sex‑specific teams for the purpose of gender equality in school sports. The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.