TENNESSEE: Attorney General Says Bill Targeting Trans Students Risks $1.2 Billion in Title IX Funds

Anti-Trans Bill That Lawmakers Are Trying to Push Through Tennessee Legislature Violates Federal Government Policy

The Republican Attorney General of Tennessee has just released his opinion on the impact a bill targeting transgender students in public schools would have on the state. Herbert Slatery (photo) says should HB 2414 be signed into law and a single transgender student files a complaint with the federal Department of Education, Tennessee could be at risk for losing its Title IX federal funding. The Williams Institute also released a study, stating Tennessee could lose its $1.2 billion in Title IX funding should HB 2414 be come law.

Slatery, who is reportedly a close life-long friend of Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and served as his chief legal counsel, explains that “if a transgender student is required by a school district in Tennessee to use a restroom or locker room facility that is consistent with his or her anatomical gender rather than his or her gender expression or gender identity, and if that student files a complaint, DOE, applying its current interpretation of Title IX, will almost certainly require the school district to permit the student access to the facility consistent with his or her gender expression.”

He adds, Tennessee’s “refusal to do so could very well result in loss of federal funding—at least until DOE’s interpretation is overruled by authoritative and binding judicial decision.”

The five-page document stands in contrast to at least one Republican lawmaker’s opinion delivered just last week in a committee meeting. State Rep. Rick Womick, a supporter of HB 2414, told his colleagues on the House Education Administration & Planning Committee last Wednesday he was unconcerned with the ramifications should the bill violate federal law or policy. 

“I don’t care about Title IX,” Womick stated. 

Tennessee could be out $1.2 billion should the federal government decide the state were no longer eligible for Title IX funding. North Carolina is currently risking $4.5 billion after Gov. Pat McCrory signed HB2 into law last month. 

Lawmakers met with AG Slatery today to discuss his opinion on HB 2414. Democratic State Rep. Mike Stewart “called Slatery’s opinion the ‘final nail in the coffin,'” The Tennessean reports.

“The fact that the attorney general has recognized that this will result in significantly reduced federal funds for the state of Tennessee should put an end to the discussion about this bill,” Stewart added.

Democratic State Rep. John Ray Clemmons “said there was no way proponents of the legislation could continue to defend it in light of Slatery’s opinion,” The Tennessean reports.

The bill is supported by anti-LGBT groups, including the Alliance for Defending Freedom and the Family Action Council. Anti-LGBT groups recently have stepped up, promising to defend anti-LGBT laws in court if challenged, as incentive for lawmakers to pass what they know to be unconstitutional or illegal legislation.

 

Image via Office of the Attorney General and Reporter
Herbert H. Slatery III

Hat tip: Equality Case Files