H.R. 5116

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5116 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5116

To require elementary schools and secondary schools that receive 
Federal funds to obtain parental consent before facilitating a child's 
gender transition in any form, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 3, 2025

Mrs. Miller of Illinois (for herself, Mrs. Luna, Mrs. Biggs of South 
Carolina, Mr. Self, Ms. Boebert, Mr. Harrigan, Mr. Moore of Alabama, 
Mrs. Harshbarger, Ms. Stefanik, and Ms. Mace) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To require elementary schools and secondary schools that receive 
Federal funds to obtain parental consent before facilitating a child's 
gender transition in any form, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Empower Parents to Protect their 
Kids Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) School districts across the country have violated 
parental and familial rights by encouraging or instructing 
staff to deceive or withhold information from parents if their 
child expresses discomfort with their sex or is seeking to 
socially or physically adopt an identity that is incongruent 
with their sex. Without parental knowledge or consent, schools 
are changing the names and pronouns of children in school, 
provided or allowed students to bring clothes typically worn by 
the opposite sex for students to change into once they arrive 
at school, or even allowing children to change which sex-
segregated facilities they use, such as rest rooms, locker 
rooms, and dormitories or other housing for overnight field 
trips.
(2) This is often being done pursuant to a ``gender 
transition plan'' that is nearly always kept secret from 
parents. In fact, these school districts have kept a second set 
of student records that are unknown to the parents. Powerful 
teachers unions and activist organizations have pressured more 
schools to adopt policies to enable and encourage children, of 
any age, to adopt an ``identity'' that is incongruent with 
their sex and be treated accordingly at school without parental 
notice or consent.
(3) Contrary to the unfounded assertions of activists, the 
social aspects of adopting an identity that is incongruent with 
an individual's sex are not neutral or uncontroversial. This is 
experimental and has immediate effects on a child's psychology 
and dramatically increases the statistical likelihood that a 
child will go on to take puberty blocking or suppressing drugs 
and wrong-sex hormones. Additionally, it makes it more 
difficult for a child to reverse course later on, thereby 
increasing the likelihood that the child will continue on to 
the surgical elements of adopting an identity that is 
incongruent with one's sex, resulting in life-changing, 
irreversible consequences.
(4) Any policies that attempt to circumvent parental 
authority are a violation of parents' constitutionally 
protected rights to direct the care, custody, and upbringing of 
their children as recognized by the Supreme Court. Further, 
policies that withhold information from parents or ask children 
about intimate details of their family life violate Federal 
statutes designed to uphold a parent's rights and duties in 
education. School districts implementing such policies are 
misrepresenting or entirely ignoring these statutes and 
constitutional protections.
(5) On January 29, 2025, President Trump signed Executive 
Order 14191 ``Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 
Schooling'', to enforce the law to ensure that recipients of 
Federal funds providing K-12 education comply with all laws 
protecting parental rights.
(6) Schools should never be allowed to intrude on family 
life by misleading or excluding parents and confusing children.

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS OF PARENTAL CONSENT.

(a) In General.--No Federal funds shall be made available to any 
elementary school or secondary school unless the elementary school or 
secondary school, with respect to students enrolled at the school who 
have not yet reached 18 years of age, complies with each of the 
following requirements:
(1) School employees do not proceed with any accommodation 
intended to affirm a student's purported ``identity'' that is 
incongruent with the student's sex, or any action to facilitate 
or otherwise aid and abet a minor in adopting such an identity, 
including referral or recommendation to any third-party medical 
provider for a gender transition procedure, unless the 
employees have received express parental consent to do so.
(2) School employees do not facilitate, encourage, or 
coerce students to withhold information from their parents 
regarding the student's purported identity, when it is 
incongruent with the student's sex.
(3) School employees do not withhold or hide information 
from parents about a student's discomfort with their sex, their 
desire for an identity that is incongruent with their sex, 
their profession of an identity that is incongruent with their 
sex, or their desire to undergo a gender transition procedure.
(4) School employees do not encourage, pressure, or coerce 
the parents of students, or students themselves, to proceed 
with any intervention to affirm the student's adoption of an 
identity that is incongruent with their sex.
(b) Rules of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed--
(1) to prevent a school employee from contacting 
appropriate legal authorities about an imminent threat to a 
student's physical safety in the event that the school employee 
knows or has a reasonable suspicion that the student is at risk 
of physical abuse, as defined in section 1169 of title 18, 
United States Code; or
(2) to deprive any parent of the right to be involved in a 
child's actions or discussions about gender transition, without 
the due process of law.
(c) Ensuring Compliance.--The head of each Federal agency shall 
require each application for Federal assistance submitted by a State 
educational agency or local educational agency to the head of such 
Federal agency--
(1) to describe the steps that each elementary school and 
secondary school served by the State educational agency or 
local educational agency proposes to take to ensure compliance 
with the requirements under this section and how these steps 
preserve and protect the authority of the family; and
(2) to ensure that--
(A) a copy of the written policy that each 
elementary school and secondary school served by the 
State educational agency or local educational agency 
has to ensure compliance with the requirements under 
this section is provided to the head of such Federal 
agency and to the families of enrolled students; and
(B) each such policy is clearly and publicly posted 
on the website of the school.
(d) Civil Action for Certain Violations.--
(1) In general.--A qualified party may, in a civil action, 
obtain appropriate relief with regard to a designated 
violation.
(2) Administrative remedies not required.--An action under 
this section may be commenced, and relief may be granted, 
without regard to whether the party commencing the action has 
sought or exhausted any available administrative remedy.
(3) Defendants in actions under this section may include 
governmental entities as well as others.--An action under this 
section may be brought against any elementary school or 
secondary school receiving Federal financial assistance or any 
governmental entity assisting an elementary school or secondary 
school.
(4) Nature of relief.--In an action under this section, the 
court shall grant--
(A) all appropriate relief, including injunctive 
relief and declaratory relief;
(B) to a prevailing plaintiff, reasonable 
attorneys' fees and litigation costs; and
(C) payment for treatments or therapy to repair 
harm to the child from pursuit of ``gender transition'' 
determined as necessary by the parent and the child's 
medical providers.
(5) Attorneys fees for defendant.--If a defendant in a 
civil action under this subsection prevails and the court finds 
that the plaintiff's suit was frivolous, the court shall award 
a reasonable attorney's fee in favor of the defendant against 
the plaintiff.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Female.--The term ``female'', when used to refer to a 
natural person, means an individual who naturally has, had, 
will have, or would have, but for a congenital anomaly, 
historical accident, or intentional or unintentional 
disruption, the reproductive system that at some point 
produces, transports, and utilizes eggs for fertilization.
(2) Male.--The term ``male'', when used to refer to a 
natural person, means an individual who naturally has, had, 
will have, or would have, but for a congenital anomaly, 
historical accident, or intentional or unintentional 
disruption, the reproductive system that at some point 
produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization.
(3) Sex.--The term ``sex'', when referring to an 
individual's sex, means to refer to either male or female, as 
biologically determined.
(4) Designated violation.--The term ``designated 
violation'' means an actual or threatened violation of this 
section.
(5) ESEA.--The term ``elementary school'' and ``secondary 
school'' have the meanings given the terms in section 8101 of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
7801).
(6) Gender transition.--The term ``gender transition'' 
means the process in which an individual goes from identifying 
with or presenting as his or her sex to identifying with or 
presenting a self-proclaimed identity that does not correspond 
with or is different from his or her sex, and may be 
accompanied with social, legal, or physical changes.
(7) Governmental entity.--The term ``governmental entity,'' 
means a school district, a local educational agency, a school 
board, or any agency or other governmental unit or subdivision 
of a State responsible for education, or of such a local 
government.
(8) Qualified party.--The term ``qualified party'' means--
(A) the Attorney General of the United States; or
(B) any parent or legal guardian adversely affected 
by the designated violation.
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