The 2022 Legislative Session in Review
On This PageThe Arizona Legislature
Wherever decisions are being made in Arizona, it’s our job to make sure LGBTQ+ people are involved in that process. A key focus of our organization is the state legislature, where LGBTQ+ lives and experiences have become an unjust subject of discussion. You can learn more about the legislature and keep up with the current session on our guide to the legislature, and you can be an advocate for more equitable decision making by signing up for our volunteer team.
LGBTQ+ Policy in the 2022 Legislative Session
By sheer volume, 2022 was the worst year on record for anti-LGBTQ+ policy in state legislatures around the nation. Here in Arizona, we faced an onslaught of legislative attacks, from bills targeting kids and their support systems to book bans and preemptive restrictions on gender neutral identity documents. Some ideas that we’ve successfully rebuffed before, like a law banning trans girls from school sports, found success this year, and disturbing new proposals, like the criminalization of gender-affirming care, nearly made it into law.
Through organized, citizen-based advocacy, the vast majority of anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced this session never made it out of the legislature. In some cases, these were more draconian versions of bills that did pass: compared to SB 1138, SB 1130 would have banned gender-affirming care for both youth and vulnerable adults by classifying it as abuse and criminalizing providers, while SB 1046 (a trans student athlete ban like SB 1165) would have subjected cis and trans girls alike whose genders were questioned to invasive testing and genital inspections. To learn more about any of the bills listed below, visit azleg.gov and search by the bill number.
Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills Signed Into Law
Senate Bill 1138
Summary: Originally written as a total ban on gender-affirming care for youth. With a strike-everything amendment, the bill has been narrowed to a ban on gender-affirming surgery for youth, interfering with international standards of care created and maintained by medical experts.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- March 30 | SB 1138 and SB 1165 Signed into Law
- March 24 | Governor Ducey Must Veto SB 1138 and SB 1165
- March 19 | Session Update: Anti-Trans Legislation Advances Through Committee Hearings
- March 3 | Trans Athlete Ban SB 1165 in the House Judiciary Committee
- February 26 | Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills on the Move After Crossover Week
- February 21 | Crossover Week and What's Next in the Legislature
- February 15 | Anti-Trans Bills Don't Have Support in Arizona
- February 11 | Two Transition Care Bans on the Move in the Arizona Legislature
- February 10 | House Education Committee to hear anti-trans bathroom bill HB 2314
- February 5 | SB 1138 and the State of the Session
- January 19 | Anti-Trans Bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee
- January 13 | SB 1138 and HB 2011 receive committee assignments
Senate Bill 1165
Summary: Bans trans girls from girls sports in schools. A similar exclusion does not apply to boys sports.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- March 30 | SB 1138 and SB 1165 Signed into Law
- March 24 | Governor Ducey Must Veto SB 1138 and SB 1165
- March 19 | Session Update: Anti-Trans Legislation Advances Through Committee Hearings
- March 3 | Trans Athlete Ban SB 1165 in the House Judiciary Committee
- February 26 | Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills on the Move After Crossover Week
- February 21 | Crossover Week and What's Next in the Legislature
- February 5 | SB 1138 and the State of the Session
- January 19 | Anti-Trans Bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee
Senate Bill 1399
Summary: Would permit discrimination in adoption and foster care services on the basis of religious preference, under the guise of protecting religious groups from discrimination.
Successfully Amended Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills
House Bill 2161
Summary: As originally written, would have expanded parental access to school and medical records in ways that could violate the privacy of minors, particularly LGBTQ+ children. Along with an initial requirement in the bill for teachers to out trans students to their parents, these concerns have been removed by a series of amendments.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- March 19 | Session Update: Anti-Trans Legislation Advances Through Committee Hearings
- March 14 | LGBTQ+ Censorship and Privacy Violations in Schools
- February 26 | Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills on the Move After Crossover Week
- February 21 | Crossover Week and What's Next in the Legislature
- February 5 | SB 1138 and the State of the Session
- January 22 | Anti-LGBT bills in the House Education Committee
- January 19 | Anti-Trans Bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee
House Bill 2495
Summary: Bans books and other materials with depictions or descriptions of sexual conduct. Originally included a blanket ban on “homosexuality,” but has been amended.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- March 19 | Session Update: Anti-Trans Legislation Advances Through Committee Hearings
- March 14 | LGBTQ+ Censorship and Privacy Violations in Schools
- February 26 | Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills on the Move After Crossover Week
- February 21 | Crossover Week and What's Next in the Legislature
- February 5 | SB 1138 and the State of the Session
- January 22 | Anti-LGBT bills in the House Education Committee
Failed Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills
Senate Bill 1045
Summary: Would ban gender-affirming care for youth and require school employees to out trans kids.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- February 21 | Crossover Week and What's Next in the Legislature
- January 19 | Anti-Trans Bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee
- January 10 | What to Expect from the 2022 Legislative Session
Senate Bill 1046
Summary: Would ban trans girls from girls sports in schools. Requires invasive testing and genital inspections for girls whose gender is questioned.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- February 21 | Crossover Week and What's Next in the Legislature
- January 19 | Anti-Trans Bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee
- January 10 | What to Expect from the 2022 Legislative Session
Senate Bill 1049
Summary: Introduces $5,000 penalties against schools for violations of the parent's bill of rights, the legal cornerstone of many anti-LGBTQ+ bills.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- February 26 | Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills on the Move After Crossover Week
Senate Bill 1130
Summary: Defines gender affirming care for children and vulnerable adults as a form of abuse, criminalizing providers.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- February 21 | Crossover Week and What's Next in the Legislature
- February 5 | SB 1138 and the State of the Session
- January 19 | Anti-Trans Bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee
House Bill 2011
Summary: Targets GSA clubs in schools by introducing a parental opt-in requirement and other restrictions.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- February 21 | Crossover Week and What's Next in the Legislature
- January 19 | Anti-Trans Bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee
- January 13 | SB 1138 and HB 2011 receive committee assignments
- January 10 | What to Expect from the 2022 Legislative Session
House Bill 2292
Summary: Mandates that Arizona birth certificates are only issued with M or F gender markers.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- February 21 | Crossover Week and What's Next in the Legislature
- January 19 | Anti-Trans Bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee
House Bill 2293
Summary: Stipulates that schools cannot require employees to respect a student’s pronouns or penalize them for misgendering students.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- February 21 | Crossover Week and What's Next in the Legislature
- January 19 | Anti-Trans Bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee
House Bill 2294
Summary: Would prevent state agencies like the MVD or vital records department from issuing documents with gender markers other than M or F.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- February 21 | Crossover Week and What's Next in the Legislature
- February 5 | SB 1138 and the State of the Session
- January 31 | Anti-LGBT bill HB 2294 in the House Government & Elections Committee
- January 19 | Anti-Trans Bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee
House Bill 2314
Summary: Ban trans kids from school bathrooms, changing rooms, and other “multi-occupancy facilities” appropriate to their genders.
- June 28 | Looking Back on the Legislative Session
- February 21 | Crossover Week and What's Next in the Legislature
- February 15 | Anti-Trans Bills Don't Have Support in Arizona
- February 10 | House Education Committee to hear anti-trans bathroom bill HB 2314
- January 19 | Anti-Trans Bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee
House Bill 2608
Summary: Originally written as a total ban on gender-affirming care for youth, it may be subject to a strike-everything amendment on an unrelated issue.
2022 Session Calendar
January 31 | last day for the introduction of bills in the Arizona Senate.
February 7 | last day for the introduction of bills in the Arizona House.
February 18 | last day to hear bills in their chamber of origin. If a Senate bill doesn't make it to a committee meeting in the Senate by this date, or a House bill to a committee meeting in the House, that bill is dead.
Crossover Week. After the February 18 committee deadline, passing and transmitting bills to the next chamber is prioritized during the following week.
March 25 | last day to consider House bills in the Senate, or Senate bills in the House. After passing one chamber of the legislature and being transmitted to the other, if a bill doesn't receive a committee meeting by this date, it's dead.
April 15 | last day to consider bills in conference committees. After passing through both chambers, the version of a House bill that passes the Senate might not be the same the one that passed the House. Conference committees are formed to resolve the differences between both versions.
April 19 | Day 100. The Saturday after the 100th day of the session, the legislative session is set to adjourn sine die. However, this can be extended by a majority vote.
June 25 | Sine Die. This Latin phrase is used to mark the end of the session, effectively meaning that there are no more days left. If the session runs its prescribed course this year, this will fall on April 23. In 2022, the session did not adjourn sine die until June 25.
The Sine Die Report
Each year, the Arizona legislature meets from early January to Sine Die – the final day – often in late June, to sponsor, discuss, and pass into law or the public record hundreds of bills and resolutions. At Equality Arizona, we spend the majority of the legislative session keeping on top of the bills that are core to the challenges facing our community. Over the past decade, this has meant contending with an ever increasing number of bills targeting trans people and LGBTQ+ children, along with threats to our fundamental freedoms of speech, association, and bodily autonomy. One side effect of this is that we don’t often get to share the full picture of what goes on in the legislature; for all of the harm even one anti-LGBTQ+ bill can cause, the record numbers proposed this year still only make up a small percentage of the legislature’s total. So for that reason, we put together the Sine Die Report, a quantitative analysis of the content and output of the 2022 legislative session.