Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton Leads Mul­ti­state Effort Sup­port­ing the Revi­sion of Woke Biden-era Rule that Threat­ened Dis­abil­i­ty Funding

Attorney General Ken Paxton led a multistate coalition that has submitted a comment supporting the Trump Administration's revision of a Biden-era Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") Final Rule that unlawfully promulgated a woke agenda over federal funding for state disability programs.

The Biden Administration's 2024 Rule sought to radically expand the definition of "disability" under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act to include "gender dysphoria," despite clear statutory language that expressly excludes "gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments." In practice, the Rule risked diverting resources away from individuals with genuine disabilities and jeopardized services in states that do not comply with the Biden Administration's radical gender ideology.

In 2024, Attorney General Paxton led a multistate coalition in filing a lawsuit that challenged the Rule, exposing its legal flaws and the severe harm it would impose on state budgets, operations, and those who rely on federal disability assistance. Now, the Trump Administration has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that will reverse the Biden-era Rule's inclusion of gender dysphoria as a federally protected disability and restore the proper limits of federal disability law.

"This victory stops the Biden Administration's radical attempt to force states to comply with its woke gender ideology at the expense of Americans who rely on disability assistance," said Attorney General Paxton. "I am in full support of the Trump Administration's decision to prevent federal funds from being diverted to an unlawful, radical agenda and reverse Biden's illegal attempt to rewrite the law. Thanks to the Trump Administration's leadership, states will no longer be forced to comply with a ludicrous, woke rule that Congress explicitly prohibited."

To read the comment, click here.