# 119-s-2702: Empower Parents to Protect their Kids Act of 2025 119-s-2702, Empower Parents to Protect their Kids Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-23). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2702 - As of: 2026-10-23 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: 119-s-2702 - Congress: 119 - Title: Empower Parents to Protect their Kids Act of 2025 - Status: introduced - Introduced: 2025-09-03 - Sponsor: Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN) - Cosponsors: 8 - Policy area: Education - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-10-23 ## Summary **This bill would create a nationwide framework that makes parental control over school handling of students' gender identity the central requirement for schools that receive federal funds.** It defines key terms and then sets four mandatory limits on how staff may respond to a student under 18 who expresses a gender identity different from their sex. - Parents and students: Parents of minor students would have to be notified and give express consent before school staff take steps that affirm a student's gender identity or refer the student for gender transition procedures. Schools would be barred from encouraging students to hide identity concerns from parents or from withholding information about a student's discomfort, declarations, or desire to transition. - Schools and staff: Schools would need written policies explaining how they will preserve parental authority, provide those policies to enrolled families, and post them publicly on the school website. Staff would be prohibited from facilitating, encouraging, or coercing students or parents to pursue interventions that affirm an identity incongruent with the student's sex. - Federal funding and enforcement: Federal agency heads would require applicants for federal education assistance to describe steps they will take to comply with the law. The Attorney General or a parent could sue for injunctive or declaratory relief, recover reasonable attorney's fees and costs, and seek court-ordered payments for treatments or therapy that parents and the child's medical providers determine repair harm from pursuit of a gender transition; plaintiffs would not be required to exhaust administrative remedies. ## Cosponsors (8) - Sen. McCormick, David [R-PA] (R-PA), 2026-09-29T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR] (R-AR), 2025-09-04T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS] (R-KS), 2025-09-04T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Scott, Rick [R-FL] (R-FL), 2025-09-04T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Tuberville, Tommy [R-AL] (R-AL), 2025-09-04T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN] (R-TN), 2025-09-04T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Hawley, Josh [R-MO] (R-MO), 2025-09-09T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Moody, Ashley [R-FL] (R-FL), 2025-12-17T00:00:00.000Z ## Provisions PRIA read - Key definitions for parental rules: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would set definitions used by the parental-consent rules. It would define sex as biologically male or female, define male and female by reproductive characteristics, explain what counts as a gender transition, and say which agencies and parents may bring enforcement actions. Th… - Parents can sue schools over violations: benefit, medium. If enacted, a parent or the Attorney General could sue a school or government entity for actual or threatened violations of the parental-consent rules without first using administrative complaint steps. Courts could order fixes, issue injunctions or declarations, and award reasonable attorney's fee… - Parents must approve gender support: mixed, high. If enacted, school staff could not provide or arrange support that affirms a student's identity different from their sex for students under 18 unless a parent gives express consent. Staff also could not help students hide this from parents or pressure students or parents toward transition-related c… - Federal funds require parental policy: mixed, high. If enacted, elementary and secondary schools that receive federal money would need a written policy explaining how they will involve parents for students under 18. Each school must give that policy to the federal agency, provide it to enrolled families, and post it on the school's website. Federal… ## Related bills - 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act - 119-s-3752: SAVE America Act - 119-s-401: Fair Access to Banking Act - 119-s-4429: Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026 - 119-s-186: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2025 - 119-s-6: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act ## Sources - [119-s-2702 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2702) ## Related - [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748) - [119-s-3752: SAVE America Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3752) - [119-s-401: Fair Access to Banking Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-401) - [119-s-4429: Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4429) - [119-s-186: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-186) - [119-s-6: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-6) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2702 (as of 2026-10-23).