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2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
2023 ASSEMBLY BILL 729
December 6, 2023 - Introduced by Representatives EMERSON, CONLEY, JACOBSON,
SINICKI, ANDRACA, J. ANDERSON, SHELTON, CONSIDINE, DRAKE and HAYWOOD,
cosponsored by Senators L. JOHNSON, SMITH and LARSON. Referred to
Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care.
***AUTHORS SUBJECT TO CHANGE***
AN ACT to create 48.374 of the statutes; relating to: a minor's authority to
consent to health care.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill allows a minor who is an unaccompanied youth to consent to, contract
for, and receive medical, dental, or behavioral health examinations, care, or
treatment without a parent's or guardian's permission, authority, or consent under
certain circumstances. The bill defines “unaccompanied youth” as the term is
defined under federal law, which is a homeless youth not in the physical custody of
a parent or guardian.
Under the bill, in order to consent to health care, such a minor must be at least
14 years of age and must not be under the supervision of a county department of
human services or social services, a licensed child welfare agency, the Department
of Children and Families, or the Department of Corrections. Also under the bill, one
of the following must confirm in writing that the minor is an unaccompanied youth:
a local educational agency liaison for homeless children and youths designated under
federal law, a school social worker or counselor, an employee who conducts intake at
a shelter facility or transitional living program where the minor has been admitted
as an unaccompanied youth under current law, or the director, or his or her designee,
of a governmental or nonprofit entity that receives public or private funding to
provide services to individuals who are homeless or to unaccompanied youth.
The bill provides as an exception that the authority of a minor to consent to
health care does not apply to certain medical intervention practices if done for the
purpose of changing the minor's body to correspond to a sex that is discordant with
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the minor's biological sex. Under the bill, this exception does not apply to any of the
following: 1) a medical service provided in accordance with a good faith medical
decision of a minor born with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex
development; 2) the treatment of any infection, injury, disease, or disorder that has
been caused by or exacerbated by the performance of a gender transition medical
procedure, whether or not that procedure was performed in accordance with state
and federal law; or 3) any procedure undertaken because the minor suffers from a
physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a
physician, place the minor in imminent danger of death or impairment of a major
bodily function unless surgery is performed.
Under the bill, a professional who provides medical, dental, or behavioral
health examinations, care, or treatment to a minor based on the minor's consent
given in conformity with the bill may not be held liable in a civil or criminal action
for providing those services without having obtained permission from the minor's
parent or guardian.
The bill specifies that it does not apply to a minor's consent to an abortion,
which under current law requires parental consent except in certain circumstances.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
SECTION 1. 48.374 of the statutes is created to read:
48.374 Minor consent for medical care. (1) In this section:
(a) “Biological sex” means the biological state of being female or male based on
sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous hormone profiles.
(b) “Unaccompanied youth” has the meaning given in 42 USC 11434a (6).
(2) Except as provided under sub. (2m) and s. 48.375, a minor may consent to,
contract for, and receive medical, dental, or behavioral health examinations, care, or
treatment without a parent's or guardian's permission, authority, or consent if all of
the following apply:
(a) The minor is 14 years of age or older.
(b) The minor is not under the supervision of a county department, a licensed
child welfare agency, the department, or the department of corrections under this
chapter or ch. 938 or under the jurisdiction of the court.
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(c) One of the following, who has obtained the minor's consent to disclose the
minor's status as an unaccompanied youth, confirms in writing that the minor is an
unaccompanied youth:
1. A local educational agency liaison for homeless children and youth
designated under 42 USC 11432 (g) (1) (J) (ii).
2. A school social worker or counselor.
3. An employee who conducts intake at a shelter facility or transitional living
program where the minor has been admitted under s. 48.9875.
4. The director, or his or her designee, of a governmental or nonprofit entity that
receives public or private funding to provide services to individuals who are homeless
or to unaccompanied youth.
5. An attorney representing the minor in any legal matter.
(2m) (a) Subsection (2) does not apply to any of the following practices upon a
minor for the purpose of changing the minor's body to correspond to a sex that is
discordant with the minor's biological sex:
1. Performing a surgery that sterilizes an individual, including castration,
vasectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, metoidioplasty, orchiectomy, penectomy,
phalloplasty, and vaginoplasty.
2. Performing a mastectomy.
3. Administering, prescribing, or supplying any of the following medications:
a. Puberty-blocking drugs to stop or delay normal puberty.
b. Supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or other androgens to biological
females.
c. Supraphysiologic doses of estrogen to biological males.
4. Removing any otherwise healthy or nondiseased body part or tissue.
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(b) The exception under par. (a) does not apply to any of the following:
1. A medical service provided in accordance with a good faith medical decision
of a minor born with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development,
including any of the following:
a. External biological sex characteristics that are irresolvably ambiguous, such
as those born with 46,XX karyotype with virilization, 46,XY karyotype with
undervirilization, or having both ovarian and testicular tissue.
b. A sexual development disorder when a physician has determined through
genetic testing that the minor does not have the normal sex chromosome structure,
sex steroid hormone production, or sex steroid hormone action for a biological male
or biological female.
2. The treatment of any infection, injury, disease, or disorder that has been
caused by or exacerbated by the performance of a gender transition medical
procedure, whether or not that procedure was performed in accordance with state
and federal law.
3. Any procedure undertaken because the minor suffers from a physical
disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician,
place the minor in imminent danger of death or impairment of a major bodily
function unless surgery is performed.
(3) (a) A physician or other qualified professional licensed to practice in this
state who provides medical, dental, or behavioral health examinations, care, or
treatment to a minor based on consent given by the minor in conformity with this
section may not be held liable in a civil or criminal action for providing those services
without having obtained permission from the minor's parent or guardian.
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(b) This section does not relieve a physician or other qualified professional
licensed in this state from liability for negligence in the diagnosis or treatment of a
minor.
(4) (a) Identification of a minor as an unaccompanied youth does not by itself
establish that the minor has been abused or neglected.
(b) This section does not supersede the mandatory reporting requirements
under s. 48.981.
(c) This section does not affect any rights a minor has to consent to treatment
under ch. 51.
(END)
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