Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has joined a coalition of 23 state attorneys general in support of the Trump Administration’s effort to revise a Biden-era federal rule that they argue unlawfully imposed a political agenda and threatened funding for state disability programs.
In a letter submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the attorneys general backed a proposed rule that would reverse a 2024 Biden administration regulation expanding the definition of “disability” under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The prior rule sought to include “gender dysphoria” as a federally protected disability, despite statutory language that expressly excludes “gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments.”
According to the coalition, the Biden-era rule risked diverting limited resources away from individuals with traditional, medically recognized disabilities and placed state disability programs at risk of losing federal funding if they did not comply with the expanded definition.
In 2024, Knudsen joined a multi-state legal challenge to the rule, arguing it exceeded federal authority and would impose significant financial and administrative burdens on states while undermining the integrity of disability programs. That challenge highlighted what states described as serious legal defects and the potential harm to individuals who rely on disability services.
The Trump Administration has now issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would undo the prior expansion and restore what supporters describe as the original, congressionally intended limits of federal disability law.
“But gender dysphoria is diagnosed based on subjective, self-reported feelings and distress; it is not confirmed or denied by any physical test,” the attorneys general wrote in their letter. “Finally, the fact that mental conditions can produce physical distress or be treated with chemical interventions does not transform a mental impairment into an independent physical impairment.”
The letter was led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and joined by attorneys general from Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Montana.
Supporters of the proposed revision say it will protect disability funding, ensure compliance with federal law, and prevent states from being forced to adopt policies they argue fall outside the scope of the Rehabilitation Act.