In His Name: 14 Months of Charlie Kirk Bills

More than 60 bills in over 20 states carry Charlie Kirk's name. Five became law. Two are sitting in Columbus. Here's every one, and where it stands.

By Rich Vandall  ·  Nov. 8, 2026

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Man speaks on a college campus. Man gets shot. Lawmakers start writing.

Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was killed Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University in Orem. He was 31. Tyler Robinson, 22, is charged with aggravated murder, and prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.

Within a week, Congress had two resolutions on the floor. By April, the Associated Press counted more than 60 Kirk-themed bills filed in over 20 states. Days of remembrance. Highways. Statues. Rules for what teachers can say about religion and what students can do when they don't like a speaker.

Some of it became law. Most of it didn't. Two of the bills are sitting in Columbus right now.

Here's all of it.

The scorecard

Congress: resolutions, not laws

Washington moved first, and it moved with resolutions. A simple resolution is one chamber saying how it feels. It doesn't go to the other chamber. It doesn't go to the president. It doesn't change any law.

The Senate went first. S.Res. 391, from Utah Republican Mike Lee, condemned the assassination and honored Kirk's life. It was adopted Sept. 16, 2025, by unanimous consent, so no individual votes were recorded.

Two days later the Senate unanimously adopted a resolution from Florida Republican Rick Scott naming Oct. 14, 2025, what would have been Kirk's 32nd birthday, a National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk. Some outlets have since described this as Congress passing a bill that honors him every year. It didn't. It covered one day, in one year, and the House never took it up.

The House vote came Sept. 19. H.Res. 719, led by Speaker Mike Johnson, called Kirk a "courageous American patriot" and called on Americans to reject political violence. It passed 310-58. All 215 Republicans who voted, voted yes. Democrats split: 95 yes, 58 no, 38 present, 22 not voting.

The no votes said they weren't voting against condemning a murder. They were voting against the rest of the text. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington said a yes vote would put words in her mouth endorsing views she opposes. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland voted yes and told colleagues to look past what he called the "surplus verbiage" to the parts condemning violence.

Ohio's no votes included Joyce Beatty of Columbus, Shontel Brown of Cleveland and Emilia Sykes of Akron.

Congress also has two Kirk bills that would carry the force of law. Neither has gone anywhere that I could find.

• The Charlie Kirk Act. Lee introduced it Sept. 17, 2025, with Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall. It would revive the Cold War ban on showing U.S. Agency for Global Media content, like Voice of America, inside the country. The idea came from a viral TikTok two days after the shooting. Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee filed a House version in December. Experts on the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act have pointed out it never applied to private news outlets.
• H.Res. 746. Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas filed this one as an alternative: condemn the killing and the broader rise in political violence, without the tribute.

What's actually law

Five state measures with Kirk's name on them made it all the way. Three of them are about schools.

Tennessee, Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act. Gov. Bill Lee signed it in April. It took effect July 1. It says public school teachers and public college faculty may teach "the positive impacts of religion" on American history. House Republicans said it covers the positive impacts of Christianity specifically. The sponsor, Republican Rep. Mark Cochran, said it doesn't require a new curriculum. The Senate passed it 27-6.

Tennessee, Charlie Kirk Act. Lee signed this one May 1. It requires public colleges to adopt a free expression policy modeled on the University of Chicago's, bars schools from disinviting speakers over controversy, and bans walkouts and other protest that causes "material and substantial disruption" of an invited speaker. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression backed it. PEN America said it threatens campus speech. Democratic Rep. Justin Jones pointed out that Tennessee professors were suspended or fired last fall for what they said about Kirk's death. "It's ironic that this body is talking about free speech," he said.

Kansas, KIRK Act. The name is an acronym: Kansas Intellectual Rights and Knowledge. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed it, saying the protections already exist in the state and federal constitutions. Republicans overrode her in April, 29-11 in the Senate and 85-38 in the House. The law makes outdoor campus areas public forums, bans "free speech zones," limits security fees for student events, and lets the attorney general or any student who thinks their rights were violated sue a school for at least $500 per violation, plus $50 a day while it continues. The bill's preamble cites a 2024 Kansas State event where Kirk's microphone was cut at the end of his time.

Its first test came fast. When a demonstrator showed up at K-State with a sign students called racist, people demanded the school remove him. Under the new law, that's a lot harder to do.

Kentucky, Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway. This one's close to home. About an hour south of Dayton, Kentucky Route 18 in Boone County, from KY 338 to the KY 237 underpass, now carries Kirk's name. It rode in on Senate Joint Resolution 139, a package of 68 road and bridge namings, most of them for fallen soldiers, police and local figures. A House amendment to strip the Kirk section failed. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear signed it April 13. He said he did it for the Kentuckians on the list.

Florida, Charlie Kirk Memorial Avenue. Florida House Speaker Juan Carlos Porras (R-Miami) filed it less than two weeks after the shooting. It puts Kirk's name on part of Southwest 107th Avenue in Miami-Dade, right in front of Florida International University, where Porras says he and Kirk started Turning Point's first Florida chapter in 2015. The same bill names part of Commercial Boulevard in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea after President Trump. The House passed it 82-30 in February. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it June 26, and it took effect July 1.

Two more things worth knowing. Utah's Legislature gave Kirk, his widow Erika and Turning Point USA a ceremonial citation in February, unanimously. And at the county level, Lake County, Florida, put up "Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway" signs in Clermont within three weeks of the shooting. Collier County followed.

Ohio: two bills, both waiting

HB 486, the Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act. Reps. Gary Click (R-Vickery) and Mike Dovilla (R-Berea) introduced it Sept. 29, 2025. It's nearly the same as Tennessee's. It says teachers in public schools and state universities may teach "the influence of Judeo-Christian values" on American history and culture. The bill lists examples: the Pilgrims, the faith of the founders, the Ten Commandments' role in American law, religion in the civil rights movement, Billy Graham.

The House passed it Nov. 19, 2025, 62-27. Party line. Not one Democrat voted yes. It has 34 cosponsors, including Dayton-area Reps. Tom Young of Washington Township and Rodney Creech of West Alexandria. The Senate sent it to the Education Committee on Feb. 11, and as of this week the Senate's own site still shows it there.

Click says it doesn't put any new mandates on teachers. The bill itself says it isn't proselytization and doesn't violate the First Amendment. Critics, including the Columbus Free Press, argue you don't write that into a bill unless you expect someone to argue otherwise. Rep. Sean Brennan (D-Parma), a former teacher, said Ohio history teachers already cover religion's role.

SB 271 and HB 599, Charlie Kirk Memorial Day. Sen. Al Cutrona (R-Canfield) filed SB 271 on Sept. 23, 2025, to make every Oct. 14 Charlie Kirk Memorial Day in Ohio. Reps. Jodi Salvo and Meredith Craig filed the House version, HB 599, in November. The state's budget office says it costs nothing.

The Senate's government oversight committee finally heard SB 271 in March. No vote. Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) called it an attempt "to get cheap political points from a political assassination." He noted Kirk never lived or went to school in Ohio, and said he'd answer with a bill honoring Ohioans like Neil Armstrong, Woody Hayes and Thomas Edison.

Armstrong grew up in Wapakoneta. That's about an hour up I-75 from here.

The Ohio House also had a resolution honoring Kirk last fall, sponsored by 50 of its 65 Republicans.

Passed one chamber, then stalled

• Florida. The House voted 82-31 in February to make every Oct. 14 "Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance." It died in the Senate Rules Committee on March 13, and so did the Senate version.
• North Carolina. The House passed the Political Terrorism Prevention Act 105-6 in September 2025. It includes a "Charlie Kirk clause" making political motivation an aggravating factor in death penalty cases, and would make politically motivated Class A felonies eligible for death. The Senate sent it to its Rules Committee on Sept. 25, 2025, and that's the last action on record.
• South Carolina. The House voted 75-31 to name part of U.S. 76 in Laurens County the Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway and a McCormick County bridge on Highway 378 after him. The highway resolution is sitting in the Senate Transportation Committee.
• New Hampshire. The CHARLIE Act stands for Countering Hate And Revolutionary Leftist Indoctrination in Education. It would have restricted how schools teach about race, gender and sexuality. It passed the House. The state attorney general's office opposed it on constitutional grounds. A Senate committee gutted it, and it was defeated.

Vetoed or dead on arrival

• Arizona. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a Charlie Kirk license plate, then vetoed renaming Phoenix's Loop 202 the Charlie Kirk Loop 202. Renaming a highway, she wrote, has to go through the state board on geographic and historic names, not around it.
• Oklahoma. Sen. Shane Jett filed three in September 2025: a Charlie Kirk Memorial Plaza with a statue on every public campus, a Charlie Kirk Free Speech Day, and a resolution calling Kirk a "martyr for truth, faith, and free speech." All three died in committee this year.
• Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota. Missouri has a resolution for a Charlie Kirk Day. Kansas filed a Charlie Kirk Free Speech Day as the Senate's first bill of 2026. Minnesota had a bill that would have required Kirk courtyards at public colleges. None of them became law that I could find.
• Louisiana. SB 269, the "Charlie Kirk Success Sequence Act," would require schools to teach that the path out of poverty is finishing high school, working full time and getting married before having kids. A committee tried to strip Kirk's name off it and failed. It made it to the Senate floor April 21, then got pulled and sent back to the calendar. It never came back up, and the session ended. It's dead. A separate bill would make Oct. 14 Charlie Kirk Remembrance Day.

So what did we get

Five laws. Three congressional resolutions. Two road signs, one of them an hour from here. Dozens of bills that went nowhere.

Now some questions.

The House resolution called on all of us to reject political violence. What did Congress pass afterward that actually does something about political violence? Was there a bill on that, or just a tribute?

Tennessee's campus law protects an invited speaker's right to talk. It also lets a school discipline students who walk out on him. Whose speech is that protecting?

Kansas lets students sue their own schools for $500 a pop. Who pays that judgment? Tuition? Taxpayers?

The Ohio Senate has had HB 486 since November 2025. If it's as harmless as its sponsors say, why does it need a paragraph explaining that it's constitutional?

And Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota House speaker emerita, was shot dead in her home with her husband three months before Kirk. How many state bills carry her name?

I'll keep tracking these. If your state rep cosponsored one, you should know about it.

AI tools gathered and sorted the records for this story, checked the math and wrote a first draft. Rich Vandall rewrote, checked and edited it. How we report.