Colorado lawmakers are moving legislation that would require all teachers use students’ preferred names, despite warnings about potential legal issues and the problems it could create in classrooms.

House Bill 1039 would require public and charter schools in Colorado to use students’ preferred names on things like attendance lists, yearbooks and identification cards, regardless of whether it’s their label name. Any opposition would be considered “discriminatory” under the bill, though there are no penalties included in the bill, Colorado Politics reports.

The legislation would task the Department of Education to create a nine-member task force to examine school policies and recommend guidelines, stipulating that body would consist of superintendents, state officials, school counselors and educators from elementary and secondary schools.

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The bill does not include any parent representative on the task force, or require schools to notify parents of name changes, both issues that have contributed to opposition from parents rights groups, school choice advocates, and conservative lawmakers.

“Trans youth in schools deserve a clear path to change their names in the school system, and currently schools in rural areas are less likely to have an administrative process for this,” Loveland Democratic Sen. Janice Marchman, a bill sponsor and teacher in the Thompson R2-J School District. “The rates of graduation and college continuation, as well as test results increase significantly for trans and gender expansive youth who are affirmed in their identities socially.”

HB 1039 is co-sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Vigil, D-Colorado Springs, and Sen. Faith Winter, D-Westminster. It was crafted in coordination with the Colorado Youth Advisory Council and is backed LGBTQ+ activists at One Colorado, and the Colorado School Counselors Association, Chalkbeat Colorado reports.

Several students testified on HB 1039 on Thursday, before the House Education Committee voted 7-4 along party lines to advance the bill.

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Lewis-Palmer High School student Theo Martin told lawmakers HB 1039 would “create an environment where being transphobic is not tolerated.”

Opponents have highlighted a number of issues the legislation may create, arguing the bill infringes on educator and parental rights and could be a particular problem during emergencies.

House Minority Leader Rose Bugliese, R-Colorado Springs, said she voted against HB 1039 on Thursday because it would allow schools to hide name changes from parents.

Rep. Ron Weinberg, R-Loveland, raised the same issue when lawmakers initially vetted the draft legislation in November.

“I think doing things behind parents’ backs pushes more into the era of being deceitful, rather than accepting,” he said, according to the Colorado Sun. “We’re trying to solve a problem with deceit. And that haunts me a little bit.”

Weinberg also raised questions about whether the bill would complicate efforts by law enforcement to account for students using their legal names during a school emergency.

Other opponents have highlighted existing student protections through the state’s Civil Rights Commission that stipulate “deliberately misusing an individual’s preferred name, form or address or gender-related pronouns” is discriminatory, and have urged those who want to change their names to go through the legal process.

“You probably remember how important that decision was to give someone their name,” Donna LaBelle testified Thursday, arguing unlimited name changes could sow confusion in the classroom.