Which U.S. states introduced bills to lower the age of consent between 2020 and 2025 and what were their proposed new ages?

1. No evidence in these sources of a wave of bills to lower sex‑consent ages

The material provided consistently states that, as of 2025, the age of sexual consent across states ranged from 16 to 18, with 16 being the most common age — and does not list multiple states that introduced bills to lower those ages during 2020–2025 ^{[1] [2] [4]}. Wikipedia’s “Age‑of‑consent reform” summary and state‑by‑state compilations in the collection reference historical changes and occasional increases in some states, but they do not document a set of state bills in 2020–2025 aimed at lowering consent ages ^{[5] [6]}.

2. Where bills did appear, they largely addressed other consent concepts (marriage, medical, juvenile transfer), not lowering sexual‑consent ages

Several sources in the set describe legislative activity concerning related forms of consent: state moves to raise minimum marriage ages (child marriage reforms), changes in medical consent for minors, and juvenile‑justice thresholds — not lowering the statutory sexual‑consent age. For example, multiple sources discuss states raising marriage ages or banning child marriage ^{[3] [7]} and Alabama passed a 2025 law raising the age at which minors may consent to medical care from 14 to 16 ^[8]. A House bill in Congress referenced in the results would lower the age at which a minor may be tried as an adult in D.C. to 14 — a juvenile‑justice matter, not sexual‑consent law ^[9].

3. One-off, context‑sensitive exceptions are sometimes misconstrued as “lowering” consent

The sources also show discrete, narrowly framed statutory exceptions that might be interpreted as softening enforcement rather than changing the baseline consent age. For example, Utah enacted a law carving out prosecutorial discretion for certain school‑enrolled 18‑year‑olds who have sex with 13‑year‑olds — this is an exception to sentencing/charging rules, not a general lowering of the legal consent age for minors statewide ^[10]. Such provisions can create confusion but are distinct from reforms that formally lower the statutory consent threshold ^[10].

4. National trend reported in these sources: adjustments are more commonly upward or technical

The supplied reporting emphasizes that, where change occurred in recent years, states tended to raise protections (raising marriage ages, expanding privacy protections for under‑16s) or refine “close‑in‑age” exemptions, not reduce the minimum ages for sexual consent ^{[3] [11] [1]}. WorldPopulationReview and other state‑by‑state summaries note that the minimum statutory sexual‑consent age in the U.S. remained between 16 and 18 in 2025 and highlight occasional upward moves in the years preceding 2025 ^{[1] [4]}.

5. What the available sources do explicitly name (and the limits of those citations)

• Congress.gov records a 2025 House bill to lower the age at which a minor may be tried as an adult in D.C. to 14 — this concerns criminal prosecution age, not sexual‑consent law ^[9].
• Multiple sources document sustained state efforts to end or raise minimum ages for marriage through 2025, and these reforms are often mistaken in public discussion for changes to sexual‑consent statutes ^{[3] [7]}.
• State privacy and medical‑consent laws shifted definitions of “minor” in some contexts toward under‑16 or under‑18 thresholds, again showing legislative attention to age and consent concepts across domains ^{[11] [8]}.

6. Methodological caution and gaps you should know about

The sources provided do not offer a dedicated, sourced list of state bills from 2020–2025 that specifically proposed lowering sexual‑consent ages and therefore do not permit a definitive inventory of such proposals; claiming that particular states introduced such bills would go beyond the documents supplied (available sources do not mention that catalog). Some databases and news outlets could have covered isolated proposals not included here — those are not represented in this packet (not found in current reporting).

7. Bottom line for readers and next steps if you want a definitive list

Based on the supplied documents, there is no evidence of a widespread trend of states introducing bills to lower sexual‑consent ages between 2020–2025; available reporting documents changes in related age‑policy areas (marriage, medical consent, juvenile charging) and occasional narrow exceptions ^{[1] [3] [10]}. If you want a definitive, state‑by‑state inventory of any bills actually filed to lower statutory sexual‑consent ages during 2020–2025, I can search legislative databases and major news archives for bill texts and session histories (this would require new sources beyond the current set).