We’ve made it through the first major deadline of the 87th Legislative Session. As of yesterday at midnight, any House bill that has not yet been heard on the House floor is dead, including medical care bans like HB 1399 (Krause) and HB 68 (Toth) and sports bans like HB 4042 (Hefner) and HB 1458 (Swanson). Also dead are dangerous threats to local nondiscrimination ordinance like HB 610 (Swanson), and license to discriminate bills like HB 1424 (Oliverson) and HB 3940 (Cain). 

But the fight is far from over and we will battle every day until the session ends (Sine Die). Register now to join us this Monday for a town hall on where we stand in the last few weeks of session.

With your steadfast advocacy, we ensured that most anti-trans bills never made it to the calendar, and those that did, were placed so late that the House ran out of time before they could debate them. Thank you to everyone who made a call, sent an email, attended a rally, made an office visit or courageously boiled down their heartbreak to a 120-second in-person testimony. Your personal stories truly made a difference in the dynamics we are working with at the Capitol. 

Families of trans children should not be designing contingency plans to leave Texas, forced to watch their children cry themselves to sleep, or be called to the principal’s office to discuss why their child’s personality has changed so much this semester. But these are the results of a sustained, cruel and deliberate attack on trans youth. Parents are depending on our leaders to protect every child in the state of Texas and to relieve the anguish of watching their kids be used as political football. 

With House bills dying, opponents of equality will move their focus to the Senate bills that are still in play, like the ban on transgender youth participating in sports, SB 29 (Perry), that was passed out of House Public Education last week. And just yesterday, the Senate moved to make yet another medical care ban, SB 1311 (Hall), eligible for Senate floor debate. We’re expecting the Senate floor fight on this issue next week, as early as Monday. 

Join us this Monday for a town hall on where we stand in the last few weeks of session.

The last day the House can hear Senate bills is May 25. That’s a little over a week from today.  Sine Die (the last day of session) is on Memorial Day. We’re in the final stretch. Join us this Monday for a town hall about where we are and how you can get involved in the last few weeks of the legislative session. 

Help us keep the pressure on to ensure that every single anti-LGBTQ+ bill in the Texas legislature doesn’t make it past Sine Die. 

SENATE BILLS STILL IN PLAY

• SB 29 (Perry) – This bill is the top threat to trans youth being able to participate in sports with their peers. SB 29 (Perry) has already passed the full Senate and the House Public Education committee and is headed to the powerful Calendars committee where it could be scheduled for the floor.
• SB 1646 (Perry) – This bill adds the administering or supplying of life-saving transition-related health care, as directed by medical or mental health professionals, to the statutorial definition of “child abuse,” including related penalties. SB 1646 (Perry)has passed the full Senate and is currently in the House Public Health Committee. 
• SB 1311 (Hall) – This bill prohibits a physician or other health care provider from performing affirming and life-saving transition-related care and would punish any doctor who did provide best practice transition care by revoking their license to practice. Additionally, the bills would prohibit professional liability insurance from covering transition related care. This bill is on the Senate Intent Calendar, which means that it’s eligible for floor debate as early as Monday.

We’re also continuing to keep a close eye on amendments – Representative Bryan Slaton (R-Royse City) made his seventh attempt at an anti-transgender amendment. This time making a mistake in the language – naming genders as either “mail or female.” Despite the comical error, it’s a reminder that those pushing these attacks are so obsessed with erasing transgender and nonbinary Texans they don’t care what the language actually says, as long as they can cross the issue off their list.