AUSTIN, Texas (CN) - Seeking to avoid a special summer session, the Texas House on Monday gave in to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s demands that it pass legislation to restrict the use of bathrooms by transgender people.
At a press conference last week, Patrick gave the state House of Representatives an ultimatum: pass some version of Senate Bill 6, the anti-transgender “bathroom bill,” before the end of the legislative session on May 29 or be prepared to stick around this summer for a special session.
House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, said in a statement that Patrick’s threat to force a special session was “regrettable,” and that “nobody is going to get everything they want” out of the 140-day session.
But Patrick’s threat worked, and the House approved a measure that would prevent transgender students from using school bathrooms or locker rooms that match their gender identity.
The measure was added as an amendment to Senate Bill 2078, which relates to school districts’ “multihazard emergency operations plans” to ensure that schools have plans for responding to natural disasters, active shooters, and other dangerous scenarios.
The amendment, which passed on Monday in a 94-51 vote, requires that public schools and charter schools accommodate the “right of each student to access restrooms, locker rooms, and changing facilities with privacy, dignity, and safety” by providing single-occupancy facilities for students who do not wish to use the facilities corresponding to their biological sex.
The amendment is a pared-down version of SB 6, which would have required transgender people in Texas to use restrooms in government buildings, public universities and public schools that correspond with the biological sex on their birth certificate.
Patrick has said that SB 6, one of his priorities this session, was about protecting the privacy and safety of women and children.
“It’s about preventing a free pass to sexual predators who are not transgender from being able to walk into any bathroom with any child or any woman at any time,” Patrick said at a news conference in March.
The bill sailed through the Senate, but stalled in the House, where it failed to get a committee hearing.
Straus said at the beginning of the legislative session that bathrooms were not one of his priorities, and he did not want Texas to experience the economic blows that North Carolina did when that state passed similar legislation targeting transgender people.
In a statement Sunday, Straus said that Rep. Chris Paddie’s amendment would allow the state to avoid the severely negative impact of SB 6.
Rep. Paddie, R-Marshall, who offered the school bathroom use amendment to SB 2078 during a House debate on the bill Sunday, said his proposal was not intended to discriminate against anyone.
“It makes sure that there are accommodations for all children,” Paddie said.
He said the measure would apply not only to transgender students, but to other students who might not want to use multiple-occupancy facilities for medical reasons or because they’re bullied or even just shy.
House Democrats who pushed back against the amendment Sunday were not convinced by Paddie’s description of its intent.