SB 29 dies again as bill fails to meet crucial deadline
Demonstrators gather on the steps to the State Capitol in Austin last Thursday, May 20, to speak against transgender related legislation bills being considered in the Texas Senate and Texas House. Anti-trans SB 29 died at midnight Tuesday, May 25, thanks to stalling efforts by Democrats in the House. (Eric Gay/Associated Press)
UPDATE: Just one hour ago, LGBTQ Texas state Rep. Jessica González of Dallas declared victory for this legislative session, saying: “All anti-trans bills are dead this session,” according to a press release just sent out by the LGBT Victory Fund.
“As anti-trans bill flooded the Texas Legislature earlier this year, the LGBTQ members of the state House went into action, lobbying fellow legislators and rallying community members to defeat the bills. And they’ve won,” the Victory Fund declared.
ORIGINAL POST:
JAMES RUSSELL | Contributing Writer
james.journo@gmail.com
The last legislative assault on transgender youth went to Bill Hell this morning after failing to pass a key deadline in the Texas House requiring all Senate bills be heard on the floor. Senate Bill 29, which would have banned transgender youth from playing in sports based on their gender identity, was a priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s.
In a Tweet this morning, Patrick is already calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session in June to address this and two others of his “priority bills” — one that would prohibit local governments from using taxpayer funds to pay for lobbyists and another that would punish social media companies for “censoring” Texans based on their political viewpoints. In a post on Twitter, Patrick claimed that “a majority of Texans in both parties support,” which is a blatant lie, at least in regards to SB 29.
Lubbock Republican Sen. Charles Perry, SB 29’s author, and other Republicans argued it would protect cisgender female athletes from transgender female athletes because trans girls have higher levels of testosterone and that it would have codified existing University Interscholastic League policy.
Opponents disagreed, saying it was simply discriminatory and there is no substantive proof the transgender females outperformed cisgender females.
Democrats used a legislative tactic called “chubbing” that essentially allows the minority party to slow down legislation. Tactics include extensive questioning of the authors of the bill and any amendment, filing superfluous and often non-germane amendments and calling points of order.
Throughout the day on Tuesday, May 25, Democrats, including members of the LGBTQ Caucus and the majority of the Dallas and Tarrant delegations, slowed down numerous bills. In some cases, the process was contentious, with Rep. Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch, Ana-Maria Ramos of Richardson and Jessica González of Dallas, proposing amendment upon amendment to a bill that would keep the five largest counties in the state from “defunding the police.”
Rep. Michelle Beckley of Carrollton proposed adding Collin County to the legislation; the Republican delegation from that county opposes LGBTQ rights. Johnson proposed adding Rep. Bryan Slaton’s district to the bill. He is the Republican freshman who has unsuccessfully tried to add language to bills targeting transgender youth.
While those efforts failed, numerous vulnerable Republicans had to go on the record saying they support cities and counties that intentionally cut public safety budgets. In one contentious exchange with a colleague who said she was demeaning members with the amendment, Ramos, unphased, shot back, arguing she wasn’t standing down and ready to amend the bill 50 times.
Not all Democrats were on board, however. The whole reason it made SB 29 onto the calendar was because of a Democrat — Public Education Chair Harold Dutton, D-Houston, who initially killed the bill only to bring it back up in retaliation after Rep. Alma Allen of Houston, a fellow committee member killed one of his priority bills. Dutton even signed onto SB 29, even though he admitted he had seen no evidence that it was necessary.
What was even more surprising to legislative observers was that Speaker of the House Dade Phelan, who is in his first term, put the bill on a priority calendar as opposed to further down.
The process lasted throughout the day. As the clock counted down, Democrats saw a path to victory as the bill was delayed from consideration until 11:30 p.m., all but ensuring it was truly dead. In the final minutes before the midnight deadline, Democrats gathered at the front and back microphones, waving transgender flags. An elated Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin was discussing an amendment to a bill with colleague Erin Zwiener of Driftwood about data collection for public contractors. The conversation was hardly veiled; this wasn’t about construction workers, but transgender rights.
“When I read this bill, I’m concerned this is mostly going to affect our construction workers. Are you aware construction workers have been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic?” Zwiener said, flanked by the four other out members of the LGBTQ Caucus, who were smiling and giggling.
“Yes, I am,” Hinojosa answered, surrounded by colleagues holding transgender pride flags. “People were dying because they had to show up to work. They couldn’t phone it in…They had to show up to do the work.”
“Is this the time to risk their wages on an experimental piece of policy?” Zwiener pointedly asked.
“This is not a time to undercut their wages, to undercut their wages. They do this work for us!” Hinojosa said. “We need to do what,” she said, cutting herself off just as the clock struck midnight. “And I move adoption!”
Democrats and transgender rights activists in the chamber cheered; Dutton conceded the bill was dead, and the House adjourned.
