Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick at a news conference on bathroom bills in January
One week into the four week special session, the Texas Senate voted to advance SB3, the bathroom bill, on a vote of 21-10 after a nine-hour debate.
While the special session was called to make sure five agencies don’t sunset, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made the true intention clear: to pander to the base and pass a bathroom bill.
Several amendments were added to the bill. Rather than just allowing someone to use a birth certificate to determine which restroom the bathroom police will let them enter, a drivers license or concealed handgun permit may be used.
One Democrat voted for the bill: Sen. Eddie Lucio of Brownsville.
The Texas House now has three weeks left to kill the bill. Speaker of the House Joe Straus despises the bill and said he won’t have anyone’s suicide that may result from passing such legislation on his head. The bill is expected to be sent to the House State Affairs Committee, where House-initiated bathroom bills were assigned. That committee is where bills are generally sent to die.