The Legislature’s so-called transgender bathroom bill is on life-support according to a prominent Texas House committee chair. Texas Public Radio’s Ryan Poppe reports without another hearing, the bill could be dead.
The Texas Privacy Act also known as transgender bathroom bill is stuck. The bill sailed through the Texas Senate but now sits before the House Committee on State Affairs and the Committee’s chairman, Corsicana Republican Bryon Cook says he will not give the bill another hearing.
“We see how legislation like this has affected other states and for that reason I continue to question the need or importance of this bill," Cook says.
Dallas-area Republican Ron Simmons is the House sponsor of the bill that would require someone using a public bathroom to use the facility that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificate.
Simmons says getting the bill passed through the House at this point would be an uphill climb, but he says there are a few alternatives for getting a vote on his bill.
“If an education bill comes through or if a government bill comes through, you could amend a portion of my bill on to that. That would give us some protection," Simmons explains.
But Simmons would have to first find a House colleague willing to risk the passage of their legislation. With the final day of the special session just a week away, experts say that’s unlikely to happen.