Speaker Straus may not refer SB 3 to a committee.

“Chairman Cook said he going to give us a hearing. At the same time, he said he’s not going to move the legislation,” Simmons said during a downtown Austin event sponsored by the Texas Tribune.

“I think the prospects are not great, not because the (Republican) majority doesn’t want it ... but because there are some key leaders who do not want it. That’s the way the system works,” he said.

Simmons predicted that his bills would pass if given a vote by the full House, and Abbott has been pressing House leaders to allow a floor vote.

Abbott also urged conservative Republicans last week to add their names as co-authors to Simmons’ bills as well as to other legislation pertaining to his special session agenda.

By Monday evening, 49 House Republicans had attached their names to House Bill 46, Simmons’ main piece of legislation. A somewhat similar bill had 80 co-authors — 76 votes ensures passage in the House — in the regular session that ended in May.

The special session bills take different approaches.

SB 3 by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, requires public schools and local governments to limit the use of multiple-occupancy restrooms and changing rooms to the sex listed on a person’s birth certificate, driver’s license or government-issued ID.

It also bars student-athletes from competing in girls’ sports if their birth certificate lists their sex as male.

HB 46 would prohibit schools and local governments from adopting or enforcing anti-discrimination protections that regulate access to multiple-occupancy restrooms, showers and changing facilities.

Another Simmons bill, HB 50, would limit the prohibition to public schools and has 22 Republican co-authors.