Police chiefs rally against ‘bathroom bill’
Legislation restricting transgender people wins key vote in Senate despite protests
AUSTIN — The “bathroom bill” that has divided Texans continued its tenacious march through the state Senate on Tuesday by passing a key preliminary vote, unaffected by fresh warnings from police that the bill will make their jobs harder.
After more than eight hours of debate and questioning, senators voted 2110 to let the latest version of the bathroom bill advance to a final vote of the Senate as early as Wednesday.
All but one Democrat in the chamber voted against the bill, and they delved deeply into the Senate rule book looking for ways to kill the bill that they’ve labeled discriminatory toward Texas’ transgender community. But given the Democrats’ minority status — Republicans control the Senate 20-11 — the GOP leadership was able to swat aside their attempts and positioned a bill Gov. Greg Abbott has called one of his priorities for quick passage in the special session that started just a week ago.
It was just the first of 13 bills Senate leaders were hoping to push through the Senate on Tuesday during a marathon session that was expected to go until at least midnight, according to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
“This bill will hit what I call the ‘reset button,’ and provide privacy and safety that Texans expect,” Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, a Republican from Brenham, said.
Kolkhorst said the legislation — Senate Bill 3 —
is needed to provide statewide protections to women and girls so they are not victims of voyeurs and other sexual predators who can exploit current laws to gain access to women’s bathrooms.
“Women do expect some privacy in those intimate settings,” Kolkhorst said.
Under Kolkhorst’s bill, people would be required to use the bathroom and changing rooms at public schools and charter schools corresponding with the sex on their birth certificates, even if they are transgender. During Tuesday’s debate, she added an amendment that also would allow a driver’s license to serve as evidence of a person’s gender.
The bill also bars school districts and local governments from adopting different bathroom policies and prohibits people who were born male from competing in scholastic sports against girls. Kolkhorst said it’s unfair to girls and women for people born as males to participate in sports intended for females.
Bill called discriminatory
But advocates for the transgender community say the bill will force people who identify with one gender to use bathrooms and changing rooms with the wrong sex, putting them in jeopardy.
“There are hundreds of people who are going to get hurt,” Sen. Jose Menendez, a San Antonio Democrat, said in a futile final speech before the Senate voted to move the bill forward.
Sen. Kirk Watson, an Austin Democrat, said the bill “marginalizes a vulnerable group” and is meant to discriminate against them.
The vote came seven hours after police chiefs from around the state called on the Senate to abandon the bill. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said there is no crisis in bathrooms now and the Legislature could be creating a distraction for police.
“It’s bad law,” Acevedo said. “It’s bad political theater. And at the end of the day, it is bad for Texas.”
Acevedo was hardly alone, as dozens of law enforcement officials rallied on the steps of the south steps of the Capitol to plead with the Senate to give up the issue. Harris County Assistant Chief Debra Schmidt said there has been no spike in crime that merits the new legislation.
“There is no public safety crisis in our bathrooms right now,” Schmidt said.
Acevedo said his agency dug through the last three years of records and found no evidence that suggested the state needed to set statewide bathroom policies.
The show of force from police follows a week of pushback from business leaders and tourism groups that worry that Texas is following the same path as North Carolina, which passed a similar law in 2016 that triggered boycotts. The NCAA boycotted the state and the NBA moved the annual all-star game. North Carolina reversed course earlier this year and changed their law to end most of the boycotts.
‘Mammoth’ economic blow?
State Sen. Borris Miles, a Houston Democrat, rattled off a list of major national sporting events that the Legislature could be risking if the bill passes. He noted a college football semifinal championship game is scheduled for Dallas next year and the NCAA Final Four is set for San Antonio. He said risking losing those events only hurts the state.
“I don’t know why we need to do this,” Miles said.
But Sen. Bob Hall, a Republican from Edgewood, pushed back, questioning the calculations of the economic impact some have claimed Texas faces if the bill passes. Even so, he said the Legislature should not be turned aside from protecting women in bathrooms because of money.
“Even if there are economic implications, what price can you put on their safety?” Hall asked.
But others are far more concerned about the economic impact.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler said Tuesday that bill could bring a “mammoth” self-inflicted wound to the Texas economy. Already business leaders have said they are losing convention business just because of the discussion and people believing Texas has already passed the bill.
But the pressure so far has had no effect on the Texas Senate.
There, the chamber’s leader — Patrick — has vowed to be Abbott’s “wingman” and pass all 20 of his top priorities during a special session that began a week ago. Patrick has said he aims to have all 20 of the items addressed and passed out of the Senate by the end of the week.
But there is no guarantee any of it will become law. In the Texas House of Representatives, the idea has received a cool reception with no promise of passage from Speaker Joe Straus, a San Antonio Republican. During the regular spring session, the Senate passed a similar bathroom bill, but it died in the House.
Consulting the rules
For a short time on Tuesday morning, it looked as though Senate Democrats might have found a way to block a vote on the new bathroom bill. Watson contended Kolkhorst’s bill violated the language that Abbott used to call the special session because it included the provision blocking transgender girls — who were born male — from competing in girls’ sports.
Watson argued Abbott’s call for a bill was limited to bathroom and changing room policies.
He made a point of order to block the bill from being considered. And it worked — at least while Senate leaders considered the challenge.
Eventually, Watson was rebuffed, but not until after lawmakers spent almost two hours digging through Senate rule books instead of debating the issue.