Latest news with #SB1257
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas House passes two bills concerning gender, sex; time running out on other bills
The Brief More than 400 House bills still on the calendar State House chamber debated bills concerning gender identity House passed SB 1257, HB 229, and HB 4 on Monday AUSTIN, Texas - State lawmakers returned to work Monday with more than 400 House bills on the calendar and a deadline. Despite that long list, the state House chamber got bogged down in debates over gender identity. Both debates consumed the morning and early afternoon hours. What we know House Bill 229, filed by state Rep. Ellen Troxclair (R-Lakeway), would amend the Texas Government Code to define terms like boy and girl, male and female, based on biological sex. The bill also requires governmental entities that collect vital statistical information to identify each individual as either male or female. HB 229, which Troxclair called the "Women's Bill of Rights", passed the House by a vote of 87 to 56, with one person voting present and six representatives absent. "A bill that we shouldn't have to pass in 2025," said Troxclair. What they're saying "By defining what a woman is today, we are protecting their basic rights to privacy, safety, and fairness," said Troxclair. House Democrats, like state Rep. Jessica Gonzalez (D-Dallas), argued the bill will not protect but will discriminate. "Amongst the legislature, it is clear there is no way this body is qualified to define gender into state law," said Gonzalez. What we know Senate Bill 1257, filed by state Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola), mandates insurance companies to cover any adverse medical side effects caused by a sex change procedure and also pay for those who want to detransition. SB 1257 passed on Monday by 87 to 58 with one present vote and four absent. What we know A major education reform bill, HB 4, did get on the floor Monday afternoon. The legislation would replace the STAAR tests by requiring less standardized testing, making them shorter and with more of a focus on the earlier grade levels. The bill passed with only one no vote. What's next Long debates and limited voting typically happen in the final days of a regular session. It's the beginning of the end for a lot of bills and questions remain about two of the biggest: bail reform and education funding. Either could trigger legislative overtime, a familiar crisis for lawmakers like state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio). "I think none of us want to be around with each other here. I think we all want to go home on June 2nd," said Martinez Fischer House members are waiting for the Senate to move on HB 2, the education funding plan. The legislation reportedly was to move in tandem with school choice, which Gov. Greg Abbott has already signed. "I do not feel bamboozled, but the devil is always in the details. It's one of these trust but verify moments, and it's my understanding that we will break through on an education finance piece. The House worked pretty hard on it, spent $8 billion, and who knows, it could be even more at the end of the day, but we will have to see what the Senate does," said Martinez Fischer. This memo from House Democrat Caucus chairman Gene Wu (D-Houston) noted the Senate has had HB 2 for nearly a month. Wu suggested Democrats should take a similar pace with the remaining Republican priority bills. The deadline for second reading votes is Thursday and Wu has called on Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to restore balance as Democrats consider what level of cooperation they will offer on the House floor. The Source Information in this report comes from reporting/interviews by FOX 7 Austin's chief political reporter Rudy Koski.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
House moves forward with bills affecting transgender health care and identity
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Saturday evening, the Texas House advanced two bills aimed at transgender life in Texas. Here's a breakdown of what they do: The first, Senate Bill 1257, requires health insurance providers who cover gender transition therapy, medications and surgeries to also cover treatment to 'manage, reverse, reconstruct from, or recover from' gender transition. 'If you take somebody to the dance and they want to go home, then you have to take them home,' State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-McKinney, said. Leach authored a similar house bill, and carried State Sen. Bryan Hughes', R-Mineola, SB 1257 in the House. 'If an insurance company is paying thousands and thousands of dollars to pay for someone to transition — which they have the right to do,' Leach said. 'All this bill does is say that if you do that, you also have to provide coverage if that person wants to come home from the dance.' Democratic House members brought up several concerns about the bill including potentially increasing insurance costs, potentially classifying mental health therapy as a gender transition and possibly creating a chilling effect so providers no longer cover transition services. They also questioned how undergoing transition surgeries differs from certain cosmetic surgeries. 'Going outside of the scope of this, if someone has a facelift, if some gets hair transplant, if someone gets a BBL — a Brazilian butt lift — if someone gets rhinoplasty surgery, anything that is cosmetic — if they get breast implants would they now be covered under this?' State Rep. Christian Manuel, D-Nederland, said. 'Am I now covered because I transitioned one part of my body?' SB 1257 passed to a third reading with a vote of 82-37. If passed there SB 1257 would head to the Governor's desk, or back to the Senate if amended. Afterwards, the House spent hours discussing House Bill 229, which author State Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R-Marble Falls, calls the 'Women's Bill of Rights.' HB 229 requires Texas' governmental agencies to only acknowledge two genders — male and female — and assign all Texans to one of those two genders on official state records. HB 229 also officially defines male and female based on a person's reproductive organs. 'This is the women's bill of rights. It's a simple yet critical piece of legislation that defines once and for all what a woman is,' Troxclair said. Opponents claim many Texans fall outside the definition of male and female described in HB 229. 'Does that mean that a woman who cannot have children — because there are many — are not women?' State Rep. Jessica González, D-Dallas, said. 'The definition relates to what our biological systems are designed and organized to produce at birth,' Troxclair responded. 'They're not depended on following through on a reproductive capacity.' González and Troxclair proceeded to debate whether the bill is intend to protect women or to attack the transgender community. 'You're essentially just putting folks in a situation where you're trying to erase them from existence,' González said. 'They're not going anywhere, no matter how much you try to erase them.' 'You are right, we have concerns that women are being erased, that girls are being erased,' Troxclair responded. '[When] we cannot fully define what a woman is, that leads to an erosion of our rights that are foundationally created to protect women and girls.' HB 229 passed with a final vote of 86-36. Unlike SB 1257, it will still have to go through the full Senate process if it passes the House on a third reading. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
22-04-2025
- Health
- Axios
Texas lawmakers file a record number of anti-trans bills in 2025
Texas Republicans are moving to further restrict transgender rights this legislative session, with more than 120 anti-trans bills — the most in the country. Why it matters: Texas has become a testing ground for anti-trans legislation, with this year's bills targeting not just youth, but trans Texans more broadly. Republicans say the bills — and having a strong anti-trans stance — are about protecting youth, while political experts say the issue polls well and mobilizes the GOP base. The latest: The Senate on Tuesday will hear three anti-trans bills and a resolution for the state to officially recognize only two sexes. Senate Bill 240 would require certain public spaces and facilities to be used based on biological sex, allowing for civil penalties and private lawsuits. The proposal, along with its companion bills in the House, mirrors the failed 2017 bathroom bill — a push Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick supported then, as he does now. SB 1257 would require health benefit plans to cover possible reversals of gender transition treatments. And SB 619 would allow health care providers to refuse participation in services that conflict with their personal or religious beliefs. By the numbers: The Trans Legislation Tracker is monitoring 127 anti-trans bills in the Lone Star State. The Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) is tracking more than 200, including overlapping issues such as bodily autonomy and abortion. State of play: This year's slew of bills have a wide range of targets, including health care access; school sports; how schools handle students' gender transitions; drag performances; and gender definition and pronoun usage. SB 810 would protect public school employees from disciplinary actions if they use terms consistent with a student's biological sex rather than their gender identity. SB 406, passed by the Senate, would require birth certificates to list a person's biological sex and prohibit changes to this designation for minors, while SB 1696 would prohibit anyone from changing the sex listed on their birth certificate. HB 3817 would make it a crime to identify as a different gender than the one assigned at birth when speaking to the government or their employer. SB 18, passed in the Senate and one of Patrick's priorities, would aim to stop drag time story hour at libraries. What they're saying: "No boys in girls' sports. The State of Texas recognizes only two genders – male and female," Gov. Greg Abbott said earlier this year. The other side:"The bills that have been filed are really atrocious, and it comes on the heels of already the Texas Legislature passing legislation to dehumanize and demean and try to erase the existence of transgender Texans in 2023," Brian Klosterboer, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, tells Axios. The number of anti-trans bills has increased dramatically in recent years, and "they were really just trying to enshrine anti-transgender discrimination into law to plant the seeds for more overt and discriminatory laws," Klosterboer adds. Advocates say community resistance remains strong. "There isn't a hearing or bill movement that people aren't alerted about," says Andrea Segovia of the Transgender Education Network of Texas, noting that over 90% of anti-LGBTQ bills did not pass last session. Segovia adds that lawmakers may be reluctant to spend political capital on anti-trans bills with other priorities on the table. In Texas, a patchwork of anti-trans moves is already underway — the Texas Department of Public Safety has stopped updating gender markers on driver's licenses, the attorney general is targeting drag events and health care providers, and the Texas Education Agency is reviewing claims of "social transitioning" at a Houston high school. What we're watching: It remains to be seen how many of these bills will gain traction and whether GOP leadership puts political capital behind them.
