The Texas Tribune
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There are just three weeks left in this session of the Texas Legislature. Here’s a look at what’s happened over the past few days and what’s coming up.
Reviving a once-dead bill: In an apparent act of retaliation against his own party, a Texas Democrat revived a bill on Friday that would restrict transgender students’ participation in sports.Senate Bill 29 would require the University Interscholastic League to force student athletes to play on sports teams based on their biological sex instead of their gender identity.
It’s one of several proposals by Texas Republicans this session targeting transgender children. The bill has already passed the Senate. But it failed to advance in the House Public Education committee on Tuesday, in large part because Republican state Rep. Dan Huberty was absent and the committee chair, Houston Democratic state Rep. Harold Dutton, abstained from voting.On Thursday night, Dutton presented his own bill to the House floor that would give the Texas education commissioner the ability to take over a district that fails to meet various academic standards and the ability to remove school board members. That bill, which is largely unpopular among Democrats, was blocked from consideration when state Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, sank it on a procedural technicality. After that bill was stalled, Rep. Lina Ortega, D-El Paso, who worked with Allen on the objection, said Dutton “said something to the effect of, ‘Because of what you did, SB 29 is coming back up.’” Dutton followed through with his promise Friday morning. SB 29 was brought up for another vote and passed 8-5, with Dutton voting yes. The bill must be approved by the full House before it can be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
