AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Hundreds of transgender-rights supporters packed the Texas Capitol on Tuesday, seeking to speak out against a North Carolina-style “bathroom bill” that has drawn opposition from sports leagues and companies such as Facebook.
The bill would require transgender people to use public bathrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate. But unlike in North Carolina, where the law known as HB2 passed a year ago with broad Republican support, the Texas bill has split conservatives and faces a tougher road.
More than 400 people who jammed the Capitol to speak on the bill created a scene that rivaled the intensity and emotion to a vote last month over a ban on so-called “sanctuary cities” that don’t cooperate with federal immigration officials. But whereas that divisive proposal passed over occasional protests in the Senate gallery, lawmakers this time gathered in a small committee room that made for easier crowd control.
The sheer turnout threatened to stretch the meeting past midnight and could delay a vote until early Wednesday. But Republican House Speaker Joe Straus again made clear he has little appetite for the bill even if it does clear the Senate and, on top of that, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott hasn’t given a public endorsement.
“They have their agenda, we have ours,” Straus said.
Straus stopped short of declaring the bill dead on arrival with three months of lawmaking still remaining in Texas. But he has repeatedly denounced it as bad for the Texas economy while standing with corporate opponents that include Google, Amazon, American Airlines, Microsoft, Intel and Hilton.
The National Football League and National Basketball Association have also said that passing the bill could give them second thoughts about bringing big events such as the Super Bowl and All-Star game back to Texas.
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VOTER ID TRANSPARENCY
A state lawmaker wants to shine a light on how Texas spends millions of taxpayer dollars to educate the public about its controversial voter ID law.
Democratic Rep. Justin Rodriguez is proposing legislation that for the first time in Texas calls for transparency of spending for voter education campaigns by requiring the Texas Secretary of State’s office to produce data showing results after each general election.
The state’s chief elections office has contracted with public relations giant Burson-Marsteller to produce voter ID publicity efforts, but has refused to disclose where it placed television and radio spots as part of a $2.5 million campaign, nor reveal the names of roughly 1,800 community groups that partnered with the state for the 2016 elections.
Rodriguez, a Democrat from San Antonio and member of the House budget writing committee, says Texas officials shouldn’t be allowed to hide information about an important public education campaign_especially given widespread confusion over changes to the Texas law leading up to November’s election.
“These are public dollars,” said Rodriguez, who is planning to file his bill Wednesday. “I hate that this has kind of become an adversarial deal with the secretary of state’s office, but we want to make sure that money is being spent correctly.”
A spokesman for Secretary of State Rolando Pablos, appointed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, did not return a request for comment but the office has previously said the materials were not released because of an ongoing voter ID lawsuit. Several top House Republicans authoring a proposal to revise to the current voter ID law also declined to comment, also citing the pending litigation.
Rodriguez’s proposal, according to a draft copy, would require Texas to produce detailed reports related to voter education programs. That includes disclosing markets and spending levels for advertising buys, the names of organizations promulgating state materials and the estimated number of voters reached, among other things.
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SCHOOL FINANCE PROPOSAL HITS COMMITTEE
Debate has begun on a bipartisan bill pumping $1.6 billion extra into classrooms as part of major changes to how Texas funds public education.
Sponsored by Houston Republican Rep. Dan Huberty, the proposal increases per-student funding about $200 to $5,350, while adding money for transportation and educating dyslexic students.
It also tweaks the current “Robin Hood” system to decrease funding that school districts in wealthy areas share with poorer districts.
Huberty’s Public Education Committee heard the bill Tuesday, calling it a “first step” toward fixing school finance.
Lawmakers aren’t required to overhaul the school finance system because Texas’ Supreme Court declared it flawed but constitutional last summer.
The proposal should pass the House but could stall in the Senate, which is focused on vouchers offering public funding for private schools.
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LAWMAKERS SEEK FACILITIES FUNDING FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS
Bills in the Texas House and Senate would authorize state facilities funding for charter schools.
Charters are public schools whose students are subject to the same academic accountability standards as those in traditional public schools. But they don’t get state funding to pay for buildings and facility maintenance.
New Braunfels Republican Sen. Donna Campbell is proposing to shrink those funding gaps. She’s also a leading proponent of “school choice” voucher plans seeking to offer public money for students attending private schools.
Campbell said Tuesday that traditional public schools get an average of $1,400 per student annually for facilities, while charters get none.
Democrat- and Republican-supported House bills also are seeking charter school facilities funding.
Advocates say nearly 250,000 students attend Texas charter schools, and 140,000-plus are on waitlists for them.
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ON DECK
The House and Senate both have floor sessions scheduled for Wednesday morning but more attention will again be focused on committee work. The House State Affairs Committee is taking up a hot-button bill mandating that fetal remains from abortions and miscarriages be cremated or buried.
That comes after a federal judge blocked a Texas health department rule seeking to mandate the same thing.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I never give up on anyone,” Texas House Speaker Joe Straus when asked Tuesday if he’s lost hope Gov. Greg Abbott will heed Straus’ previous calls and clarify if he fully supports the “bathroom bill” or not.
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