Senate Bill 7, officially called the Texas Women’s Privacy Act, would require people to use restrooms based on birth sex in public schools and government buildings.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate passed a controversial bill dubbed “the bathroom bill” by critics on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 7, officially called The Texas Women’s Privacy Act, would require people to use restrooms and locker rooms in public schools and government buildings that match their sex at birth.
It would also put similar requirements on prisons and women’s violence shelters.
Public entities who don’t comply would face fines of $5,000 the first time and $25,000 each subsequent time.
The Attorney General’s Office would enforce it.
State Senator Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) is the bill’s author.
“This is a commonsense bill,” said Sen. Middleton. “It is about something so basic that every Texan understands it instinctively. Women and children deserve safety, dignity and privacy in spaces that are meant for them.”
“My take is when there are issues in terms of transgender people in our public schools, those issues are usually historically being worked out in the community among the families, among the teachers, PTA, and the students themselves,” said State Sen. Chuy Hinojosa (D-McAllen).
During a public hearing on Monday, most testimony was against the bill, with many speakers fearing discrimination and harassment against transgender people.
“You have been so fixated on painting trans women as the enemy and kicking them out of women’s spaces that you have created a policy which would force trans men into the very spaces you’re claiming to protect,” testified Naveen Ferrani of Austin.
The bill has passed the Senate in previous sessions but never the House, which currently cannot pass bills due to Democrats’ quorum break.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, wrote after Wednesday’s vote, “The Texas Senate will continue passing this bill each legislative session to protect women and girls until House Democrats return from their ‘vacation’ and get back to work for the people of Texas.”
The current special session ends August 19.