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Texas Senate Tentatively Approves So-Called 'Bathroom Bill'

Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick confers with State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, and Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, during SB 6 debate on March 14, 2017.

The Texas Senate on Tuesday tentatively signed off on the so-called “bathroom bill” on a 21-10 vote with one Democrat — state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. of Brownsville  — voting in favor of the bill.

Senate Bill 6, a legislative priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, would require transgender people to use bathrooms in public schools, government buildings and other publicly-owned facilities that match their “biological sex” and not gender identity. And it would preempt local anti-discrimination laws meant to allow transgender residents to use public bathrooms that match their gender identity.

The vote on the controversial legislation came after a four-and-a-half-hour debate over discrimination against transgender Texans, local control and whether the proposed regulations would actually deter men from entering women’s restrooms.

Before passing the bill, senators considered 22 amendments. Republican senators joined the bill's author, state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, in rejecting all but three amendments that make minor tweaks to the legislation but did not alter the main bathroom policies proposed in the legislation. 

More than a dozen amendments were rejected including one that would have added discrimination protections for transgender individuals to the bill and another that would have prohibited individuals from personally investigating the gender identity of someone using a public bathroom. The Senate also rejected amendments that would have required the state to study the bill's economic impact as well as crimes that occur in bathrooms. 

The floor vote came a week after a marathon hearingduring which senators heard 13-plus hours of public testimony from hundreds of individuals, largely in opposition, before advancing the legislation to the full Senate.

The upper chamber must still give the legislation a final stamp of approval before sending it on to the House. That vote, known as "third reading," could come as early as Wednesday.

The Texas Tribune provided this story.