85th TX Lege
Citing “Bathroom Bill,” Percy Jackson Author Declines Legislature Invitation
[gdlr_notification icon=”fa-flag” type=”color-background” background=”#ffcc20″ color=”#000000″]This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune[/gdlr_notification]
The author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is declining to attend the Texas Legislature’s celebration of authors event, saying the reason is because of proposed legislation that would prevent transgender people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.
Rick Riordan, who was born in San Antonio and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, wrote on Twitter on Friday afternoon that he turned down the Legislature’s invitation on Friday due to Senate Bill 6, which Texas Republicans announced on Thursday. The celebration of authors event is slated for March 8.
“If they want to honor me, they could stop this nonsense,” Riordan said in his tweet.
Just turned down an invite to be honored by TX state legislature as a Texas author. If they want to honor me, they could stop this nonsense. https://t.co/UuH5QLCRNe
— Rick Riordan (@camphalfblood) January 6, 2017
Riordan’s tweet is one of the first whiffs of potential fallout as the Legislature considers Senate Bill 6. The measure would require transgender people to use bathrooms in public schools, government buildings and public universities based on “biological sex” and would pre-empt local nondiscrimination ordinances that allow transgender Texans to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.
Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, the organizer for the author event, said he knew Riordan declined the invitation but did not know the reason until he looked on Twitter on Saturday morning.
“I saw his tweet and was like ‘Darn, this is a bummer’,” Villalba said.
Villalba said that the Legislature often recognizes Texans’ contributions to arts and culture. However, even with the controversy over SB 6, Villalba said the two issues shouldn’t be conflated. He said he recognized that bills like SB 6 have people worried about the impact it could have on other industries in Texas. But he added that the Legislature was simply trying to honor the authors. After all, he said, if he chose creative works based on the creator’s politics, he wouldn’t see many movies or read many books.
“I don’t want to challenge [Riordan’s] belief system,” Villalba said. “I appreciate that this is his way of making his statement about what has occurred. My only disappointment is we can’t show him how much we appreciate his great work.”
The office of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is leading the charge on the proposed legislation with Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, did not immediately respond to a request to comment for this article. Patrick has said his support for the legislation is based on privacy and safety concerns.
The Texas Association of Business — a top business lobby group that regularly sides with conservatives — has warned that anti-LGBT legislation, including SB 6, could lead cost the state between $964 million and $8.5 billion.
North Carolina lawmakers passed their own legislation last year in response to a Charlotte nondiscrimination ordinance that extended protections to transgender residents who use public facilities based on their gender identity.
The North Carolina legislation not only eliminated Charlotte’s ordinance but also nullified local ordinances that extended protections for LGBT residents. That legislation also kept transgender people who haven’t had surgery or legally changed their gender markers on birth certificates from having the legal right to use a public restroom that matches their gender identity.
Disclosure: The Texas Association of Business has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.
The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
[gdlr_space height=”20px”]
[gdlr_notification icon=”fa-camera” type=”color-background” background=”#999999″ color=”#ffffff”]Top image: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst unveil the text of Senate Bill 6, which would require transgender people to use bathrooms in public schools, government buildings and universities based on “biological sex,” on Jan. 5, 2017. / photo illustration: Bob Daemmrich / Texas Tribune[/gdlr_notification]
[gdlr_notification icon=”fa-flag” type=”color-background” background=”#ffcc20″ color=”#000000″]This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune[/gdlr_notification]
From Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s announcement last summer that he would push for a bathroom bill to the bill’s quite demise this month in the special session, this video will take you through the story of the intense political fight in 5 minutes.
Alexa Ura contributed to this report.
The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
[gdlr_notification icon=”fa-flag” type=”color-background” background=”#ffcc20″ color=”#000000″]This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune[/gdlr_notification]
In the end, the controversial bathroom bill went quietly.
For more than a year, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick led the crusade for a state law to regulate bathroom use for transgender Texans — an initiative that resonated with social conservatives, including many pastors, who backed him up. Patrick for months stood firm in his pursuit for a bathroom bill even while similar campaigns in other states fizzled out.
He was met by loud opposition that only grew with time and eventually proved to be a considerable political force.
Transgender women, men and children from across Texas descended on the Capitol to testify about how the proposal — which would ban local policies that ensured transgender individuals’ right to use public and school restrooms that match their gender identity — could endanger their lives. The business community rallied against the legislation too, giving House Speaker Joe Straus cover as he refused to negotiate with Patrick on bathroom restrictions.
That led to a stalemate over the issue during the regular legislative session that played out in dueling press conferences featuring legislative leaders slamming each other over the issue, threats by Patrick to force lawmakers to return to Austin by holding must-pass bills hostage and last-ditch efforts to attach bathroom restrictions to other pieces of legislation considered in the middle of the night.
Gov. Greg Abbott was eventually forced to call a 30-day special session that revived the bathroom bill. But for all the bathroom-related commotion and cajoling that dominated the regular legislative session, when lawmakers wrapped up the special session on Tuesday, Patrick eulogized the bathroom bill as just one of several proposals that didn’t make it to Abbott’s desk because of Straus.
And in the end, it wasn’t all that hard to see it coming.
Shifting momentum
“We hope that this time, this issue remains settled: Texans don’t want harmful, anti-transgender legislation,” JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president for policy and political affairs at the Human Rights Campaign, said as opponents of the bathroom bill seemed to release a collective sigh of relief when the House abruptly adjourned to end the special session Tuesday evening.
Opponents had been anxiously watching the clock tick down on the 30 days lawmakers were allotted to pass Abbott’s 20-item agenda.
But giving lawmakers a second shot to pass a bathroom bill only seemed to further shift momentum against the legislation as the debate stretched into the summer.
Little had changed for Straus — often a less-vocal foil to some of Patrick’s priorities — who seemed to dig in his heels, arguing that the legislation would have dire economic and moral costs for Texas.
With the national debate over North Carolina’s bathroom still lingering, he was backed up by top business executives, including the heads of dozens of Fortune 500 companies, who worried that Texas could invite the same economic blows the Tar Heel State faced after passing a similar bill, including canceled corporate expansions and sports tournaments.
They called Abbott to express their displeasure and launched a flurry of letters warning about the harm that laws deemed discriminatory toward the LGBT community could cause.
The opposition grew to also include school districts, tourism officials, faith leaders and law enforcement officials.
“Everybody realized the issue really wasn’t going to be resolved without everybody being heard,” said Jeff Moseley, CEO of the Texas Association of Business, who was among those who spearheaded the business opposition.
Lost support
With the opposition growing louder outside the Capitol — eventually including major GOP donors and even Abbott’s campaign treasurer — the bathroom bill’s quiet death march inside the pink dome moved forward.
Within a week of returning to Austin for the special session, the Senate slogged through an 11-hour committee hearing and an eight-hour floor debate ending with a vote to advance the revived bathroom bill.
But it was almost immediately bottled up in the House, where Straus refused to refer it to a committee for consideration. Two other proposals that originated in the House were referred to committee but never got a hearing.
Support for the House bill seemed to drop as the special session began. Eighty Republicans had signed on as co-authors during the regular session — proponents of the bill regularly touted that number as they criticized Straus for keeping the bathroom bill from getting a House vote — but in the special session the number of co-authors dropped to 60.
“Some people were listening,” Lou Weaver, transgender programs coordinator for Equality Texas, said of the drop in co-authors. “Whether it was to the trans communities, to our allies, to our advocates, the business community, faith leaders — whatever the case may be, they did switch.”
Meanwhile, House leadership faced little opposition from proponents of the bathroom bill as they quietly worked to keep bathroom restrictions from being tacked on to key education bills that were moving through the chamber by limiting the amendments lawmakers could propose when those bills reached the House floor.
Across the rotunda, rumors that the Senate was planning to attach the bathroom restrictions to education bills proved unfounded.
By last week, proponents were already conceding that Texas wouldn’t pass a bathroom bill. Republican state Rep. Ron Simmons of Carrollton, the legislation’s author, on Monday acknowledged that he had not recently talked about his proposals with the governor.
Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the bathroom bill’s demise.
According to those familiar with the negotiations, the measure was not even a factor as the House and Senate worked to hash out their differences over what emerged as the final sticking points of the special session: school finance and property tax legislation.
By then, some Capitol insiders had shifted focus to whether a second failed attempt would finally mark the end of the legislative debate.
“That’s the question: Is that the end of the bathroom bill?” said Bill Miller, an Austin lobbyist.
Fight isn’t over
LGBT advocates and their allies said they’re hopeful there’s been a shift in the debate, explaining that the prolonged fight at the Capitol gave them the opportunity to explain to leaders why proposals like the bathroom bill were discriminatory and dangerous.
But they admit the fight likely isn’t over.
During a late-night press conference on Tuesday, Patrick recounted a one-on-one meeting in which he urged Straus to pass a bathroom bill and “put this issue in the rearview mirror” because it wasn’t going away.
He was echoed earlier in the week by conservative groups that said they would urge the governor to bring lawmakers back for another special session to reconsider the issue.
Abbott has yet to rule out a second special session, but he did acknowledge during a Wednesday morning interview that “there’s no evidence whatsoever” that Straus will be swayed on the issue.
For his part, the speaker has so far only put out a short statement marking the end of the special session that focused on the House’s work to pass legislation “that was in the best interest of all Texans.” It didn’t mention the bathroom bill.
“The House was thoughtful, respectful and decisive in its solution-oriented approach,” Straus said.
Disclosure: The Texas Association of Business and Equality Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.
The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
[gdlr_space height=”20px”]
[gdlr_notification icon=”fa-camera” type=”color-background” background=”#999999″ color=”#ffffff”]Top image: Members of various faith communities met at the Texas Capitol on Aug. 1 to speak out against the “bathroom bill.” / photo credit: Austin Price / The Texas Tribune[/gdlr_notification]
[gdlr_notification icon=”fa-flag” type=”color-background” background=”#ffcc20″ color=”#000000″]This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune[/gdlr_notification]
The special legislative session is over — in one chamber, at least.
The Texas House abruptly gaveled out Sine Die – the formal designation meaning the end of a session – on Tuesday evening after approving the Senate’s version of a school finance bill that largely stripped provisions the chamber had fought to keep.
Gov. Greg Abbott called lawmakers back for a special session on July 18. Special sessions can last for up to 30 days, which gave both chambers til Wednesday to work.
The House’s move came after days of difficult negotiations with the Senate on school finance and property tax bills — and leaves the fate of the latter in question.
House Ways and Means Chairman Dennis Bonnen had been expected to appoint members to a conference committee Tuesday so that the two chambers could reconcile their versions of the bill.
But instead, shortly before the surprise motion to Sine Die, the Angleton Republican made an announcement.
“I have been working with members of the Senate for several days on SB 1, we have made our efforts, so I don’t want there to be in any way a suggestion that we have not, will not, would not work with the Senate on such an important issue,” he said.
Then he said he had not appointed a conference committee because he was “trying to keep the bill alive.”
“If we appointed conferees now, it would kill the bill because there is not enough time,” he said, explaining that under House rules, there would not be enough time left in the session to issue a conference committee report and have the chamber vote on it.
Bonnen’s announcement came after a vote on a school finance measure in which House members expressed deep disappointment —and anger — that the bill they had sent to the Senate with $1.8 billion in funding for schools had come back with only $352 million. Some demanded that the House send the measure back.
“I’d tell the Senate to take back this crap and fix it,” said state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, adding that she did not like “being bullied.” The House ultimately approved the changes to the bill, sending it to the governor’s desk.
While House lawmakers didn’t get their way with school finance, by adjourning Tuesday night, they have forced the Senate to either accept their version of the property tax bill or let it die. Supporters hope to require larger local governments get voter approval when they want to increase tax collections on existing buildings and land above a certain threshold. A key point of contention: whether that threshold should be at the 6 percent preferred by the House or the 4 percent preferred by the Senate.
Both Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott have said property tax reform is their top priority for the session. At the time the House adjourned sine die, Abbott was on track to claim victory on nine of the 20 items he had put on the special session call. As of Tuesday afternoon, he had signed five of them into law, and four more were on their way to his desk.
Patrick forced the special session by holding hostage a bill needed to prevent the shuttering of some state agencies during the regular session in May. At the time, he said he was doing so in order to push the House to move on two pieces of legislation: one that would regulate bathroom use for transgender Texans and another that would set new thresholds for when cities and counties must get voter approval for their property tax rates.
Just as during the regular session, the House never took a vote on a “bathroom bill” during the special session.
The Senate is set to reconvene at 8:45 pm on Tuesday night.
Patrick Svitek contributed reporting to this story.
The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
[gdlr_space height=”20px”]
[gdlr_notification icon=”fa-camera” type=”color-background” background=”#999999″ color=”#ffffff”]Top image: The Texas House abruptly gaveled out Sine Die – the formal designation meaning the end of a session – on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017. / photo credit: Bob Daemmrich / The Texas Tribune[/gdlr_notification]
Super Bowl 2019
Gay Couple Attacked in Dowtown Austin
Rainbow Connections: February 2019
The Filigree Theatre presents WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID
Austin PRIDE Announces Date for 2019 Festival & Parade
Dan Patrick Dismisses Need for Bathroom Bill in 2019: “It’s been settled and I think we won”
Gay Couple Attacked in Dowtown Austin
Austin PRIDE Announces Date for 2019 Festival & Parade
Taos Air Begins New Nonstop Service From Austin
Making Montgomery Clift
Dan Patrick Dismisses Need for Bathroom Bill in 2019: “It’s been settled and I think we won”
UT-Austin Reaches Deal For New $338 Million Basketball Arena
-
Austin4 weeks agoGay Couple Attacked in Dowtown Austin
-
Austin1 month agoAustin PRIDE Announces Date for 2019 Festival & Parade
-
Airlines2 months agoTaos Air Begins New Nonstop Service From Austin
-
Film1 month agoMaking Montgomery Clift
-
86th TX Lege1 month agoDan Patrick Dismisses Need for Bathroom Bill in 2019: “It’s been settled and I think we won”
-
Austin2 months agoUT-Austin Reaches Deal For New $338 Million Basketball Arena
-
Texas2 months agoDoes Texas Still Have Straight-Ticket Voting?
-
Networking4 weeks agoRainbow Connections: February 2019