Texas
Entries where the acting authority was Texas (TX), whatever state or country the events took place in.
Jurisdiction is who acted, not where it happened. Federal conduct inside Texas is filed under Federal, not here.
Institutions seated here (1)
Bodies whose own seat of authority is Texas. They appear in entries under other jurisdictions too — an institution acts outside its own seat constantly — so this is not the same set as the entries below.
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Texas Legislature 14 entries
The Texas Legislature is the state's bicameral legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, meeting in regular session in odd-numbered years.
2026 Events (23)
Texas State Board of Education adopted high school standards linking Islam to 9/11, jihad, and conquest of Christian lands
On September 4, 2026, the Texas State Board of Education gave final approval to new high school social studies standards, to be phased in beginning the 2030-31 school year, that require students be taught that "radical Islam" motivated the September 11 attacks and that frame early Islamic history around the Prophet Muhammad's "brutal military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes" and "the taking of female captives as harem slaves." The board's own appointed content advisors warned the language was inconsistent with "the neutral, descriptive standard applied to other religious and cultural traditions," and the board separately declined to revive a previously deleted standard on Muslim contributions to algebra and astronomy.
Tarrant County commissioners voted 3-2 to cut 92 polling locations ahead of 2026 midterms
On September 1, 2026, Tarrant County's Republican commissioners -- County Judge Tim O'Hare and Commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez -- voted 3-2 along party lines to cut 92 Election Day polling locations in Fort Worth, Texas, reducing the county's sites from 316 in 2022 to 224. Democratic Commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles Jr. voted against the plan after civil-rights groups said the cuts would fall hardest on Black and Hispanic precincts in Fort Worth and Arlington.
Former Amarillo, Texas officer charged with 78 counts for using Flock database to track romantic rival
Former Amarillo, Texas police officer Christian Slade Eder, 29, was charged on August 31, 2026 with 78 counts of tampering with a government record after an audit found he searched a license-plate database 76 times and a law-enforcement records database twice to track a man who had previously dated a fellow officer Eder had expressed romantic interest in, entering false reasons for the searches each time. The Amarillo Police Department had fired Eder on July 17, 2026 following an internal investigation but did not publicly disclose the firing for 33 days. Eder turned himself in on September 1, was released on a $4,500 bond, and pleaded not guilty at arraignment the next day.
Lufkin, Texas officer misused Flock license-plate database to track 11 people over a year, indicted on 100 felony counts
Lufkin, Texas police officer Zachary Anthony Klein was arrested by Texas Rangers on August 20, 2026, following an internal audit and an outside investigation into his use of the department's Flock automated license-plate-reader system. He was indicted the next day on 100 felony counts of misuse of official information, accused of tracking the vehicles of 11 people -- most connected to an ex-girlfriend -- for nongovernmental purposes between June 2024 and December 2025. The Lufkin Police Department suspended its use of Flock cameras department-wide as a result.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened DFW and Houston airport funding over Islamic ablution facilities, forcing DFW to cancel its planned station
On August 14, 2026, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent letters threatening to withdraw state and federal grant funding from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport over facilities used for Islamic ritual washing before prayer, calling the accommodations illegal religious favoritism, and referred both airports to the U.S. Transportation Secretary for a federal investigation. DFW canceled its planned ablution station the same day the threat became public.
Tarrant County Judge O'Hare cleared meeting chambers, had ex-Rep. Lon Burnam arrested during his public-comment turn
On August 4, 2026, Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare ordered sheriff's deputies to clear the Commissioners Court chambers in Fort Worth, Texas, after several attendees applauded a speaker who criticized his handling of the meeting on a proposed cut to county polling sites. Roughly 30 minutes later, deputies arrested and booked former state Rep. Lon Burnam on a charge of disrupting a meeting after he continued speaking past his allotted public-comment time and was carried from the chamber. No source reported a weapon or safety threat.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed executive order directing six agencies to investigate birth tourism hospitals, threatening license revocations
On July 21, 2026, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order directing six state agencies — including the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Medical Board, and the Texas Board of Nursing — to investigate and eliminate "birth tourism" schemes in the state's healthcare industry. The order authorizes enforcement actions including revoking or suspending provider licenses, prohibiting state contract participation, and denying state benefits to any licensed healthcare provider found to be participating in such schemes. The action was prompted by reports about marketing materials from Mission Regional Medical Center in the Rio Grande Valley, though that facility stated the materials in question were no longer in use.
Midland County Judge Terry Johnson posted critic's Social Security number on Facebook in apparent retaliation
On July 18, 2026, Midland County Judge Terry Johnson used his official access to a restricted criminal-justice-information system to obtain an old, unredacted 2015 arrest-warrant record for Christino Rodriquez — a local citizen journalist who publishes government-accountability content as "Nino America" — and posted it to Facebook with Rodriquez's Social Security number, date of birth, and driver's license number visible, captioned "Convicted felon trying to be a player," even though the underlying charges had been dismissed. The post came less than 24 hours after Rodriquez published court records critical of Midland County government, including one lawsuit that resulted in a $150,000 county settlement.
Documents show Fort Bend County sheriff's lieutenant misused Flock cameras 189 times, suspended two days
ABC13 reported on July 17, 2026, that documents it obtained show a Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office lieutenant used the department's Flock license-plate-reader network to search one license plate 41 times and another 148 times from January 2022 through December 2025, admitting the searches were unrelated to official law-enforcement work. An internal affairs investigation, opened after a resident accused the lieutenant of "stalking" them, found the lieutenant violated the department's general orders and imposed a two-day suspension; ABC13 is not naming the lieutenant because no criminal charges have been filed.
Texas State Board of Education voted to mandate Bible passages as required K–12 reading for 5 million public school students
The Texas State Board of Education voted on June 26, 2026 to adopt a mandatory K–12 reading list that includes Bible passages—including New Testament stories about Jesus—alongside secular literary works, applying to roughly 5 million Texas public school students. The list is the first of its kind in the United States; no other state has a mandatory reading list that includes religious texts. Implementation is staggered, beginning with elementary students in 2030.
Texas broadband director's sworn testimony revealed Gov. Abbott's office directed a BEAD rule change favoring Starlink with upfront grant payments
Texas Broadband Development Office director Bryant Clayton testified under oath at a June 24, 2026 Texas Senate Business & Commerce Committee hearing that Gov. Greg Abbott's office directed a change to the state's BEAD broadband-grant disbursement rules, letting low-Earth-orbit satellite providers -- chiefly Starlink, Texas's largest such provider -- front-load far more of their grant payments than the 10%-upfront cap other awardees faced. Clayton later said the change was made one or two days before the final grant awards were announced, but no public source establishes the exact date the underlying rule change took effect.
Texas AG Paxton's office intervened for Texas Tech in the Sorsby case a day after donor Cody Campbell gave $274,300
On June 11, 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office sent a letter warning the Big 12 Conference that sanctioning Texas Tech over quarterback Brendan Sorsby's eligibility would be unlawful and expose the conference to more than $200 million in liability. The intervention came one day after Texas Tech Board of Regents Chair Cody Campbell — one of Sorsby's most public defenders — donated $274,300 to a joint fundraising committee supporting Paxton's U.S. Senate bid. The donation was not publicly known until the Texas Tribune reported newly filed federal campaign-finance records on July 15, 2026.
Texas AG Ken Paxton voted in six elections, including 2026 Senate runoff, from address he no longer occupied
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee, voted in six elections over the past two years — including the March 2026 primary and the May 26, 2026 runoff that secured his nomination — from a Collin County home records indicate he had vacated more than a year earlier. A trust bought Paxton a $2.4 million home in Denton County in February 2026, but he continued voting from the Collin County address rather than updating his registration. Three election-law experts told ProPublica and The Texas Tribune the conduct may violate the same Texas election-fraud statute Paxton's own office has publicly warned voters against.
Texas AG Paxton opened investigations into roughly two dozen school districts to enforce Ten Commandments and prayer laws
On May 7, 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced investigations into roughly two dozen public school districts to enforce state laws requiring Ten Commandments displays in classrooms and school-board votes on designated prayer time. The districts were ordered to produce records showing compliance with Senate Bills 10 and 11, both enacted in 2025. Paxton, then a U.S. Senate candidate, framed the effort as protecting students' right to pray and to learn from the Ten Commandments daily.
Dallas and Austin police rolled back ICE-detention limits under Gov. Abbott's funding threat
Dallas police revised their general orders on April 23, 2026, dropping a rule barring officers from prolonging detentions to investigate someone's immigration status or hold them for ICE; Austin's police department followed a day later, adding language letting officers extend a stop to contact ICE about administrative warrants. Both changes came after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office threatened to withhold state public-safety grants -- more than $32 million from Dallas plus over $55 million in World Cup security funding, and $2.5 million from Austin -- unless the cities reversed policies limiting ICE cooperation.
Houston City Council rolled back ICE-detention limits under Gov. Abbott's funding threat
Houston's City Council voted 13-4 on April 22, 2026, to amend a police ordinance it had passed two weeks earlier, striking language that had limited how long officers could detain someone solely over a civil ICE administrative warrant. The vote followed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's threat to withhold roughly $114 million in public-safety grants unless Houston reversed the original ordinance; Mayor John Whitmire, who had voted for that ordinance, pushed the reversal through over the city attorney's own acknowledgment that little would change in practice.
Texas Gov. Abbott threatened to strip $200 million from Houston, Dallas, and Austin over ICE-cooperation policies
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office threatened on April 13 and April 16, 2026, to withdraw roughly $200 million in state public-safety grants from Houston, Dallas, and Austin unless the cities repealed police policies limiting how far officers go in cooperating with ICE detention requests. Attorney General Ken Paxton separately sued Houston the same week over the same policy, while city officials and the ACLU of Texas said the policies complied with state law and the Fourth Amendment.
Katy, Texas police officer Sergio Rodriguez indicted, fired for using Flock cameras to stalk ex-wife 2,386 times
Katy Police Department officer Sergio Rodriguez was indicted April 6, 2026, in Fort Bend County on felony charges of stalking and misuse of official information, and fired from the department April 20 after an internal-affairs investigation found he used the Flock automated license-plate-reader system 2,386 times over roughly 11 months to track his ex-wife, Kayland Johnson, and placed a GPS tracking device on her vehicle. Court records show the indicted conduct occurred between November 2024 and April 2025; Johnson reported the tracking to Katy police in October 2025, and Rodriguez admitted during the department's investigation that it was a "dumb decision" with "no excuse." Fort Bend County prosecutors said it was the first case their office has charged for Flock misuse.
University of North Texas staff dismantled student protest art installation and power-washed chalk messages at CVAD Gallery
On the morning of March 24, 2026, University of North Texas facilities staff, directed by university technician Jonathan Figueroa and acting on instructions from the university's lawyers, dismantled and discarded a student-organized outdoor protest art installation outside the CVAD Gallery in Denton, Texas. The memorial, curated by the student group NOISE, had stood for nearly a month in response to UNT's February 2026 removal of artist Victor "Marka27" Quiñonez's ICE-critical exhibition. Staff also power-washed sidewalk chalk messages from walkways where the university's own policy explicitly permits chalking.
Texas Supreme Court ordered PFLAG to turn over internal transgender-youth records in Paxton probe on a mere-belief standard
On March 13, 2026, the Texas Supreme Court reversed a Travis County judge's limits and ordered PFLAG, an LGBTQ family-advocacy organization, to turn over internal communications and provider-referral records to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office as part of his investigation into whether medical providers are circumventing the state's ban on gender-affirming care for minors through deceptive billing. Writing for the court, Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock held that the AG's civil-investigative-demand authority is triggered by "mere belief," not proof, and that courts should not second-guess the AG's investigatory decisions. The AG's office agreed to redactions protecting the identities of the families and children named in the records.
University of North Texas administrators removed artist's ICE-critical exhibit to avoid Texas legislature backlash
University of North Texas President Harrison Keller and then-Provost Michael McPherson had artist Victor "Marka27" Quiñonez's ICE-critical exhibition "Ni De Aquí, Ni De Allá" removed from the CVAD Gallery in Denton, Texas, around February 9-11, 2026, days after it opened February 3. Leaked text messages show McPherson said removing the show would make it "easier to manage any barking from our friends in Austin," a reference to the Texas legislature, even though UNT's own art policy bars viewpoint-based censorship.
UT Austin's presidential committee denied tenure to border-surveillance scholar Iván Chaar López despite unanimous faculty approval
In February 2026, the University of Texas at Austin's presidential Promotion and Tenure Committee denied tenure to historian Iván Chaar López despite a unanimous recommendation from his department (7-0), external reviewers (8-0), and his college's tenure committee (19-2), offering no stated academic reason. The denial followed the UT System Board of Regents' adoption of a "controversial topics" classroom-speech policy and the elimination of several interdisciplinary departments, including ethnic and gender studies. No source discloses the exact day of the February decision; the date recorded here is a placeholder for the month.
Texas AG Paxton issued opinion enabling exclusion of Islamic schools from voucher program over unsubstantiated terrorism claims
On January 24, 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a legal opinion authorizing the state comptroller to exclude private schools from the state's new voucher program over alleged ties to terrorism or foreign governments. The opinion followed a request from Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock after researcher Sam Westrop — previously found liable in the U.K. for over $173,000 in libel damages for a false terrorism claim — alleged that nearly 50 Texas Islamic and Chinese-linked private schools had extremist or foreign-government ties. The comptroller's office used taxpayer funds to investigate the schools and delayed their admittance to the voucher program before four Islamic schools sued and were subsequently admitted.
2025 Events (13)
Acting Texas Comptroller Hancock used emergency rule to strip minority- and women-owned firms from HUB contracting program
On December 2, 2025, Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock invoked emergency rulemaking power to restructure the state's Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) program, removing eligibility for minority- and women-owned businesses and limiting participation to service-disabled veteran-owned firms, shrinking certified participants from over 15,000 to under 500. Four business owners and a minority-contractor trade association sued March 2, 2026, arguing Hancock exceeded his statutory authority and rewrote a legislatively-created program without legislative approval.
Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton ordered AI-screened review of course content on race, sex and gender identity
On December 1, 2025, Texas Tech University System Chancellor Brandon Creighton issued a memorandum requiring faculty across the system's five universities to disclose course materials touching on race, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity for mandatory Board of Regents review, with some professors reporting the system used an AI tool to prescreen syllabi and reading lists for flagged content before any human review took place. Creighton, who became chancellor in November 2025 after spending nearly two decades in the Texas Senate pushing similar restrictions, built the review process using new curriculum-oversight authority regents gained under a 2025 Texas law he authored.
Texas Gov. Abbott directed state police to launch criminal investigations into CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood
On November 20, 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to launch criminal investigations into the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood, two days after designating both as foreign terrorist organizations. Abbott's directive, addressed to DPS Director Colonel Freeman Martin, ordered DPS Special Agents assigned to FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces to investigate the groups for alleged Sharia-law violations and potential financial crimes, without disclosing evidence of criminal conduct by either organization.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood foreign terrorist organizations, a power reserved to the U.S. Secretary of State
On November 18, 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a proclamation designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood "foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations," citing unproven claims that CAIR is a "front group" for Hamas. The proclamation bars both organizations from purchasing or acquiring property in Texas and authorizes "increased enforcement," including the attorney general suing to shut them down, even though designating a foreign terrorist organization is a power held exclusively by the U.S. Secretary of State and neither organization is on any federal terrorism list. CAIR called the proclamation a "publicity stunt masquerading as a proclamation" and said it would sue.
Texas enacted SB 8 requiring birth-sex use of restrooms in government buildings, schools, and prisons
On September 22, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 8, the "Texas Women's Privacy Act," passed during the 89th Legislature's second special session. The law requires people to use restrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-designated spaces in government buildings — including K-12 schools, public universities, and prisons and jails — according to the sex on their birth certificate, bars transgender inmates from being housed by gender identity, and creates civil penalties of $25,000 for a first violation and $125,000 for subsequent ones, enforceable through complaints to the Texas Attorney General. The measure took effect December 4, 2025.
Texas enacted SB 12 barring public-school instruction and student clubs on sexual orientation or gender identity
On June 20, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 12, a "parental rights" law that prohibits instruction, guidance, activities, and student clubs regarding sexual orientation or gender identity in K-12 public schools and bars school employees from referring to a student by a name or pronouns differing from those on record. Authored by state Sen. Brandon Creighton, the law also requires prior parental consent for student health services and club participation and took effect September 1, 2025. LGBTQ+ advocates and educators said the measure erases transgender students and dismantles support systems in public schools.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed HB1106, excluding refusal to affirm a child's gender identity from the state's child-abuse definition
On June 20, 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB1106, which amends the Texas Family Code so that a parent's refusal to affirm a child's gender identity or sexual orientation — including withholding gender-affirming care or declining to use a child's chosen name or pronouns — does not constitute child abuse or neglect. The law, passed by the 89th Legislature, took effect September 1, 2025. It removes a category of parental conduct from the reach of Child Protective Services intervention.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed HB 229 writing a binary biological-sex definition into state government code and excluding gender identity from recognition
On June 20, 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 229, enacted by the 89th Legislature, which writes binary definitions of "male," "female," and "sex" into the Texas Government Code based strictly on reproductive biology. The law directs governmental entities that collect vital statistics to record each individual as either male or female on that basis and excludes gender identity from governmental recognition of sex. It took effect September 1, 2025.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 1188, requiring an unalterable 'biological sex' field in every electronic health record
On June 20, 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1188, which requires every electronic health record in the state to include a "distinct, unalterable" field for a person's biological sex as defined at birth, changeable only to correct a clerical error or for a diagnosed disorder of sexual development. The measure, part of a broader electronic-health-records law, is enforceable by the Texas attorney general with civil penalties of up to $250,000 per violation and grants parents access to their minor children's records. Most provisions take effect September 1, 2025.
Texas enacted SB 1257 requiring plans that cover gender-transition care to also cover detransition and lifelong monitoring
On May 24, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1257, which requires any health benefit plan covering gender-transition procedures or treatments to also cover all adverse effects of that care, "detransition" and reversal procedures, and testing and annual health screenings for the life of anyone who received transition-related treatment. Authored by state Sen. Bryan Hughes and sponsored in the House by Rep. Jeff Leach, the law took effect September 1, 2025 and applies to plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026. LGBTQ+ advocates warned the added mandates are designed to make such coverage prohibitively expensive and push insurers to drop gender-affirming care entirely.
Texas enacted SB 412, exposing teachers and librarians to prosecution by removing 'harmful material' defenses
On May 19, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 412, which stripped the affirmative-defense protections in the state Penal Code that had shielded public schools, libraries, and museums from prosecution for distributing material "harmful to minors" when that material carried educational, medical, scientific, or artistic value. By removing those defenses, the law exposes teachers, librarians, and parents to criminal charges over books available in public institutions. The measure took effect September 1, 2025, and civil-liberties and library groups warned it would drive broad removals of books, disproportionately affecting LGBTQ+ titles.
TDCJ staff falsified Stiles Unit prison heat logs during federal lawsuit; investigation found leadership likely knew or consented
An internal investigation by the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, made public on March 21, 2025, found that Texas Department of Criminal Justice staff at the Mark W. Stiles Unit in Beaumont falsified temperature logs during summer 2022, in the middle of federal litigation over unconstitutional prison heat conditions. The investigation concluded the Stiles Unit warden and other unit leadership "likely knew about or even consented to the falsification," corroborating a federal judge's own August 2022 characterization of one log as "a fabricated document." TDCJ's attorneys acknowledged the logs were inaccurate but denied any intent to mislead the court.
Ken Paxton's office diverted state-funded inauguration hotel rooms to major donors, leaving two stays billed to taxpayers
In January 2025, the Texas Office of the Attorney General booked a nonrefundable block of ten hotel rooms costing over $20,000 in state funds for staff attending Trump's inauguration and related Supreme Court arguments in Washington, D.C. When a winter storm kept several employees from traveling, unused rooms were informally reassigned to Paxton donors and allies — including major donors Terry and Jennifer Lacore, Albanian businessman Bashkim Ulaj, and Albanian Republican Party chair Fatmir Mediu — without following proper transfer procedures. At least two guests had their stays billed to the state without payment, and the agency ultimately paid $8,339 for rooms that served private individuals with documented financial or political ties to Paxton.
2024 Events (1)
Texas AG Paxton sued El Paso physician Dr. Hector Granados over alleged violations of state's transgender-care ban
On October 29, 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office filed a lawsuit against El Paso pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Hector Granados in Kaufman County district court, accusing him of prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to more than 20 minors in violation of Senate Bill 14, the state's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, and of falsifying medical records to conceal the treatments as care for precocious puberty. The suit sought more than $1 million in penalties and revocation of Granados's medical license, and followed a similar suit Paxton's office filed against Dr. May Lau two weeks earlier.
2023 Events (5)
Texas Gov. Abbott signed SB 12 restricting drag and other "sexually oriented performances" on public property and before minors
On June 18, 2023, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 12 into law, restricting "sexually oriented performances" on the premises of a commercial enterprise, on public property, or in the presence of an individual younger than 18. The law, authored by Sen. Bryan Hughes, creates a criminal offense for performers and authorizes civil penalties of up to $10,000 against businesses; though its text does not name drag, its sponsors and Abbott described it as targeting drag performances. It took effect only in 2026, after years of litigation in which it was initially struck down as unconstitutional.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed SB 15 barring transgender college athletes from competing under their gender identity
On June 18, 2023, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 15, the "Save Women's Sports Act," requiring students at public institutions of higher education to compete in intercollegiate athletics based on their biological sex assigned at birth. The law bars transgender college athletes from competing consistent with their gender identity and extends a 2021 Texas law that had already imposed the same restriction on K-12 student-athletes. It took effect September 1, 2023.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 17, banning diversity, equity, and inclusion offices at public colleges and universities
On June 17, 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 17, enacted by the 88th Legislature and authored by state Sen. Brandon Creighton, barring public colleges and universities from maintaining diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, mandating DEI training, or requiring diversity statements in hiring and admissions decisions. The law, which took effect January 1, 2024, tasks the Texas State Auditor with compliance enforcement and puts noncompliant institutions at risk of losing eligibility for state funding increases. Ahead of the deadline, universities closed DEI and related offices, including multicultural and LGBTQ+ resource centers.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed HB 900, requiring vendors to rate and pull sexually explicit books from public school libraries
On June 12, 2023, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 900, the READER Act, into law at a Texas Capitol bill-signing ceremony. The law requires book vendors, as a condition of selling to Texas public schools, to rate the titles they sell for sexual content and to recall any rated "sexually explicit," which must then be removed from school library shelves, while books rated "sexually relevant" require written parental consent to check out. The Texas Education Agency was given authority to overrule a vendor's ratings, and vendors that refuse to comply are barred from selling to Texas schools.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed SB 14 banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors
On June 2, 2023, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 14, prohibiting physicians from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or transition surgery to transgender minors and barring the use of public money to pay for such care. The law, which took effect September 1, 2023, required minors already in treatment to be weaned off it and directed the state to revoke the licenses of providers who continued the care. Texas became the most populous state to enact such a ban.
2021 Events (1)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB 25, barring transgender K-12 students from school sports matching their gender identity
On October 25, 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 25 into law, enacted during the 87th Legislature's third called special session. The law requires public school students to compete in University Interscholastic League athletic competitions based on their sex assigned at birth, barring transgender K-12 student-athletes from competing consistent with their gender identity. It took effect January 18, 2022.
2017 Events (2)
Texas Gov. Abbott signed HB 3859, shielding faith-based child welfare providers that refuse LGBTQ placements
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB 3859 on June 15, 2017, creating Human Resources Code Chapter 45 to bar the state and government-contracted child-placement entities from penalizing a child welfare services provider that declines, on religious grounds, to provide or facilitate services including placements, contraception/abortion referrals, or contracts inconsistent with its beliefs. The law exempts race, ethnicity, and national origin from the refusal but includes no equivalent carve-out for sexual orientation or gender identity, letting state-funded, state-licensed faith-based foster and adoption agencies decline to place children with same-sex couples, LGBTQ individuals, or people of other faiths.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed HB100, defining "sex" in ride-hailing nondiscrimination law to exclude gender identity
On May 29, 2017, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB100, a statewide ride-hailing regulatory framework that preempted local ordinances. During House debate, Rep. Tony Tinderholt amended the bill's new driver nondiscrimination policy to define "sex" as "the physical condition of being male or female," language contemporaneous reporting tied to the same session's transgender restroom-access fight; a Senate committee substitute briefly stripped the amendment before the committee reinstated the House version and the bill was signed into law.
2005 Events (1)
Texas Legislature gave final passage to HJR 6, referring same-sex marriage and civil union constitutional ban to voters
On May 21, 2005, the Texas Senate passed House Joint Resolution 6 on a vote of 21 to 8, completing bicameral passage of the measure. The Texas House had passed the amended resolution 101 to 29 on April 25, 2005. HJR 6 proposed a state constitutional amendment declaring that marriage in Texas consists only of the union of one man and one woman and prohibiting the state or any political subdivision from creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage for same-sex couples. The resolution was placed on the November 8, 2005 ballot as Proposition 2, where voters approved it by more than 76 percent.