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June 20, 2025

5 entries on this date.

Labor Department suspended H-2A farmworker protection enforcement, eliminating organizing and wage safeguards for guestworkers

On June 20, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division issued a memorandum directing field staff to immediately suspend enforcement of the Biden administration's H-2A final rule on farmworker protections. The rule had guaranteed more than 300,000 H-2A guestworkers rights to concerted activity, progressive termination standards, and wage disclosure obligations. DOL directed staff to revert to pre-rule standards and stated only that it was "currently evaluating" the rule — providing no timeline and leaving workers without federal enforcement indefinitely.

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.