The State House passed Texas’ version of a so-called “bathroom bill” that targets public schools as an amendment Monday.

Senate Bill 2078 would add bathroom restrictions that require students at public and open-enrollment charter schools to use the restroom and locker room that matches their “biological sex,” not their gender identity.

The bill would also require public schools to provide single-stall bathrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms to accommodate transgender students.

“I believe this bill takes us back to 1954,” said State Rep. Joe Moody. The El Paso Democrat likened the legislation to Jim Crow-era laws, when bathrooms were segregated by race. Moody said, “It takes us to separate but equal bathrooms that we know can never be equal.”

Republican supporters insist SB 2078 is about safety and does not discriminate against any student.

“This is intended to be respectful, fair, and protective,” said State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angelton, the author of the original bill. “We need to provide safety for each and every student in our public schools,” said Bonnen.
Republican Christ Paddie filed an amendment late Sunday to tack the bathroom restrictions onto SB 2078, a separate bill on emergency preparedness for schools.

The House approved the bill on the third reading in a 94-51 vote Monday, SB 2078 now moves to the Texas Senate.

Rep. Moody said, “This bill now hurts kids by exclusion and discrimination. In an environment where difference are often fodder for bullying and beating, we are telling kids to stand apart and go to a separate bathroom, a separate locker room, a separate changing room.”

Critics questioned how the state expects schools to fund renovations for new or added facilities to accommodate transgender students.

One representative asked, “Who is going to be pay for this? Because this is an unfunded mandate.”

Rep. Bonnen said the bill does not create an unfunded mandate for schools because along with single-stall bathrooms and locker rooms, SB 2078 would allow transgender students to use multiple occupancy facilities in school. “Only if no other persons are present,” Bonnen explained. 

Legal experts who oppose the bill warn the proposal would put Texas public schools in a no win situation.

Parents could file lawsuits against schools that enact the state’s policy and schools that don’t could face legal action by the state