Texas Legislative Session Status

Updated: March 28, 2021

Here is the current status of state bills that Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Texas is supporting or opposing in the state legislature.

HB 525– Rep. Matt Shaheen (R- District 66)
Text:  Texas Legislature Online – 87(R) Text for HB 525
Title of the bill: Relating to the protection of religious organizations.
Co-Authors: Anderson, Ashby, Bell, Keith, Cason, Middleton, Parker, Patterson, Slaton, Stephenson, Swanson, Thompson, E, Tinderholt, Vasut
Companion bill in Senate: None
Committee:  House State Affairs
Committee Hearing: March 25, 2021, Left pending in committee

HB 567 – Rep. James Frank (R- District 69)
Text: Texas Legislature Online – 87(R) Text for HB 567
Title of the bill: Relating to the procedures and grounds for terminating the parent-child relationship involving the Department of Family and Protective Services.
Co-Authors: Swanson
Companion bill in Senate: Identical – SB 190 – Sen. Bryan Hughes (R- District 1)
Committee:  House Juvenile Justice & Family Issues
Committee Hearing date:  Heard in Committee on March 8.  Passed and Referred to Calendars Committee, March 22, 2021

HB 574 – Rep. Greg Bonnen (R- District 24)
Text:  Texas Legislature Online – 87(R) Text for HB 574
Title of the bill: Relating to the prevention of fraud in the conduct of an election.
Co-Authors: Goldman, Anderson, Ashby, Cain, Cook, Dean, Ellzey, Holland, King, Phil, Leman, Metcalf, Middleton, Parker, Paul, Sanford, Slaton, Spiller, Tinderholt
Companion bill in Senate: Identical – SB 1514 – Sen. Larry Taylor (R-11)
Committee:  House Elections Committee
Committee Hearing date:  Heard in Committee on March 18. Committee Substitute voted favorably, March 35, 2021.

HB 1165 – Rep. Shelby Slawson (R- District 59)
Text: Texas Legislature Online – 87(R) History for HB 1165
Title of the bill: Relating to prohibiting abortions after detection of an unborn child’s heartbeat; authorizing an administrative penalty.
Co-Authors: None
Companion bill in Senate: SB 8 – Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-1) is similar but not identical
Committee:  House Public Health
Committee Hearing date:  No date for a committee hearing as of now.

HB 1458 – Rep. Valoree Swanson – (R- District 150)
Text: Texas Legislature Online – 87(R) Text for HB 1458
Title of the bill: Relating to the separation based on biological sex of athletics teams sponsored by a public school or institution of higher education.
Co-Authors: (76-majority of House) Slawson, White, Noble, Allison, Anderson, Ashby, Bailes, Bell, Cecil; Bell, Keith; Biedermann, Bonnen, Buckley, Burns, Burrows, Cain, Capriglione, Cason, Clardy, Cook, Craddick, Cyrier, Darby, Dean, Ellzey, Frank, Frullo, Gates, Geren, Harless, Harris, Hefner, Holland, Hull, Jetton, Kacal, King, Ken; King, Phil; Klick. Krause, Kuempel, Lambert, Landgraf, Larson, Leach, Leman, Lozano, Metcalf, Middleton, Morrison, Murphy, Murr, Oliverson, Paddie, Parker, Patterson, Paul, Price, Raney, Rogers, Sanford, Schaefer, Schofield, Shaheen, Shine, Slaton, Smith, Smithee, Spiller, Stephenson, Stucky, Thompson, Ed; Tinderholt, Toth, VanDeaver, Vasut, Wilson
Companion bill in Senate: SB 373 – Sen. Charles Perry (R-District 28) Similar but not identical
Committee:  House State Affairs
Committee Hearing date:  No date for a committee hearing as of now.

HB 2300– Rep. Tan Parker (R- District 63)
Text:  Texas Legislature Online – 87(R) Text for HB 2300
Title of the bill: Relating to the offense of solicitation of prostitution, civil racketeering related to human trafficking, and common and public nuisances related to certain criminal conduct, including prostitution; increasing a criminal penalty; making conforming changes.
Co-Authors: None
Companion bill in Senate: None
Committee:  House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee
Committee Hearing date:  No date for a committee hearing as of now.

HB 4498– Rep. Briscoe Cain (R- District 128)
Text: Texas Legislature Online – 87(R) Text for HB 4498
Title of the bill: Relating to compliance with the National Voter Registration Act.
Co-Authors: None
Companion bill in Senate: None
Committee:  He is chairman of the House Elections Committee to which this will probably be assigned
Committee Hearing date:  No date for a committee hearing as of now.

SB 8 – Senator Bryan Hughes (R- District 1)
Text: Texas Legislature Online – 87(R) Text for SB 8
Title of the bill: Relating to abortion, including abortions after detection of an unborn child’s heartbeat; authorizing a private civil right of action.
Co-Authors: 16 including one Democrat, Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. (D- District 27)  Sen. Robert Nichols (R- District 3) and Sen. Kel Seliger (R- District 31) have not yet signed on.
Companion bill in House: HB 1165 – Rep. Shelby Slawson (R- District 59) Similar but not identical
Committee:  Senate State Affairs
Committee Hearing date:  Heard on March 16, 2021.  Passed from committee and is on the intent calendar for March 23.

SB 26 – Sen. Angela Paxton (R-District 8)
Text: Texas Legislature Online – 87(R) Text for SB 26
Title of the bill: Relating to the prohibited suspension of laws protecting religious freedom and prohibited closure of places of worship.
Co-Authors: Buckingham, Campbell, Creighton, Hall, Hancock, Hughes, Nelson, Perry, Schwertner, Springer, Bettencourt, Kolkhorst, Lucio, Nichols, Taylor, West.
Companion bill in House:  HB 1239 – Rep. Scott Sanford (R- District 70) is identical
Companion bill in Senate:  SB 251 – Sen. Angela Paxton  (R- District 8) is identical
Committee:  Senate State Affairs
Committee Hearing date:  Heard on March 15.  Committee Substitute voted favorably, March 17
Floor debate:  March 25, 2021, Reported engrossed!

SB 316 – Sen. Joan Huffman (R- District 17)
Text: Texas Legislature Online – 87(R) Text for SB 316
Title of the bill: Relating to requirements for human trafficking awareness and prevention in commercial lodging establishments; authorizing a civil penalty.
Co-Authors: None
Companion bill in House: None
Committee:  Senate Jurisprudence
Committee Hearing date:  No date for a committee hearing as of now.

SB 442 – Senator Bryan Hughes (R- District 1)
Text: Texas Legislature Online – 87(R) Text for SB 442
Title of the bill: Relating to local school health advisory councils and health education provided by school districts, including requirements regarding human sexuality instruction.
Co-Authors: None
Companion bill in House: HB 3872 – Rep. Harold Dutton (D- District 142) is identical.  Dutton is chair of House Education Committee.
Committee: Senate Education Committee
Committee Hearing date:  Heard in Committee on March 25.  Left Pending.

HERE ARE ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE:

• If a bill has been filed, and assigned to a committee, you can ask your Legislators to sign on as co-authors.
• If it has been filed in one chamber and not in the other, you can ask your Representative or Senator to file it in the opposite chamber.
• If it has not yet been heard in committee and your Senator or Representative is on that committee, you can ask them to use their influence to get a hearing date set.
• If it is scheduled to be heard and you have relevant testimony, please make an effort to go to Austin and be present for that hearing. If you can go but prefer not to testify, please go and sign in supporting the bill.
• If it has been passed in a House Committee, you can ask members of the House Calendars Committee to schedule it for action on the floor of the House.
• If it has been passed in a Senate Committee, you can ask your senator to vote to support bringing it to debate on the Senate floor.
• If it has passed the House Chamber or if it has passed the Senate Chamber, the next action will be in the opposite chamber and all of these actions will be appropriate there.

Information on Committee Hearings:

For bills in House Committees:
A live video broadcast of this hearing will be available here. Instructions related to public access to the meeting location and health and safety protocols for attending this meeting are available here. Texas residents who wish to electronically submit comments related to agenda items on this notice without testifying in person can do so until the hearing is adjourned by visiting here. 

For bills in Senate Committees:
Those wishing to give public testimony, please limit prepared remarks to 2 minutes. If submitting written testimony, please submit 30 copies, with your name on each copy, to the Committee during the hearing. To protect the health and safety of members, staff and the public, the Senate Education Committee will strictly follow all Senate rules relating to the pandemic, including the requirement for a negative COVID-19 test to enter the hearing room.

The Texas State Senate – Senate Live Broadcasts  To watch one of today’s live streaming broadcasts, find your desired program to the left and click the “play” button. Today’s programs are listed by their scheduled start time.