The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 29, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy, folks. Today is Friday, August 29th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans reporter Cameron Abrams, and here's the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, legislation separating publicly funded private spaces such as bathrooms by biological sex, passed on third reading Thursday night by a vote of 86A's to 45 nays. the Texas House of Representatives took up the Texas Women's Privacy Act, dubbed the bathroom bill, by opponents on Thursday afternoon, and was debated for over four hours. Senate Bill 8, authored by state senator Mays Middleton, and carried by state rep Angela Orr, through the lower chamber, faced over a dozen amendments from the Texas House Democratic members in fiery debate before its eventual passage.

Starting point is 00:00:50 The amendments proposed varied, such as striking the bill's enactment clause, effectively killing it, removing various aspects of its litigious guardrails and cutting a definition of intersex individuals. All Democratic amendments were rejected by ORE, whose motions to table passed along party lines. The one successful amendment to SB 8 was offered by state rep Steve Tooth, increasing first-time violation penalties from 5,000 to 25,000 and subsequent violations from $25,000 to $125,000. Among the most contentious moments of the House debate, came during State Rep. Raphael Ancia's statement at the front mic, during which he read passages from Matthew 7 from the Bible, which reads,

Starting point is 00:01:33 quote, Do not judge, or you too will be judged. During his speech, Toth began shouting at Anchea rebuking his quotations. Or said just before moving passage to third reading, SB 8 is about restoring that common sense standard, returning to a system that the vast majority of Texans still expect and support. This law doesn't introduce anything radical. it simply reaffirms that women and girls have the right to expect privacy in intimate spaces.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Next, legislation establishing civil penalties for the production and distribution of chemical abortion pills passed on third reading Thursday night by a vote of 82 A's to 48 Nays. State rep Jeff Leach successfully carried the Texas Woman and Child Protection Act, which curbs the production and distribution of chemical abortion pills in Texas through civil liability, grants additional powers granted to the state attorney general and allows wrongful death claims. HB7 was favorably reported out of the House State Affairs Committee on Monday after a lengthy backdoor debate and negotiations were made between pro-life lobbyists, leech, and other interested parties. Sparring groups raised concerns that the bill would create a, quote,

Starting point is 00:02:43 bounty hunter situation due to its civil liability provisions that previously allowed up to $100,000 in damages for any individual who filed such a lawsuit. The committee substitute, which ultimately passed state affairs on Monday evening, addressed multiple concerns, including privacy for the mother, prohibitions on who may file lawsuits, and the amount of damages one could collect dependent on relation to the affected party. Among the key aspects of HB7's committee substitute laid out by Leach on Thursday night was the alteration to the award of damages, so that if related to the affected pre-born child,

Starting point is 00:03:17 whether the woman or her family an individual may collect the full $100,000 in such a lawsuit. If unrelated, the individual may be rewarded $10,000 in damages, while the remaining $90,000 would be donated to charity. Other than Leach's committee substitute, there were no other amendments offered to HB7 in light of a deal between both sides to expedite debate on the legislation. It passed within two hours of debate. In other news, the Texas House has approved a measure that will shield unsubstantiated complaints against police officers and other records from Texas Public Information Act requests filed by media or the public. Authored by State Rep. Cole Hefner, House Bill 15 adopts a model policy created by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement for keeping two files on each licensed officer. An officer's personnel file, which includes commendations, evaluations, awards, and substantiated. misconduct complaints would still be available to the public under the TPIA.

Starting point is 00:04:17 Documents related to unsubstantiated complaints that do not rise to the level of disciplinary action along with memos and documents related to counseling, coaching, and background hiring information will be kept in a departmental file, sometimes referred to as a G file, and would not be subject to TPIA requests. The departmental file would still be disclosable to T-Q-Rexha. hiring law enforcement agencies and available in investigations or prosecutions. Hefner accepted an amendment from Moody preserving the 2023's HB30 that ensures information may be disclosed under TPIA, even if the suspect involved in the incident is deceased. Last week, the Texas Senate approved a similar bill introduced by state Senator Phil King,

Starting point is 00:05:06 but his Senate Bill 15 was thwarted by a point of order on the House floor when state Rep. Joe Moody pointed out that the text of the bill did not align with language in Governor Greg Abbott's call for the special legislative session. On Monday evening, Abbott revised the call to encompass language in SB 15 and HB15. HB15. HB15 passed in a 90 to 41 vote. Although SB 15, already approved by the Senate, is similar. Senators will need to approve the amended version of HB15. Also, the Texas legislature passed a number of high-profile education focused legislation during the 89th session, one of which is being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union on the ground set of violates freedom of speech. Senate Bill 12, authored by

Starting point is 00:05:49 State Senator Brandon Creighton, will prohibit Texas K-12 public schools from instituting diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Additionally, the bill will ban schools assisting in the, quote, social transitioning of students and also restricts the instruction of, quote, sexual orientation or gender identity, while providing that it does not, quote, limit a student's ability to engage in speech or expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment that does not result in material disruption to school activities. The ACLU, along with the Transgender Law Center, have filed a lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Marath, as well as Houston Independent School District, KDISD, and Plano ISD, seeking to stop the enforcement of the new law that is set to go in effect on September 1st.

Starting point is 00:06:36 The ACLU stated explicitly that it would be bringing a legal challenge to the bill back in June to which Creighton responded, saying it was the, quote, ACLU's desperate attempt to stay relevant and adding that he is, quote, confident SP12 will withstand any legal challenge. The lawsuit filed Thursday argues that the DEI ban is, quote, overzealous and that it would, quote, wrongfully ban, LGBT student groups and references, including how it, quote, silences the voices and viewpoints of those inside and beyond Texas schools, but are inhibited from doing so by SB 12. The lawsuit states, quote, unless these unconstitutional and unlawful aspects of SB12 are enjoined, plaintiff's freedom of speech and expressive association will be irrepably suppressed,

Starting point is 00:07:22 both in this current school year and indefinitely into the future. The Gender Studies and Sexualities Alliance, students engaged in advancing Texas, three individuals are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The Texan is off for Labor Day, so check the gender. back in with us on Tuesday, September 2nd for the next episode of the Daily Rundown. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit the texan.News and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 29, 2025

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