In a detour from discussion on the controversial “bathroom bill”, Senate Bill 6, the Texas House will discuss a new bill this week designed to prevent school districts from making local policies regarding gender identification and bathroom usage.
According to the Texas Tribune, House Bill 2899, authored by Rep Ron Simmons, R-Carrollton, would effectively strip power from local municipalities and school districts to make such policies. Instead it advocates for statewide regulation of transgender bathroom policies. If successful, the bill would nullify existing anti-discrimination ordinances already in place in some cities and towns that allow transgender people access to bathrooms based on gender identity.
Simmons was quoted in the Tribune as saying, “We believe those issues should be handled at the state level and if there is an issue that exists in the state that people need to come to the Capitol, they need to convince 76 representatives, 16 senators, and one governor of what the policy needs to be. Until then, it’s my opinion, we don’t need to change.”
Read the full story from the Texas Tribune
Photo by Ted Eytan via Flickr
