A transgender bathroom bill was added to the agenda for Texas’ special legislative session to deal with the deadly flooding event on July 4.
The 30-day session was called by Governor Greg Abbott in June to deal with six bills he had vetoed. But when flash flooding in Central Texas devastated communities along the Guadalupe River earlier this month, disaster preparedness became a focal point of the session.
More than 130 people have died, and just under 100 remain missing, Abbott said Monday. Following the disaster, questions have been raised over whether more could have been done to prevent at least some of the deaths.
Last week, Abbott released an 18-point agenda for the special session, which included four points related to the flooding or natural disasters in general.
Lawmakers will discuss legislation to “improve early warning systems” and “strengthen emergency communications” in flood-prone areas. Legislation to “provide relief funding for response to and recovery from” the early July storms will also be discussed.
There is also a more general agenda point to “evaluate and streamline rules and regulations to speed preparedness for and recovery from natural disasters.”
Besides the agenda points related to the flood disaster, Abbott included a point to discuss “legislation protecting women’s privacy in sex-segregated spaces” among other points, such as making it a crime to provide hemp-derived products to those under 21 years old and anti-abortion legislation.
Monday was the first day lawmakers could file bills for the special session, and of the 82 bills filed, none were related to the deadly floods, NBC News reported, citing its Austin affiliate, KXAN-TV.
Among the measures was a Republican-led bill, known as the Texas Women’s Privacy Act, which requires transgender people to use bathrooms that align with their sex assigned at birth in public schools, government buildings and correctional facilities, per NBC News.
Under the bill, these public entities could face financial penalties and be sued if they violate the bathroom rules.
The regular legislative session, which ended in early June, saw 88 anti-LGBTQ bill proposals, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Only four were signed into law.
There are currently 19 states that have some sort of ban on transgender people using public bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, according to the think tank Movement Advancement Project.
