Bill Text: TX HB1655 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to a policy prohibiting public school employees from assisting a student with social transitioning and to the loss of state funding for a violation by a public school.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-12-18 - Filed [HB1655 Detail]
Download: Texas-2025-HB1655-Introduced.html
| 89R5870 KRM-D | ||
| By: Schatzline | H.B. No. 1655 | |
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| relating to a policy prohibiting public school employees from | ||
| assisting a student with social transitioning and to the loss of | ||
| state funding for a violation by a public school. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Chapter 11, Education Code, is amended by adding | ||
| Subchapter I to read as follows: | ||
| SUBCHAPTER I. ASSISTANCE WITH SOCIAL TRANSITIONING PROHIBITED | ||
| Sec. 11.401. SCHOOL DISTRICT POLICY: ASSISTANCE WITH SOCIAL | ||
| TRANSITIONING PROHIBITED. (a) In this subchapter, "social | ||
| transitioning" means a person's transition from the gender identity | ||
| associated with the person's biological sex assigned at birth to an | ||
| alternative gender identity through the adoption of a different | ||
| name, different pronouns, or other expressions of gender, including | ||
| clothing and hairstyles, that are: | ||
| (1) typically associated with the biological sex | ||
| opposite of the person's biological sex assigned at birth; and | ||
| (2) intended to communicate the person's alternative | ||
| gender identity. | ||
| (b) The board of trustees of a school district shall adopt a | ||
| policy prohibiting an employee of the district from assisting a | ||
| student enrolled in the district with social transitioning, | ||
| including by providing any information about social transitioning | ||
| or providing guidelines intended to assist a person with social | ||
| transitioning. | ||
| (c) A parent of a student enrolled in the district or a | ||
| district employee may report to the board of trustees of the | ||
| district a suspected violation of the policy adopted under | ||
| Subsection (b). The board shall investigate any suspected | ||
| violation and determine whether the violation occurred. If the | ||
| board determines that a district employee has assisted a student | ||
| enrolled at the district with social transitioning, the board shall | ||
| immediately report the violation to the commissioner. | ||
| (d) If the commissioner finds on an appeal under Section | ||
| 7.057 that a school district has violated this section, or if the | ||
| board of trustees of a district notifies the commissioner about a | ||
| violation of the district's policy adopted under Subsection (b), | ||
| notwithstanding any other law, the commissioner shall withhold the | ||
| funding to which the district is entitled under Chapters 46, 48, and | ||
| 49 for the school year during which the violation occurred. The | ||
| commissioner may adjust the district's entitlement to funding under | ||
| those chapters for subsequent school years as necessary to recover | ||
| any state funding already paid to the district for the school year | ||
| in which the violation occurred. | ||
| SECTION 2. Section 12.104, Education Code, is amended by | ||
| adding Subsection (b-5) to read as follows: | ||
| (b-5) Section 11.401 applies to an open-enrollment charter | ||
| school as though the governing body of the school were the board of | ||
| trustees of a school district. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026 | ||
| school year. | ||
| SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
| a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
| provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
| Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
| Act takes effect September 1, 2025. | ||
