House to vote on 'bathroom bill' Thursday, groups plan to fill gallery
Editor’s note: The attached video is from an Aug. 22, 2025, Texas House committee hearing.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Thursday afternoon on a bill that supporters say will help women feel safe in private spaces, while its opponents argue that it will put women and gender diverse people at higher risk.
Senate Bill 8, titled by its authors as the “Texas Women’s Privacy Act,” would bring fines against local governments and state agencies that the state attorney general finds have failed to “take every reasonable step to ensure an individual whose sex is opposite to the sex designated for a multiple-occupancy private space does not enter the private space.”
The bill is a copy of legislation that failed during 2025’s regular session and first special session.
More than 500 people signed up to testify against the bill, while 20 signed up in support of the bill during the Aug. 22 House State Affairs Committee hearing, according to legislative records.
Advocacy groups on both sides of the bill said on social media that they plan to fill the House gallery during the vote.
The law, if passed, would apply to single-sex multiple-occupancy private spaces in buildings owned by the state and local governments, such as restrooms, changing rooms and prisons. It doesn’t create a criminal offense, nor does it block transgender people from using single-sex restrooms owned by private businesses or other non-governmental organizations.
Moving transgender inmates to prisons that don’t match their gender has led to lawsuits in other states. SB 8 could possibly face similar legal challenges. However, the bill contains a section that claims to preemptively prevent courts from granting relief to a group, such as transgender people.
The House will convene at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, according to its schedule.
If passed, SB 8 will take effect on the 91st day after 2025’s second special session ends.
This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.
