Bill Text: TX HB25 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 3rd Special Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to requiring public school students to compete in interscholastic athletic competitions based on biological sex.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 78-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-10-25 - Effective on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 18, 2022 [HB25 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB25-Enrolled.html
| H.B. No. 25 | ||
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| relating to requiring public school students to compete in | ||
| interscholastic athletic competitions based on biological sex. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. The legislature finds that: | ||
| (1) historically, boys participate in interscholastic | ||
| athletics at a higher rate than girls, and a noticeable disparity | ||
| continues between the athletic participation rates of students who | ||
| are girls and students who are boys in University Interscholastic | ||
| League member schools; | ||
| (2) courts have recognized a legitimate and important | ||
| governmental interest in redressing past discrimination against | ||
| girls in athletics on the basis of sex and promoting equality of | ||
| athletic opportunity between the sexes under Title IX of the | ||
| Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. Section 1681 et seq.), a | ||
| federal civil rights statute; and | ||
| (3) courts have recognized that classification by sex | ||
| is the only feasible classification to promote the governmental | ||
| interest of providing for interscholastic athletic opportunities | ||
| for girls. | ||
| SECTION 2. The purpose of this Act is to further the | ||
| governmental interest of ensuring that sufficient interscholastic | ||
| athletic opportunities remain available for girls to remedy past | ||
| discrimination on the basis of sex. | ||
| SECTION 3. Subchapter D, Chapter 33, Education Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Section 33.0834 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 33.0834. INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETIC COMPETITION BASED | ||
| ON BIOLOGICAL SEX. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), an | ||
| interscholastic athletic team sponsored or authorized by a school | ||
| district or open-enrollment charter school may not allow a student | ||
| to compete in an interscholastic athletic competition sponsored or | ||
| authorized by the district or school that is designated for the | ||
| biological sex opposite to the student's biological sex as | ||
| correctly stated on: | ||
| (1) the student's official birth certificate, as | ||
| described by Subsection (c); or | ||
| (2) if the student's official birth certificate | ||
| described by Subdivision (1) is unobtainable, another government | ||
| record. | ||
| (b) An interscholastic athletic team described by | ||
| Subsection (a) may allow a female student to compete in an | ||
| interscholastic athletic competition that is designated for male | ||
| students if a corresponding interscholastic athletic competition | ||
| designated for female students is not offered or available. | ||
| (c) For purposes of this section, a statement of a student's | ||
| biological sex on the student's official birth certificate is | ||
| considered to have correctly stated the student's biological sex | ||
| only if the statement was: | ||
| (1) entered at or near the time of the student's birth; | ||
| or | ||
| (2) modified to correct any type of scrivener or | ||
| clerical error in the student's biological sex. | ||
| (d) The University Interscholastic League shall adopt rules | ||
| to implement this section, provided that the rules must be approved | ||
| by the commissioner in accordance with Section 33.083(b). The | ||
| rules must ensure compliance with state and federal law regarding | ||
| the confidentiality of student medical information, including | ||
| Chapter 181, Health and Safety Code, and the Health Insurance | ||
| Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. Section 1320d | ||
| et seq.). | ||
| SECTION 4. This Act applies to any interscholastic athletic | ||
| competition sponsored or authorized by a school district or | ||
| open-enrollment charter school that occurs on or after the | ||
| effective date of this Act. | ||
| SECTION 5. 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 on the 91st day after the last day of the | ||
| legislative session. | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I certify that H.B. No. 25 was passed by the House on October | ||
| 14, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 76, Nays 54, 1 present, not | ||
| voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B. | ||
| No. 25 on October 17, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 76, Nays | ||
| 61, 1 present, not voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| I certify that H.B. No. 25 was passed by the Senate, with | ||
| amendments, on October 15, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 19, | ||
| Nays 12. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| APPROVED: __________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| __________________ | ||
| Governor | ||
