H.B. No. 25
AN ACT
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