By: Cain H.B. No. 4425
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to prohibiting public officers and employees from
displaying preferred gender pronouns; authorizing a private civil
right of action.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle A, Title 6, Government Code, is amended
by adding Chapter 620 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 620. WOKE TERMINOLOGY PROHIBITED IN PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT
Sec. 620.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Governmental entity" means this state, a state
agency in the executive, judicial, or legislative branch of state
government, or a political subdivision of this state.
(2) "Preferred gender pronouns" refer to sets of
pronouns that an individual wants others to use when referring to
that individual, often displayed in parentheses, such as
"(he/him)," "(she/her)," or "(they/them)."
Sec. 620.002. PROHIBITED TERMINOLOGY IN PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, no officer, employee,
volunteer, or agent of a governmental entity may do any of the
following in any document or communication made within the scope of
their employment or work with the governmental entity, or in any
e-mail sent from an account provided by the governmental entity:
(1) List, display, or provide a hyperlink to a person's
preferred gender pronouns;
(2) Describe elective abortions as "abortion care" or
"health care" of any sort;
(3) Use any phrase that implies that men can become
pregnant, such as "pregnant persons," "pregnant individuals," or
"pregnant Texans";
(4) Use the term "gender-affirming care" to describe
treatments that are inconsistent with an individual's biological
sex assigned at birth;
(5) Refer to any transgender individual with a noun
that contravenes that individual's biological sex assigned at
birth, i.e., a biological man who identifies as a woman may not be
called a "transgender woman" or any phrase that implies that such an
individual actually is a woman;
(6) Use the terms "cisgender" and "cissexual";
(7) Refer to prostitutes as "sex workers."
(b) Nothing in this section may be construed to restrict or
regulate in any way:
(1) The off-the-job communications or correspondence
of an officer, employee, volunteer, or agent of a governmental
entity; or
(2) Speech or conduct protected by the First Amendment
of the United States Constitution, as made applicable to the states
through the Supreme Court of the United States' interpretations of
the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, or by
Article I, ยง 8 of the Texas Constitution.
Sec. 620.003. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION. (a) Any person who
suffers injury in fact on account of a violation of section 620.002
has standing to bring and may bring a civil action against the
person who has violated or is violating section 620.002. Sovereign
immunity, governmental immunity, official immunity, and qualified
immunity are waived and abolished in any action brought under this
section.
(b) If a claimant prevails in an action brought under
Subsection (a), the court shall award:
(1) declaratory and injunctive relief sufficient to
prevent the defendant from violating this chapter;
(2) nominal damages;
(3) compensatory damages if the plaintiff has suffered
damages from the defendant's conduct; and
(4) costs and attorney's fees.
(c) Notwithstanding any other law, a person may commence an
action under this section and relief may be granted regardless of
whether the person has sought or exhausted available administrative
remedies.
(d) A defendant against whom an action is brought under this
section may assert an affirmative defense to liability under this
subsection if:
(1) the enforcement of this chapter against the
defendant will violate constitutional or federally protected
rights that belong to the defendant personally; or
(2) the defendant
(A) has standing to assert the rights of a third
party under the tests for third-party standing established by the
Supreme Court of the United States; and
(B) demonstrates that the enforcement of this
chapter against the defendant will violate constitutional or
federally protected rights belonging to that third party.
(e) Notwithstanding any other law, a civil action under this
section shall not be subject to any provision of Chapter 27, Civil
Practice and Remedies Code, or Chapter 110, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.