89R18142 TYPED
By: Gerdes H.B. No. 4552
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Texas Antidiscrimination Act.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the Texas
Antidiscrimination Act.
SECTION 2. Subtitle A, Title 6, Government Code, is amended
by adding Chapter 621 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 621. PROHIBITION ON DISCRIMINATORY INITIATIVES
Sec. 621.001. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS; PURPOSE. (a) The
legislature finds that:
(1) Section 3, Article I, Texas Constitution (Equal
Protection Clause), provides that "[a]ll freemen, when they form a
social compact, have equal rights, and no man, or set of men, is
entitled to exclusive separate public emoluments, or privileges,
but in consideration of public service;"
(2) Section 3a, Article I, Texas Constitution (Equal
Rights Amendment), provides that "[e]quality under the law shall
not be denied or abridged because of sex, race, color, creed, or
national origin;"
(3) The Texas Constitution's Equal Rights Amendment
was designed expressly to provide protection which supplements the
federal guarantees of equal treatment;
(4) The Texas Constitution's Equal Rights Amendment is
more extensive and provides more specific protection than both the
United States and Texas due-process and equal-protection
guarantees; and
(5) The discriminatory initiatives described in this
chapter are antithetical to Texas Constitution's Equal Protection
Clause and Equal Rights Amendment and lack a rational relationship
to a legitimate governmental purpose such that the initiatives
violate Texas's Equal Protection Clause and Equal Rights Amendment;
and
(6) Texans deserve a government committed to serving
every person with equal dignity and respect and to expending
precious taxpayer resources only on making Texas great for all
Texans.
(b) The purpose of this act is to prevent the unlawful
discrimination that is antithetical to the Texas Constitution's
Equal Protection Clause and Equal Rights Amendment. This act does
not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the
governmental entities listed in Section 621.002(2), except as
provided by Section 621.004.
Sec. 621.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Discriminatory office" means an office,
division, or other unit of a governmental entity established for
the purpose of:
(A) influencing hiring or employment practices
or workforce composition at the entity with respect to race, sex,
color, or ethnicity, other than through the use of color-blind,
race-neutral, and sex-neutral hiring processes in accordance with
any applicable state and federal antidiscrimination laws;
(B) promoting differential treatment or
providing special benefits to individuals on the basis of race,
sex, color, or ethnicity;
(C) promoting policies or procedures designed or
implemented in reference to race, sex, color, or ethnicity, other
than policies or procedures:
(i) approved in writing by the attorney
general; and
(ii) implemented for the sole purpose of
ensuring compliance with any applicable federal law enacted before
September 1, 2025;
(D) conducting trainings, programs, or
activities designed or implemented in reference to race, sex,
color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation, other
than trainings, programs, or activities:
(i) developed by an attorney;
(ii) approved in writing by the attorney
general; and
(iii) conducted for the sole purpose of
ensuring compliance with any applicable court order or state or
federal law enacted before September 1, 2025; or
(E) promoting, as an official position of the
entity, a particular opinion referencing unconscious or implicit
bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology,
microaggressions, group marginalization, anti-racism, systemic
oppression, social justice, intersectionality, neo-pronouns,
heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender theory, racial or
sexual privilege, or any related formulation of these concepts.
(2) "Governmental entity" means:
(A) a department, commission, board, office, or
other agency that is in the executive branch of state government and
that was created by the constitution or a statute, other than an
institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003,
Education Code;
(B) the legislature or a legislative state
agency;
(C) the supreme court, the court of criminal
appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, or the Texas Judicial
Council or another agency in the judicial branch of state
government;
(D) a county, municipality, special purpose
district, including a school district, or any other political
subdivision of this state; or
(E) an open-enrollment charter school
established under Subchapter D, Chapter 12, Education Code.
Sec. 621.003. RESPONSIBILITY OF GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY
REGARDING DISCRIMINATORY INITIATIVES. (a) A governmental entity
shall ensure that each unit of the entity does not, except as
required by federal law:
(1) does not, except as required by federal law:
(A) establish or maintain a discriminatory
office;
(B) hire or assign an employee of the entity or
contract with a third party to perform the duties of a
discriminatory office;
(C) compel, require, induce, or solicit any
person to provide a discriminatory statement or give preferential
consideration to any person based on the provision of a
discriminatory statement;
(D) give preference on the basis of race, sex,
color, ethnicity, or national origin to an applicant for
employment, an employee, or a participant in any function of the
entity; or
(E) require as a condition of employment any
person to participate in discriminatory training, which:
(i) includes a training, program, or
activity designed or implemented in reference to race, sex, color,
ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation; and
(ii) does not include a training, program,
or activity developed for the purpose of ensuring compliance with
any applicable federal law; and
(2) adopts policies and procedures for appropriately
disciplining, including by termination, an employee or contractor
of the entity who engages in conduct in violation of Subdivision
(1).
(b) Subsection (a)(1) may not be construed to apply to:
(1) academic course instruction;
(2) scholarly research or a creative work by a school
district's or open-enrollment charter school's students or faculty;
(3) an activity of a student organization registered
with or recognized by a school district or open-enrollment charter
school;
(4) guest speakers or performers on short-term
engagements;
(5) a program or activity to enhance student academic
achievement or postgraduate outcomes that allows participation
without regard to race, sex, color, or ethnicity; or
(6) data collection.
Sec. 621.004. COMPLAINT; ENFORCEMENT. (a) A person who has
a reasonable belief that a governmental entity is violating this
chapter may file a complaint with the attorney general.
(b) If the attorney general determines that a governmental
entity named in a complaint received under Subsection (a) is
violating this chapter, the attorney general may file a petition
for a writ of mandamus to compel the governmental entity to comply
with this chapter.
(c) A mandamus action under Subsection (b) must be filed in:
(1) Travis County, if the governmental entity is an
entity described by Section 621.002(2)(A)-(C); or
(2) the county in which the governmental entity is
located, if the governmental entity is an entity described by
Section 621.002(2)(D) or (E).
SECTION 3. Subchapter Z, Chapter 2252, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 2252.911 to read as follows:
Sec. 2252.911. PROHIBITED CONSIDERATIONS IN CONTRACTING.
(a) In this section, "governmental entity" has the meaning
assigned by Section 2252.001, except that the term does not include
an institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003,
Education Code.
(b) Notwithstanding any other law, a governmental entity
may not award a contract or provide preferential or discriminatory
treatment to a person submitting a bid for a contract on the basis
of race, color, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, or sexual
orientation.
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by Section 3 of this Act
apply only to a contract entered into on or after the effective date
of this Act. A contract entered into before that date is governed
by the law in effect on the date the contract was entered into, and
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
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 September 1, 2025.