It’s a big week in Texas for the debate over several hot button topics that involved LGBT rights.
It’s expected that a so-called bathroom bill championed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will hit a Texas Senate Committee on Thursday. This comes at a time when the White House has come out with a statement, saying that laws of this type should not controlled by the federal government.
"The president has made it clear throughout the campaign that he's a firm believer in states' rights and that certain issues like this are not best dealt with at the federal level," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said at a press conference last week.
Rice University Political Analyst Mark Jones says this changes the dynamic of the debate in Texas. A pushback against federal overreach is essentially moot now.
“But the core elements that were driving it originally, the desire to signal resistance to this aspect of culture change, still remain,” he tells Newsradio 1200 WOAI.
He believes that SB6 will have enough votes to make it through the Senate, but he believes it will die in the House. The most likely landing spot there would be House State Affairs Committee, which is headed by State Rep Bryan Cook.
He’s the lawmaker who filed a complaint against former colleague Ken Paxton, who is now the Republican attorney general of Texas, over a business deal. That led to Paxton’s indictment by a Texas grand jury on felony charges of securities fraud and failing to properly register with the Texas state securities board. Paxton is also a big supporter of the bathroom bill.
Also on tap this week is arguments before the Texas Supreme Court over a lawsuit filed in Houston, challenging a move to extend benefits to the same-sex partners of public employees.The justices initially shot the lawsuit down, but have since reversed course.