Davis, Laubendberg and Truitt Miss Cutest Committee Hearing Ever

Anchia with some of the kids from the hearing (photo from Equality Texas)

HB 415 by Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) was heard in the House Public Health Committee last Wednesday. Under current law parents in opposite-sex relationships who adopt are routinely issued updated birth certificates which reflect the children's new legal parents. However the Health and Safety Code specifically prohibits two men or two women from being listed as parents on a birth certificate. Anchia's bill would change that by simply removing the prohibition, allowing the legal document most often used to prove a parent's relationship with their children to accurately reflect the child's legal parents.

Anchia filed this legislation last session (81st HB 2080), it received a hearing but was never voted out of committee. As I mentioned in my weekly Lege Update for the Dallas Voice's Instant Tea Blog Anchia brought a secret weapon to the hearing this session: what might be the world's most adorable children.

Missing out on the cuteness of witnesses literally dripping with children where three of the committee's Republican members: Sarah Davis (Houston), Jodie Laubenberg (Rockwall) and Vicki Truitt (Southlake) - although Laubenberg did manage to come in just in time to hear the last witness (and her baby who tried to eat the microphone). Representative's have very busy schedules, and sometimes they have to miss meetings, particularly if the meeting is at 8 am and the House has had a late night. But I am particularly disappointed that Davis choose to skip this hearing.

Davis' district covers about half of Houston's historic "gayborhood" of Montrose and she was elected with the considerable support of the Log Cabin Republicans of Houston. I know that her office has heard from many constituents about the importance of HB 415, so it frankly shocks me that she would choose to miss a hearing so vital to her constituency. Unfortunately it's in keeping with her voting record this session which includes supporting the notorious "family and traditional values" amendment to the budget and refusing to support anti-bullying legislation that included an enumerated reporting requirement. Davis seems perfectly willing to use the gay community (and yes, I did use gay, not LGBT or queer, to describe the Log Cabin Republicans), but will not stand up for the best interests of her queer constituents when push comes to shove.

If you're a constituent of Davis' and would like to express your displeasure at her absence you can call her capitol office at (512) 463-0389.

Day 114: The House

Today is the 114th day of the 82nd regular session of the Texas Legislature. The House reconvenes at 10 am, the Senate at 11 am. Here's what's going on in the House:

The House rules require that committees give five days notice before holding a public hearing to consider a bill. However, just like the in Senate, the House can vote to suspend those rules with a 2/3 majority. The five day posting rule was suspended last night for HB 415. The bill, by Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas), would allow the Bureau of Vital Statistics to issue revised birth certificates for children adopted by same-sex parents that include both parents names (read LQ's analysis of the bill). With the posting rules suspended HB 415 will likely be heard today in the House Public Health Committee.

The committee has until midnight this Monday, May 19th, to vote on HB 415. Even if the bill passes out of committee it is unlikely that, this late in the session, it has time to pass. The deadline for bills of this nature to pass their first vote in the House is midnight on May 22nd. There are hundreds of bills that have already passed out of committee waiting to make it to the House floor, HB 415 may simply be too far back in line to pass this late in the game.

HB 1942, the "super" anti-bullying bill crafted by the House Public Education bill and carried by Diane Patrick (R-Arlington) passed on second reading with over whelming bipartisan support last night (read LQ's analysis of the bill). The state constitution requires bills to be "read" on three different days in both the House and Senate (they don't read the entire bill, just the bill number and short description called the "caption"). A vote is taken after the second and third readings. House Bills must pass both votes before being sent to the Senate for consideration. HB 1942 is on the list of bills to be considered on third reading today and will be one of the first orders of business when the House reconvenes.

Three amendments were added to the bill during the debate last night. The first, by Patrick, was to clarify that the bill applied to activities that take place "in" a vehicle operated by the school district not "on" a vehicle as the bill originally stated. The other two were offered by David Simpson (R-Longview) and dealt with victims of bullying responding by physically confronting their tormenters.

Simpson's first amendment prevents school districts from beginning disciplinary procedures against a student who uses "reasonable self defense" in response to bullying. Several House members pointed out that there were already provisions in the education code permitting self defense but Simpson argued that those protections were only allowed once disciplinary proceedings started and his amendment would prevent schools from beginning the proceedings in the first place. A motion was made to table the amendment which failed, 43 yeas to 86 nays. Simpson and Patrick then briefly spoke away from the microphones, when they returned Patrick said she was agreeable to the amendment and it was added with no further debate.

Simpson's second amendment required school districts, as part of the bill's anti-bullying education requirement, to instruct students in "self-defense in response to [bullying]." The amendment does not specify if this education requirement would be in the form of formal self-defense training, or just a general instruction to punch the other guy in the nose (Simpson was very consistent in in talking about his amendments that the students he had in mind were male, although the text of the amendments themselves are not gender specific). Patrick said she agreed with the amendment and it was added with no debate.

After brief statements by other lawmakers (that really had nothing to do with this bill), a vote was taken and the bill passed, 102 "yeas" to 34 "nays". The record vote is not yet available on the Texas Legislature Online, but Equality Texas Reports via facebook that the no votes were:

Berman(R); Cain(R); Chisum(R); Christian(R); Creighton(R); Crownover(R); Fletcher(R); Flynn(R); Garza(R); Geren(R); Hancock(R); Howard, Charlie(R); Hughes(R); King, Phil(R); Kolkhorst(R); Laubenberg(R); Legler(R); Lyne(R); Miller, Doug(R); Miller, Sid(R); Morrison(R); Paxton(R); Phillips(R); Price(R); Riddle(R); Schwertner(R); Smith, Wayne(R); Solomons(R); Taylor, Larry(R); Taylor, Van(R); Thompson(D); White(R); Workman(R) and Zedler(R)

A Catch of Co-Authors

The last few days have seen a flurry of additional joint authors and co-authors for bills important to the LGBT community. Joint authors of bills have the same relationship with the bill as the member who filed it. Co-Authors are members who sign on to a bill to show their support. Since bills must be heard in committee before being debated on the floor co-authorship is the only way for members who don't happen to sit on the committee hearing the bill to officially state their support.

Bills under consideration by the 82nd Texas Legislature which have recently added co-authors:

• HB 24 by Ryan Guillen (allowing cyber-bullies to be put in alternative school) added Raphael Anchia
• HB 130 by Carol Alvarado (creating a state-wide bullying hotline) added Richard Pena Raymond and Raphael Anchia
• HB 170 by Richard Pena Raymond added Raphael Anchia
• HB 224 by Mark Strama (anti-bullying bill) added Alma Allen, Carol Alvarado, Raphael Anchia, Eric Johnson and Eddie Rodriguez
• HB 415 by Raphael Anchia (allowing same-sex parents to receive accurate birth certificates for their children) added Armando Walle and Eddie Lucio III
  
• HB 944 by Dawnna Dukes (requiring School Health Advisory Counsel to make recommendations on school bullying policies) added Elliott Naishtat
• SB 242 by Wendy Davis (anti-bullying bill) added Leticia Van De Putte and Eddie Lucio Jr.

Don't see your reps name on a bill that's important to you? Give them a call and ask them to "co-author" the bill. You can find out who represents you HERE.

Unfortunately, HCR 110 by Paul Workman (which instructs President Obama to defend the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act") also added 4 co-authors: Gary Elkins, Dan Flynn, Phil King and Bill Zedler.

Day 44: Between the Conception and the Creation Falls the Education

Today is the 44th day of the regular session of the 82nd Texas Legislature. Both the House and Senate will reconvene at 10 am.

The House Public Health Committee meets today at 8 am for it's "organizational meeting". Chairwoman Kolkhorst will discuss her priorities for the session and get a feel for where other committee members want to go. HB 415 by Anchia (D-Dallas) has been referred to the public health committee.

Under Texas law adoptive parents may petition the court to have a new birth certificate that reflects the adoptive parents names. This is standard practice and is done to make easier for those parents to prove their relationship to the child. Unfortunately the law specifically prohibits two men or two women from being listed as parents on a birth certificate (despite it being perfectly legal for two men or two women to adopt a child). HB 415 would fix this problem.

Anchia has filed this bill before and it's always received an emotional hearing in committee, but has never been voted out and on to the House floor. I'm hopeful that it may be better received in committee this session (read Legislative Queery's Day 38 post for more information).


Last night I sat on the Panel for 'Issues & Answers - Bullying' in Houston with Rep. Jessica Farrar and Houston Independent School District Trustee Juliet Stipeche. Farrar indicated that HB 1386 by Coleman (joint authored by Farrar) may be referred to the Public Health Committee as well. HB 1386 is similar to HB 224 by Strama (the big "Bully Bill") but far more comprehensive and inclusive, going well beyond just bullying issues in schools to require training on suicide prevention awareness for almost all state employees who interact with youth. The hope is that since HB 1386 deals with the broader issue of suicide that it will be considered a public health issue and not just a public education issue.

The Speakers office has broad latitude in referring bills, but Speaker Straus has a reputation for respecting members wishes so it's quite possible that HB 1386 will go to the Public Health Committee. If that happens we may see two committee hearings on a very similar topic in the next month or so. This is good. The 82nd Texas House is almost 2/3 freshmen and sophomores. Although bullying legislation has been filed ever session for over a decade many of the current members of the House may never have been in a hearing when a parent described the heartbreak of their child's experience, or a teacher talked about the frustration of not having the tools they needed to address the problem. There is value in Committee Hearings, even when bills never make it out of committee, because it educates members.

This is the challenge of changing the law: the slow, torturous process of educating lawmakers on experiences that they have never had. It's a slow process, two steps forward and one step back, but it's how our system works. Before this idea that being tormented by other students should not be a part of any student's reality takes root and is born full-fledged as common wisdom, amidst all the struggle and pain, the conjouling and convincing we must educate, we must tell our stories and insist on being heard.

Day 38: Heather Has Two Mommies, But Only One Is Legally Recognized

Today is the 38th day of the 82nd regular session of the Texas Legislature. The House reconvenes at 10 am, the Senate at 11.

Yesterday Rep. Garnet Coleman (D - Houston) introduced HB 1386 which would create a truly visionary program to counter youth suicide that includes a non-discrimination policy for Texas public school students that includes sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. I'll write more about HB 1386 later, but wanted to take this opportunity to thank Rep. Coleman for his thoughtful legislation.

HB 415 by Rep. Anchia (D - Dallas) was referred to the House Committee on Public Health yesterday. HB 415 would allow same-sex parents to be given birth certificates for their children which accurately reflect both parents. Current law prohibits Texas' birth certificates from reflecting two men or two women as parents, straight people who adopt are regularly given amended birth certificates that reflect both parents names.

The composition of the House public health committee this session is interesting. An 11 member committee, it has 4 Democratic members and 7 Republicans and is chaired by Rep. Louis Kolkhorst (R - Austin, Grimes, Walker, Washington counties). Anchia filed this bill last session as well, during that hearing Kolkhorst was visibly moved by parents' stories of how not having an accurate birth certificate has made it difficult for them to get emergent care for their children, secure visas for travel and be recognized as a guardian by their children's schools. If Kolkhorst can be convinced to allow the the committee to vote on HB 415 there is a chance that this bill might make it to the House floor for a vote.

The 4 Democratic members of the committee include 3 of the staunchest allies of the queer community: Naishtat, Coleman, Gonzales. The other one, Alvarado, doesn't have a voting record on LGBT issues because she is a sophomore member and there wasn't a record vote last session, but she has made multiple public statements in support of the community. Those four votes are pretty secure, since the committee has 11 members the bill needs 6 supporters to make it out of committee and on to the House floor. If chairwoman Kolkhorst can be persuaded to support HB 415 that makes 5 yea votes. So where might the 6th one come from?

Of the 7 republican members only one is a member of the notorious "Gang of 37": Rep. Jodie Laubenberg (R - Colin, Rockwall counties) - House members with perfect records of voting against the LGBT community - people who never miss an opportunity to exact their bigotry on the queer populous. The other 7, including chairwoman Kolkhorst have, at least once, been persuaded to vote in the best interest of the community or are freshmen or sophomores who have yet to establish a record. The relatively moderate make up gives me hope that one of those members might become the necessary 6th vote, but which one?

One of the more hopeful freshmen members is Rep. Sarah Davis (R - Houston). Davis actively sought and enthusiastically received the endorsement of the Houston chapter of Log Cabin Republicans during her campaign. The Harris county Republican party did very little to support her campaign, so she's not as beholden to the party machine as some other members, and she has made public statements that she would support the LGBT community (so long as that support doesn't include what she considers the "expansion of government"). This bill would seem a key opportunity for her to prove her statements. She could easily become the necessary 6th vote, particurally if sufficient public pressure is brought to bear.

Rep. Davis' Austin office can be reached at (512) 463-0389.

HB 415 - Accurate Birth Certificates

HB 415 - By Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) would allow the Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics (BVS) to issue birth certificates which accurately reflect the parents of a child. BVS routinely issues new birth certificates for adopted children which list the adopted parents. Currently under Health and Safety Code Section 192.008(a) BVS is prohibited from listing two men or two women as parents of an adopted child even if they are both the legal parent of the child.

Beyond issues of simple fairness this creates a barrier when parents attempt to enroll their child in school, obtain a visa, access medical records or perform any of the routine day to day task that require parents to legally establish their relationship with their child.

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana found in Adar, et al v. Smith that denying parents the right to both be listed as parents in an adoption from another state violates the full faith and credit clause of the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately that precedent does not extend to Texas couples who adopt children in Texas.

Anchia filed this legislation last session (81st HB 2080), it received a hearing but was never voted out of the House Public Health Committee.