House considers bills aimed at transgender life, legal documents; advocates respond with rally
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas House of Representatives will meet Friday to consider a number of bills, and could vote on two bills aimed at transgender life in Texas, according to the chamber’s calendar for the day.
House Bill 229 and House Bill 778 drew attention from a coalition of LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, who will rally Friday in opposition to the bills, according to a joint press release issued by Equality Texas on Thursday.
The rally will include civil rights nonprofits and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, including: ACLU of Texas, Equality Texas, Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, Texas Freedom Network and the Transgender Education Network of Texas.
House Bill 229
HB 229 would mandate a gender binary and define it in Texas law. It would also require Texas governmental agencies to define every person as either male or female on records.
“The legislature finds that males and females possess unique immutable biological differences that manifest prior to birth and increase as individuals age and experience puberty,” the original bill reads, “biological differences between the sexes mean that males are, on average, bigger, stronger, and faster than females … leav[ing] females more physically vulnerable than males to specific forms of violence, including sexual violence.”
The bill does not include an exception for intersex Texans.
“Under HB229, all Texas agencies and Departments would be required to enforce a narrow definition of gender that excludes trans and intersex Texans,” wrote Equality Texas in the release. “This would complicate the work of any department that uses such records, and would make ordinary daily life exceedingly complicated for trans people who would not be permitted to update their government documents.”
When the House State Affairs committee heard the bill on April 25, 26 people spoke against the bill and 210 people registered their opposition. Six people testified in support and three others registered support, according to the Texas Legislature’s website.
According to the Legislative Budget Board, implementing HB 229 could cost the state $2.5 million in order to update computer systems at DSHS and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
House Bill 778
HB 778, filed in November 2024, was one of the earliest bills of the session, as KXAN previously reported.
The bill would require health insurers who cover gender transition therapy, medications and surgeries to also cover treatment to “manage, reconstruct from, or recover from” gender transition.
Bill author Rep. Jeff Leach reported to the committee that “individuals who have reversed their transition” told him that “they chose to do so due to … adverse consequences,” according to the bill’s analysis.
“HB 778 seeks to ensure adequate health care coverage and assistance to those individuals dealing with adverse effects from undergoing gender transition treatment or procedures or have decided to reverse their transition,” Leach’s bill analysis states.
While the bill appears to potentially increase coverage for transgender Texans by including hormone level tests and recovery from surgeries, opponents said they fear the bill would have a chilling effect on insurers.
“If implemented, HB778 would increase liability for any insurer that covers trans health care, making them responsible for infinite possible outcomes after such care. In practice, this would make trans care prohibitively expensive for most people, and would likely drive many insurers to drop coverage for such care,” Equality Texas said.
The bill had a public hearing on April 2. Twelve people spoke in favor of the bill, with five other attendees registering their support; 14 people spoke in opposition, and 156 people registered as being against the bill, according to legislative records.
If the bills pass in the House, they will head to the Texas Senate for consideration. If enacted into law, both bills would take effect on September 1.
