The Texas Legislature: Gutting Schools, Hating Gays, And Cooking Prisoners

When priorities are backwards and human rights are optional.

May 16, 2025

Only 17 days left in the 89th Texas Legislative Session. The countdown is on.

Well, the Senate Committee on Education finally took up HB2 yesterday. Don’t get too excited about school funding. It was completely gutted. Here’s what they did:

Instead of increasing the basic allotment by $395, they only increased it by $55.
The Senate removed the provision that would give free pre-K to disabled children.
Restricts tuition-based pre-K and prevents adding pre-K classrooms.
They cut bilingual education programs from the bill.
The House version was meant to give teachers pay raises based on experience, but the Senate changed it to incentives based on performance (test results, like STAAR).
The Senate redirected funds to remove flexibility in HB2, leaving little for basic school operations.
Under the Senate version, traditional public schools must hire certified teachers, but charter schools are exempt from this mandate.

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Brandon Creighton (R-SD04) mean to destroy Texas public schools. Both are up for re-election in 2026.

As long as Republicans continue to control our state, the people of Texas will continue to suffer.

The repeal of the prohibition of homosexual conduct passed second reading last night.

Up until 2002, it was illegal to be gay in Texas. If you were caught being gay, you could spend time in jail. That changed in 2002 with the landmark SCOTUS decision Lawrence v. Texas. And while the state could no longer arrest and jail members of the LGBTQ+ community for who they loved, the statute remained on the books.

HB1738 by Venton Jones (D-HD100) seeks to remove that statute permanently. Now, it’s more important than ever, since we have a rogue SCOTUS and an Attorney General who has publicly stated he wants to jail people for sodomy.

The bill passed the second reading, which was the first hurdle for this session, with 55 Republicans voting against it. Here are those Republicans (nays):

I try to avoid the word “evil” when talking about politicians. It’s too loaded, too subjective, and opens up a whole philosophical rabbit hole about who gets to define it. But right now, I’m having difficulty grappling with this particular decision made by Texas Republicans in 2025.

What gives them the right to care so damn much about what grown adults do in the privacy of their own homes? Who someone loves? Who they share their life with? It shouldn’t be up for debate. But here we are, decades after Lawrence v. Texas, and there are still 55 Republicans who voted against repealing a statute criminalizing homosexuality.

It’s deliberately cruel. When you know better, you should do better. And these folks know better. They know that criminalizing LGBTQ+ people is not just unconstitutional, it’s inhumane. But instead of taking a stand for human dignity, they’re clinging to a law rooted in prejudice and hate. That’s who Texas Republicans are.

Mandating air conditioning in the medical centers in prisons.

HB3006 passed yesterday, no thanks to the far-right. People being cooked alive in Texas prisons has been a problem for many years. This bill gets passed in the House every session, and usually ends up dying in the Senate under Joan Huffman’s Committee. This year’s bill is a little different, as it only mandates that certain prison areas have air conditioning.

Here are the Republicans who voted against this (nays):

Yes, these 43 Republicans are perfectly okay with cooking people to death in the Texas heat. They also like to call themselves “Christian.”

There were some exciting moments yesterday as the clock ticked down.

My favorite is right before midnight. Tony Tinderholt (R-HD94) and Jared Patterson (R-HD106) nearly got into a fist fight, but the Republican women broke it up.

Tinderholt is the one on the left. We don’t know what they said or what it was about, but surely, the word “RINO” was involved.

Another highly satisfying moment was when the majority of the body voted against Andy Hopper’s first and only bill this session, as revenge for his role in killing the Local and Concent Calendar a few weeks ago.

Giovanni Capriglione (R-HD98) took to the mic first, telling Hopper his bill was not Conservative, which was revenge for Hopper calling Capriglione a “RINO.”

It was delicious. Let the record show that Andy Hopper will finish his first session with zero legislative wins. But the knuckle draggers in his deep-red district will probably re-elect him anyway, because he makes up quotes from Karl Marx and says he’s going to Austin to fight that.

Then there was this interesting incident:

I’m not sure exactly what happened, but it appears that Terry Canales (R-HD40) wanted to call a POO (point of order), and somehow Ellen Troxclair (R-HD19) blocked him… stopped him… I don’t know how, but Canales was pissed, even calling Troxclair, “un-statesman.” Canales successfully killed the bill.

I’ve talked before about how much I rely on the Moms Against Greg Abbott Report Card to see how legislators score on key issues.

It’s a great tool, don’t get me wrong. But lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how these legislators are passing bills that don’t even appear on any report cards.

They’re pushing legislation that benefits billionaires or targets working-class folks, and they’re passing laws based on conspiracies and fearmongering, none of which ever gets counted. It’s like there’s a whole other set of bills that never get graded, and that’s where they get away with a lot.

Maybe I should make my own Legislative Report Card. I’m pretty good with a spreadsheet… how hard could it be? I’ll let you know if I decide to go for it.

It’s been a wild few weeks at the Capitol, and it’s not over yet. We’re seeing some progress, but mostly, it feels like one step forward and ten steps back. As long as Texas Republicans keep prioritizing political theater and culture wars over actual governance, we’re going to be stuck fighting the same battles over and over.

But we can’t let fatigue win. Whether fighting for fair education funding, LGBTQ+ rights, or humane prison conditions, we have to keep showing up, calling out the hypocrisy, and holding these folks accountable, no matter how exhausting it gets.

I’ll be here tracking every bill, every fight, and every ridiculous stunt they pull until we finally get the representation Texans deserve. Stay angry, stay informed, and stay in the fight.