AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texas’ Republican House speaker says he won’t work anymore on a “bathroom bill” targeting transgender people, putting the hotly debated legislation in jeopardy.
House Speaker Joe Straus said Friday it was “absurd” how much time lawmakers have spent prioritizing efforts to pass a North Carolina-style law that would restrict bathroom rules for transgender people.
The Texas Legislature adjourns Monday, and the defiance from the House again raises the prospects of a special session.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott went beyond his GOP peers nationwide in publically calling for a “bathroom bill.” Socially conservative governors in Arkansas and Kentucky rebuffed proposals as unnecessary and South Dakota’s Republican governor vetoed a proposal in March.
Earlier Friday, technology giant IBM became the latest major corporation to urge Texas against following North Carolina.
