From banning THC in Texas to taking money from public schools under the guise of “school vouchers,” there have been a lot of head-scratching, controversial policies that lawmakers have passed this legislative session. Still, (call it masochism or not) we looked for glimpses of common ground. The good news is, we found a few non-terrifying bills that are set to become law. From college athletic payments to historic research investments, here are five largely bipartisan bills.
Closing loopholes for sexual assault cases
A new bill is just inches away from dramatically changing how Texas can prosecute sexual assault.
The bill expands the state’s existing definition of consent, clarifying that assault can occur if the victim is drunk, impaired, or withdraws consent. The measure was spearheaded by advocate and survivor Summer Willis, whom the bill is named after. A decade ago, Willis was raped during a college party — because of Texas’ obscure sexual assault laws, her case is one of many that went unprosecuted.
“What happened to me, the rape that changed me, that haunted me and nearly broke me, wasn’t even considered rape in Texas,” Willis said in her March 25 testimony to the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence. “Because I was drugged by one person and raped by another, the law didn’t recognize my assault.”
The bill, HB 3073, narrowly made key deadlines to become law, passing at the eleventh hour with near-unanimous bipartisan support. It now awaits Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval. If signed, it would go into effect on Sept. 1, but would not retroactively apply to prior assault cases.
“I come in here today with a weight on my shoulders, knowing I will never get justice for what happened to me,” Willis continued in her testimony. “But … we have the ability to right this wrong together.”
Mandatory CPR training for schoolteachers
In August, a Houston middle school student suddenly died in his school gym after experiencing a “medical emergency.” Now, lawmakers have passed a school safety bill, dubbed the “Landon Peyton Act,” in his honor.
Landon’s family has said the gym’s automated external defibrillator — which can, alongside CPR, help resuscitate the heart — was not working at the time, the Houston Chronicle reported.
To strengthen schools’ response for medical crises, the bill mandates CPR and AED training for staff like nurses, athletic coaches, and physical education teachers. Additionally, districts must develop cardiac emergency response plans.
The Landon Peyton Act was passed alongside a similar bill, which requires every campus automated external defibrillator to be checked during fire safety inspections (at the time of Landon’s death, 1 out of 6 of the district’s AEDs were non-functional, according to the Houston Chronicle). Abbott has signed the latter into law, and the policy will be effective in September.
$350 million to strengthen railroad safety
Effective immediately, a new multi-million dollar grant will fund safer railroad crossings.
In December, Houston ISD student Sergio Rodriguez was fatally struck by a train while walking to school. The law, spurred by his tragic death, will support grade separation projects — staggering the heights of railroads and roadways — to mitigate high-traffic, dangerous crossings.
“It’s no secret that, especially in Houston, we have so many issues with rail crossings and a lack of resources for grade separations,” bill co-author Sen. Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) told the Houston Chronicle.
Since Nov. 7, 2000, at least one person has died every day on Texas roads — that’s nearly 9,000 days. 2023 alone saw 4,291 fatalities, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
Texas universities can start paying athletes
The Senate passed a bill that would allow universities to directly pay their student athletes through “name, image, likeness” or NIL deals. These deals, which allow collegiate athletes to directly profit off their likeness through endorsements and sponsorships, were codified in 2021. Current state law allows outside organizations, like national advertisers, to pay athletes directly – but not universities.
That might soon change. Last year, the NCAA settled a historic $2.8 billion antitrust case, which allows division one schools to compensate current and former athletes for “lost [NIL] opportunities.” In Texas, there are 25 colleges and universities with NCAA Division 1 programs.
Schools could start the disbursement of payments — up to $20 million per institution — as early as July 1. Of course, that’s a bit difficult when Texas state law doesn’t let you.
The bill passed in both the House and Senate with largely bipartisan support, as lawmakers worried that Texas schools, without the newfound ability to pay their athletes, could lose their competitive edge in the world of college athletics.
Points of concern: The Senate amended the bill to prohibit NIL contracts with athletes younger than 17, in response to critics concerned about “financially predatory actors” targeting younger athletes. Others said the ability to pay athletes may widen the disparity between smaller and larger, deeper-pocketed schools, turning college recruitment into a bidding war.
“What are the other universities to do who don’t have a Cody Campbell, or an Elon Musk, to help facilitate the athletic endeavors of their universities?” asked Rep. Mitch Little (R-Lewisville), as reported in The Texas Tribune. “How can they possibly compete?”
The bill will move to Abbott for approval.
Clarity on medical exceptions to the abortion ban
While a number of shocking abortion policies were filed this session — measures that criminalized birthworkers and proposed the literal death penalty for abortion patients — none of the most restrictive bills passed this time. One bill, that doctors say will help save lives, is intended to clarify which medical emergencies constitute exceptions to the state-wide abortion ban.
“All this bill does is say that when you see that physical manifestation of an indication that a major bodily function is at risk, you don’t need to make her get at death’s door before you practice your job,” said bill co-author Rep. Ann Johnson (D-Houston) during a testimony in April.
Under the bill, Texas doctors could use “reasonable medical judgment” to identify medical emergencies and intervene earlier, with less fear that “folks politically think they’re trying to do something wrong,” Johnson said.
Points of concern: The bill passed with reluctant bipartisan support. Democrats and abortion advocates were especially wary of supporting a measure that could be likened to a band-aid on a bullet wound — “It’s not all I want in this bill,” Johnson said, which still provides no exception for rape, incest, or fatal fetal abnormalities.
Texas to finance water projects to fix old, broken pipes
In February, Abbott declared his commitment to a “Texas-size investment” in the state’s notably fragile water infrastructure.
“We have water sources drying up. There are so many communities across the state of Texas that are suffering from broken or leaking pipes,” Abbott said in his annual State of the State address. “We gotta fix all that.”
And as the legislative session nears its close, lawmakers have reached a $20 billion solution to invest in fixing the water crisis. The Senate approved a bill that would spend $1 billion annually, until 2047, on repairing water infrastructure and funding new projects. After Abbott approves the measure, it will go to a state-wide vote in November.
Points of concern: Months of “tense, back door negotiations” underscored this deal, according to the Tribune. Many lawmakers questioned where exactly that $1 billion would go, especially as Texas grapples with a growing water crisis and range of problems demanding attention. And in that vein, $20 billion is helpful — but it’s not nearly enough. A complete overhaul of Texas’ water infrastructure would cost $154 billion, according to a report from Texas 2036.
A new mega-sized research investment
Thanks to an extra $6 billion, Texas has become a leader in cancer prevention through its state-funded research institute.
A new bill, modeled after the state’s successful investments in cancer research, is aimed at studies of the brain. This measure would allot $3 billion in state revenue toward the creation of a research institute for dementia, Parkinson’s diseases, and Alzheimer’s disease — the last of which affects nearly 12% of the state’s senior population, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Points of concern: The bill passed with sweeping bipartisan support, after an earlier, broader iteration stalled in the Senate in 2023, according to the Tribune. Though by-and-large uncontroversial — especially when measured up against the likes of abortion pills, furries, and DEI bans — no piece of legislation is without its online critics. Three billion is a lot of taxpayer dollars, after all.
Abbott has signed this bill into law, but there’s one more step: the ballot. Texans will vote on the measure in November.
Funding childcare (kind of!)
In a legislative session that has considered outlawing DEI in K-12 public schools, censoring school library books, and banning imaginary furries (no, we will never stop laughing about that), it’s almost a surprise to see a policy that could be… helpful? Lawmakers passed a bill to fund child care scholarships with an additional $100 million of unused federal dollars, the Tribune reported. “Thousands more parents” could enter the workforce as a result, David Feigen told the Tribune. Feigen is the director of early learning policy for advocacy group Texans Care for Children.
After amendments from the Senate, the funding passed as part of the $337 billion budget bill.
Both chambers have signed off on the budget, which is pending submission to Abbott sign-off.
