Senate committee hears hours of testimony on SB 7, Texas Women’s Privacy Act; committee adopts substitute and reports bill favorably

The Senate State Affairs Committee held a lengthy hearing on Senate Bill 7, the Texas Women’s Privacy Act, hearing invited witnesses and more than one hundred public commentators before adopting a committee substitute and voting to report the bill favorably to the full Senate.

Senator Bryan Middleton laid out SB 7 as legislation that would require public facilities owned by state agencies and political subdivisions to designate single‑sex private spaces according to biological sex, he said, and to confine corrections housing and similar spaces by an individual’s biological sex. The author told the panel the bill preserves single‑use and family restrooms and includes exceptions for emergencies, children, disabilities and law enforcement. Under the bill, he said, civil penalties of $5,000 for a first violation and $25,000 for subsequent violations would be enforceable by citizen complaint and by the attorney general; Texans would also have a private right of action. The author said the bill designates the Fifteenth Court of Appeals as the exclusive intermediate appellate court for related litigation and does not remove the ability to appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.

Supporters included mothers and survivors who described incidents they said illustrated why separate women’s spaces are needed. Kim Slusser told the committee about her daughter’s experience on a college women’s volleyball team and urged lawmakers to protect women’s privacy in locker rooms, hotels and shelters. Amy Ichikawa, who said she had been incarcerated, told…