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Senate committee advances SB 12, restricting DEI duties and narrowing grievance window for parents
Summary
The Senate Committee on Education approved a committee substitute to Senate Bill 12 that expands the bill's ban on diversity, equity and inclusion duties, requires notice to employees, tightens grievance timing and adds reporting requirements; the measure passed the committee 8-2 and will go to the full Senate.
The Senate Committee on Education advanced Senate Bill 12 on a party-line committee vote after adopting a committee substitute that narrows and clarifies how the bill would restrict diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) duties, set parental grievance timelines and impose new reporting and notice requirements.
Senator Creighton, explaining the committee substitute, said the changes expand the bill's definition of DEI-related duties to include activities or programs that reference “race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation” except where state or federal law requires them. Creighton said districts would be required to provide employees with written and electronic notice of the policies and that disciplinary action would be limited to employees who intentionally or knowingly violate the provisions.
The substitute also would prohibit student organizations focused solely on sexual orientation or gender identity unless parental permission is obtained, allow staff members to serve only in supervisory roles for such clubs, and specifies that the ban applies to DEI duties performed “at, for, or on behalf of” a school district. Creighton said, “The bill does not affect what contractors or employees do on their own time.”
The substitute narrows grievance procedures and timelines: it limits the window for parents to file grievances to six weeks from the incident and refines the grievance-review process so reviewers must recuse themselves if they are the subject of the grievance. Creighton said districts also would be required to provide parents information about special education and bilingual-education rights at enrollment and the start of the school year.
Senator Menendez and others pressed the sponsor on the six-week window and how it aligns with other timing in the bill. Menendez suggested a shorter period; Senator Bettencourt noted the bill also contains a 30-business-day standard elsewhere and asked staff to align language. Creighton acknowledged the discussion and said the six-week provision might be shortened but was drafted in part to account for delays in parents becoming aware of grades or incidents.
Senator West questioned the bill's definitions on page 4, line 6, asking whether references to “sex” were intended to mean biological sex and how that differed from references to “gender identity” later in the substitute. Creighton answered that the reference to sex in that line refers to biological sex and that “gender identity” is a distinct term.
Senator Paxton moved that SB 12 be reported to the Senate “do not pass, but that the committee substitute adopted in lieu thereof do pass and be printed.” The roll call showed 8 ayes and 2 nays; Senators West and Menendez cast the two recorded no votes. The chair announced that, “There being 8 ayes, 2 nays, the bill passes to the floor.”
The committee record shows the sponsor made several other clarifying changes in response to testimony and a prior robust hearing; Creighton said the substitute reflects that input. The measure now proceeds to the full Senate for floor debate.
Looking ahead, senators in the committee signaled that several provisions — particularly the definition of covered activities and the grievance windows — will draw extended debate on the Senate floor.
