SENATE JOURNAL EIGHTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE Ð SECOND CALLED SESSION AUSTIN, TEXAS PROCEEDINGS ADDENDUM (THIRD DAY Ð Tuesday, August 10, 2021) The following remarks regarding SBi29, 87th Legislature, Regular Session, and the remarks regarding SBi2, 87th Legislature, First Called Session, were ordered reduced to writing and printed in the Senate Journal. SENATE BILL 29 Wednesday, April 14, 2021 President:iiSenator Perry, you re' recognized on Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 29 to suspend the regular order of business. Senator Perry:iiThank you, Mr.iPresident and Members. Senate Bill 29, fair sports for women and girls, is a reflection of Title IX that was actually set up in 1973 providing for a fair and safe environment for women to competitive athletes and their biological peer groups. Recent years there has been a steady increase in the number of biologically born males competing in female sports. Many students, parents, coaches have raised concerns for the safety of the female athletes that are required to compete against the biological males. Additionally, biologically born males often have significant physical advantages over the female opponents, and the inclusion of biological males in the female sport may deny female athletics the recognition that they worked so hard to achieve. Senate Bill 29 requires UIL athletes to compete in sports associated with their biological sex as determined at birth or near birth. Under Senate Bill 29, female athletes are allowed to compete in the male sports if corresponding female sport is not available in the athletic team, they can qualify to compete in that. It s' consistent with Title IX. Members, I do have an amendment, will be offering an amendment that will basically allow a record other than a birth certificate if not available to be used for UIL registration. With that, I move to suspend the regular order of business if there s' no questions. President:iiSenator MeneÂndez, your light was on and off, did you want to speak? Senator MeneÂndez, did you want to speak? Senator MeneÂndez:iiMr.iPresident, I have a couple amendments. I m' going to wait for that. And I ll' just± President:iiOkay. Senator MeneÂndez:ii±wait and let the author of the± President:iiSure. A2 87th Legislature Ð Second Called Session 3rd Day Senator MeneÂndez:ii±thank you. Secretary of the Senate:iiFloor Amendment No.i1 by Perry. President:iiYou re' recognized on your amendment. Senator Perry:iiThank you, Mr.iPresident. This amendment basically allows for a situation where a student could not produce an official original birth certificate at or near birth, and it just allows for a other government record to be used in substitute thereof. President:iiMembers, any, Senator Whitmire, you re' recognized. For what purpose? Senator Whitmire:iiWill the gentleman yield? President:iiDo you yield? Senator Perry:iiI yield. Senator Whitmire:iiSenator Perry, it s' my understanding that the UIL is already making decisions on how to address the transgender athlete. In fact, I think I m' holding a document that shows where Mack Beggs, who was forced to wrestle with girls despite being a transgender boy. So, are you offering up one your legislation in this amendment asking UIL to address with their rules, addressing something that is already currently being handled in the eyes of many individuals, certainly myself, are dealing with it in a responsible fashion. Senator Perry:iiSo, to be clear, Senate Bill 29 actually just codifies what current UIL policy is. One change that probably is significant in that they do look to the birth certificate initially. If that birth certificate is not available, then they will allow other documents. This amendment makes that allowance to be consistent with where UIL is. We have not in Texas as much yet but it s' coming. There s,' Connecticut s' currently got a situation where a biological male, I believe it s' two biological males, let me confirm that before I tell you this. Senator Whitmire:iiWhere was this? Senator Perry:iiIn Connecticut. Two biological male athletes have amassed± Senator Whitmire:iiConnecticut? Senator Perry:ii±15 state championships± Senator Whitmire:iiOh, how about Texas? Senator Perry:ii±that were, that, this is coming to Texas. If you ask any coach or any administration or anybody in UIL, this is what we re' preparing for in Texas. So, that said, this codifies what UIL is currently doing, and one exception to the birth certificate is I clarify at or near birth so that those amended birth certificates that they currently now are required to take would not be allowable anymore. Senator Whitmire:iiCould I ask you how many instances probably today, in Texas, are we dealing? And obviously, my direction of my question is, is it a wide enough concern of yours to justify proposed legislation. I mean, I m' very close to my Tuesday, August 10, 2021 SENATE JOURNAL A3 constituents, I have transgender friends, constituents, supporters. I have individuals that do not have the transgender experience, and I just don t' see a significant incidence of what you re' addressing. Senator Perry:iiSo, I ll' answer it this way, transgenders can still compete in competitive athletics under UIL under their biological sex. So, we re' not prohibiting them from staying out of competitive sports. We re' not prohibiting them from staying out of UIL sanctioned sports. They do it according to their biological, but to your, to your question, as we see this trend and these issues become more and more prevalent. Senator Whitmire:iiSo, you see it, a movement, coming this direction from you just mentioned Connecticut, but± Senator Perry:iiI m±' Senator Whitmire:ii±we are± Senator Perry:ii±I am told. Senator Whitmire:ii±what, the second largest state, probably have as much sports as anyone, and just, would you not agree as we stand here on this floor, most local jurisdictions are handling it appropriately or we d' be hearing about it? Senator Perry:iiWe, we are preparing for a trend that is being nationally recognized as a problem from a safety perspective. Senator Whitmire:iiAs by who? Senator Perry:iiDo what? I think UIL will tell you this is± Senator Whitmire:iiRecognized as a problem± Senator Perry:ii±you± Senator Whitmire:ii±not by the NCAA for sure. Senator Perry:iiYou know what, the NCAA, we have no jurisdiction over in this state. We don t' administer any rule or jurisdiction over them, but if you ll' look to the NCAA s' mission statement, to achieve our mission we preserve sports tradition and integrity and emphasize student athletic safety. They ought to go back and read that mission because student safety s' a big concern. You take a 16-year-old adolescent male that is just starting a transition that shows up on a soccer field of a girls 'athletic team, they have an advantage most the time in bone density and body mass, and threat or potential safety issues with respect to running over those girls is real. So, talk to the parents that have that situation come up. There s' more of them than you think going on in the state. You just haven t' heard about them yet. Senator Whitmire:iiSo, you didn t' introduce this last session, I recall, or even the session before. In fact, you ve' been a Member of the Senate and the House for a large number of years, and you haven t' felt motivated or concerned to introduce you, legislation dealing with this very serious subject. Why this year? Except I think maybe you just told me, it s' a national movement allowing transgender children to compete in their transgender identity instead of their biological sex. So, you re' preparing for an onslaught of problems? Senator Perry:iiYou, we can have this a, a lot± A4 87th Legislature Ð Second Called Session 3rd Day Senator Whitmire:iiIn your mind± Senator Perry:ii±of ti± Senator Whitmire:ii±not in my mind. Senator Perry:iiYeah. Senator Whitmire:iiI think it s' being well handled. Senator Perry:iiI would say the more prevalent it gets, the more important this particular bill is. And it s' going to get more prevalent, and if you don t' think it is, you can t' ignore the conversations we re' having in this state regarding this issue on all other levels, too. But I did have an administration that day one, I believe that first or second or third executive order put out effectively what this bill would be not for and then reversed it because of the pushback because Title IX is such a critical component± Senator Whitmire:iiSure. Senator Perry:ii±of female athletes and protecting what we ve' gained in those is the primary focus in a safe, competitive peer group setting so that when they are recognized they re' recognized on a level playing field. Senator Whitmire:iiAnd I understand that s' your proposal. Are you familiar with the front page of the Austin American-Statesman today, which is actually a couple of days after Houston ran it in their papers, where the NCAA is warning Texas that you ve' got two Final Four scheduled, one national college football championship, and one college girls 'championship would be in jeopardy, I think the revenue estimates are over a billion dollars to the State of Texas that those events would be in jeopardy if we continue to purs± go down the path that you re' proposing. Senator Perry:iiSo, let s' be clear, and I ve' been on this floor before and said it as much, sometimes things are more worth than money.