The Texas Senate [official website] revived a full “bathroom bill” early Wednesday morning. In 1AM vote [AP report], the Senate voted 21-10 to attach restroom regulations to an otherwise unrelated proposal concerning county governments. The piggy-backing rules will require transgender Texans to use public restrooms that correspond to the sex identified on their birth certificates. The original bill was written by a democrat who will not accept the changes. On Sunday the House approved a similar bill [WP report] that only applied to schoolchildren, but the author is rejecting those rules as “too watered-down.” The Texas legislature must reach a compromise on the bills before their session ends on Monday.

The Texas legislature has been attempting to pass regulations on transgender bathroom rights [JURIST op-ed] for several months. In March the Texas Senate approved [JURIST report] the Texas Privacy Act [SB 6], which would require people to use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender listed on their birth certificate, but the bill stalled in the House. Earlier in March the US Supreme Court vacated [JURIST report] a lower court ruling in a case concerning transgender restroom policies following a move by the Trump administration to rescind guidelines that school districts should allow students to use the bathroom of their choice. Also in March, 11 states, led by Texas, filed a document [JURIST report] in federal court to withdraw a lawsuit against the US government, a week after a “Dear Colleague letter” from the Department of Justice overturned Obama-era guidance regarding bathroom use by transgender students. Other states have been battling access to public restrooms as well. In April the US Department of Justice [official website] dropped a lawsuit [JURIST report] against North Carolina concerning a bill requiring transgender people to use the public bathroom associated with their birth gender. North Carolina repealed [JURIST report] House Bill 2 in March with the passage of House Bill 142. Last May former North Carolina governor Pat McCrory filed a complaint for declaratory judgment asking the federal court to weigh in on the legality of the bill but withdrew [JURIST reports] from the lawsuit in September. In March 2016 North Carolina individuals and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against McCrory, claiming that the bill was unconstitutional and discriminatory. Earlier that month McCrory signed the bill into law [JURIST report], preventing local governments from enacting their own nondiscrimination ordinances and making them unable to pass laws allowing transgender people to use the public restroom or locker room that corresponds with their gender identity.