Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blamed the state's House of Representatives for not passing controversial bills he saw as a priority before the session came to an end this week. In an interview with ABC News affiliate KVUE, Patrick said that of the 31 bills he prioritized for the Senate, 30 were passed which he claimed had bipartisan support because more Democrats were for many of those bills. So far, his talk about the Senate was nothing but positive.
Transgender protection 'Leftist' agenda and 'social experiment'
When it came to talking about the House, however, Patrick said that he was disappointed with the fact that they didn't get property tax relief or the Bathroom Bill passed.
In the interview, it was the bathroom bill that took precedent, which has been seen by his critics as an attack on the transgender community. The Lt. Gov. denied this saying that the Left created the transgender angle, which is similar to the argument made by other conservative leaders -- such as former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory -- who said that then President Obama's efforts to oppose their bathroom bill for the transgender community was a social experiment.
At the time, much of the language created around the bill was over how it was a legislative attack on the transgender community as many in that community felt they should be able to use public bathrooms according to their gender identity.
But the argument switched between biological gender as opposed to gender identity which Republicans have used to make a stronger case for their bill, saying that any male would be able to use the women's restroom which they claim would further empower sexual predators. Many Republican-led states grouped up against the Obama administration to sue which included the state of Texas.
Though the bathroom bill was defeated in North Carolina, Patrick remains committed to enforcing it in Texas and has promised to hold a special session to pass it.
Dan Patrick to hold special session for controversial bills
Though the bathroom bill was defeated in North Carolina, Patrick remains committed to enforcing it in Texas -- which he calls the privacy act -- in a special session.
Even though Lt. Gov. Patrick said in the interview that he didn't want to sit there and talk negatively about the House, he did speak more positively about the Senate to say that they did their job and then continued to go on about how the House has either done nothing to pass certain bills or said that the House was spinning misinformation for their own agendas.
House Speaker Joe Straus failed to pass the bill before the end of the 85th session because he felt that there would be a strong backlash from the businesses community as there was in North Carolina. McCrory defied the boycott from those businesses which was designed to threaten billions of dollars in revenue for the state along with its reputation.
In the end, the state was pressured to the point where they ended up dropping the bill and McCrory lost his re-election, likely over the controversy. Here is the KVUE interview with Dan Patrick in its entirety.
