Austin, TX – As the Texas Legislature reaches its 60-day bill filing deadline, young Texans are ready to mobilize, advocate, and testify to ensure lawmakers are unable to push through legislation that suppresses voters, inflicts harm on our communities, and further attacks our freedom to education, bodily autonomy, and to be our authentic selves.
Bills like SB 16 and SB 309 aim to create barriers for voters, by creating unnecessary processes for eligible Texans forced to prove their citizenship through costly documents – legislation that would largely affect students and naturalized citizens. Further, bills like SB 12 and SB 8 aim to erase trans and queer communities, harm communities of color, and exclude immigrants from public life.
“The whole role of a legislative body is to promote the interests and well-being of the people they serve. The Texas Legislature is infamous for doing exactly the opposite,” said Stephanie Gómez, Political Director at MOVE Texas. “These bills don’t address the needs of Texans. It’s shameful that legislators are more interested in just pitting Texans against each other and silencing the voices of anyone who disagrees with them. There are too many real problems in our state for legislators to be consumed by bills designed to sow chaos, undo years of actual progress, and strip Texans of their fundamental rights. Lawmakers may be working hard to undermine democracy, but young Texans are working harder to defend it – and we’re not backing down.”
Every bill filed that attacks our identities, our livelihoods, and our ability to shape our future gives us more reason to keep showing up. Texans have spent their lives living and organizing in the conditions of an extremist state. MOVE Texas will continue organizing, educating, and fighting back to protect every Texan’s freedom to participate in democracy, live freely, and have a healthy environment to protect us.
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About MOVE Texas: MOVE Texas Civic Fund is a grassroots, nonpartisan nonprofit organization that builds the power of young Texans through civic engagement, leadership development, and issue advocacy.
