---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to the protection of expressive activities at public institutions of higher education."
description: "Relating to the protection of expressive activities at public institutions of higher education."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "86"
identifier: "SB 18"
citation: "Texas SB 18 (86)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Remedies & Liabilities (I0065)", "Education--Higher--Institutions & Programs (I0223)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cain", "Geren", "Goldman", "Huffman", "Nelson", "Oliverson", "Phelan"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 80
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-02-25"
last_action: "2019-06-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/91730452-24ed-4015-a448-f5858c0f906e"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/86R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB00001_SB00099/SB 18.xml"
source_hash: "a6cecd0a09a1f3ec94b9fd88ba41f083355ca71bcc225593ac54806722cf1aca"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-tx"]
---

# Texas SB 18 (86) — Relating to the protection of expressive activities at public institutions of higher education.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/86R/billtext/html/SB00018I.HTM)

## Votes

- other — **106–37** (fail) · upper
- passage — **86–58** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Cain — primary (person)
- Geren — primary (person)
- Goldman — primary (person)
- Huffman — primary (person)
- Nelson — primary (person)
- Oliverson — primary (person)
- Phelan — primary (person)
- Allison — cosponsor (person)
- Anderson, Charles "Doc" — cosponsor (person)
- Bell, Cecil — cosponsor (person)
- Bell, Keith — cosponsor (person)
- Bettencourt — cosponsor (person)
- Biedermann — cosponsor (person)
- Bohac — cosponsor (person)
- Bonnen, Greg — cosponsor (person)
- Buckingham — cosponsor (person)
- Buckley — cosponsor (person)
- Burns — cosponsor (person)
- Burrows — cosponsor (person)
- Campbell — cosponsor (person)
- Capriglione — cosponsor (person)
- Clardy — cosponsor (person)
- Craddick — cosponsor (person)
- Creighton — cosponsor (person)
- Cyrier — cosponsor (person)
- Darby — cosponsor (person)
- Dean — cosponsor (person)
- Fallon — cosponsor (person)
- Flynn — cosponsor (person)
- Frank — cosponsor (person)
- Harris — cosponsor (person)
- Hefner — cosponsor (person)
- Holland — cosponsor (person)
- Hunter — cosponsor (person)
- King, Phil — cosponsor (person)
- Klick — cosponsor (person)
- Krause — cosponsor (person)
- Lambert — cosponsor (person)
- Landgraf — cosponsor (person)
- Lang — cosponsor (person)
- Leach — cosponsor (person)
- Leman — cosponsor (person)
- Lozano — cosponsor (person)
- Lucio — cosponsor (person)
- Metcalf — cosponsor (person)
- Middleton — cosponsor (person)
- Miller — cosponsor (person)
- Morrison — cosponsor (person)
- Murphy — cosponsor (person)
- Murr — cosponsor (person)
- Paddie — cosponsor (person)
- Parker — cosponsor (person)
- Patterson — cosponsor (person)
- Paul — cosponsor (person)
- Price — cosponsor (person)
- Sanford — cosponsor (person)
- Schaefer — cosponsor (person)
- Schwertner — cosponsor (person)
- Shaheen — cosponsor (person)
- Shine — cosponsor (person)
- Smith — cosponsor (person)
- Smithee — cosponsor (person)
- Springer — cosponsor (person)
- Stucky — cosponsor (person)
- Swanson — cosponsor (person)
- Thompson, Ed — cosponsor (person)
- Tinderholt — cosponsor (person)
- Toth — cosponsor (person)
- VanDeaver — cosponsor (person)
- White — cosponsor (person)
- Wray — cosponsor (person)
- Zaffirini — cosponsor (person)
- Zedler — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-02-25** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing`
- **2019-02-25** Filed `filing`
- **2019-03-01** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-03-01** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-07** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2019-03-07** Meeting cancelled
- **2019-03-11** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2019-03-11** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-03-11** Testimony taken in committee
- **2019-03-13** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-13** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2019-03-18** Co-author authorized
- **2019-03-18** Placed on intent calendar
- **2019-03-20** Co-author authorized
- **2019-03-20** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2019-03-20** Read 2nd time & passed to engrossment
- **2019-03-20** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-03-20** Three day rule suspended
- **2019-03-20** Record vote
- **2019-03-20** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-03-20** Passed `passage`
- **2019-03-20** Record vote
- **2019-03-20** Reported engrossed
- **2019-03-21** Received from the Senate `introduction`
- **2019-03-28** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-03-28** Referred to Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-25** Considered in formal meeting
- **2019-04-25** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage`
- **2019-04-26** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
- **2019-04-26** Committee report distributed
- **2019-04-29** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2019-05-15** Considered in Calendars
- **2019-05-17** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2019-05-17** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2019-05-17** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2019-05-17** Record vote
- **2019-05-17** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-17** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2019-05-17** Record vote
- **2019-05-17** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-17** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2019-05-17** Record vote
- **2019-05-17** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-17** Passed to 3rd reading as amended
- **2019-05-17** Record vote
- **2019-05-17** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-17** Constitutional three day rule suspended
- **2019-05-17** Record vote
- **2019-05-17** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-05-17** Passed `passage`
- **2019-05-17** Record vote
- **2019-05-17** Nonrecord vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-19** House passage as amended reported
- **2019-05-20** House amendment(s) laid before the Senate
- **2019-05-20** Read
- **2019-05-20** Senate refuses to concur
- **2019-05-20** Senate requests conference committee
- **2019-05-20** Senate appoints conferees
- **2019-05-20** Senate refuses to concur-reported
- **2019-05-20** Senate requests conference committee-reported
- **2019-05-20** Senate appoints conferees-reported
- **2019-05-22** House grants request for conference committee
- **2019-05-22** House appoints conferees
- **2019-05-22** House grants request for conf comm-reported
- **2019-05-22** House appoints conferees-reported
- **2019-05-23** Conference committee report filed
- **2019-05-24** Conf. Comm. Report distributed
- **2019-05-25** House adopts conference committee report
- **2019-05-25** Record vote
- **2019-05-25** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-25** House adopts conf. comm. report-reported
- **2019-05-25** Senate adopts conference committee report
- **2019-05-25** Record vote
- **2019-05-25** Reported enrolled
- **2019-05-26** Senate adopts conf. comm. report-reported
- **2019-05-26** Signed in the Senate
- **2019-05-26** Signed in the House
- **2019-05-26** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-10** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2019-06-10** Effective on 9/1/19 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/91730452-24ed-4015-a448-f5858c0f906e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).