--- type: "Bill" title: "Relating to the protection of membership in, affiliation with, and support provided to religious organizations." description: "Relating to the protection of membership in, affiliation with, and support provided to religious organizations." jurisdiction: "us/states/tx" legislature: "Texas Legislature" session: "86" identifier: "SB 1978" citation: "Texas SB 1978 (86)" classification: ["bill"] subjects: ["City Government--Employees/Officers (I0061)", "County Government--Employees/Officers (I0095)", "Family--Marriage Relationship (I0350)", "Religion (I0646)", "State Agencies", "Boards & Commissions (I0749)", "State Employees (I0626)", "ATTORNEY GENERAL (V2811)"] status: "enacted" primary_sponsors: ["Hughes", "Krause", "Oliverson", "Phelan", "Sanford"] version_count: 1 action_count: 81 vote_count: 8 first_action: "2019-03-07" last_action: "2019-06-10" source: "openstates" source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ab895bac-6eb5-4923-8e89-d16af8eb5d52" source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/86R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB01900_SB01999/SB 1978.xml" source_hash: "3c09e20ff282c46635820a61bf939294428bbb62bf6c050c6e1e6c5330f2600e" 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 1978 (86) — Relating to the protection of membership in, affiliation with, and support provided to religious organizations. ## 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/SB01978I.HTM) ## Votes - passage — **79–62** (pass) · lower - passage — **79–64** (pass) · lower - other — **12–19** (fail) · upper - other — **12–19** (fail) · upper - passage — **19–12** (pass) · upper - other — **12–19** (fail) · upper - passage — **19–12** (pass) · upper - passage — **19–12** (pass) · upper ## Sponsors - Hughes — primary (person) - Krause — primary (person) - Oliverson — primary (person) - Phelan — primary (person) - Sanford — primary (person) - Allison — cosponsor (person) - Anderson, Charles "Doc" — cosponsor (person) - Ashby — cosponsor (person) - Bell, Cecil — cosponsor (person) - Bell, Keith — cosponsor (person) - Bettencourt — cosponsor (person) - Biedermann — cosponsor (person) - Bohac — cosponsor (person) - Bonnen, Greg — cosponsor (person) - Buckley — cosponsor (person) - Burns — cosponsor (person) - Burrows — cosponsor (person) - Cain — 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) - Frullo — cosponsor (person) - Guillen — cosponsor (person) - Hall — cosponsor (person) - Harris — cosponsor (person) - Hefner — cosponsor (person) - Holland — cosponsor (person) - Huberty — cosponsor (person) - Kacal — cosponsor (person) - King, Phil — cosponsor (person) - Klick — cosponsor (person) - Kolkhorst — cosponsor (person) - Kuempel — cosponsor (person) - Lambert — cosponsor (person) - Landgraf — cosponsor (person) - Lang — cosponsor (person) - Leach — cosponsor (person) - Leman — cosponsor (person) - Lozano — cosponsor (person) - Metcalf — cosponsor (person) - Middleton — cosponsor (person) - Miller — cosponsor (person) - Morrison — cosponsor (person) - Murphy — cosponsor (person) - Murr — cosponsor (person) - Nelson — cosponsor (person) - Noble — cosponsor (person) - Paddie — cosponsor (person) - Parker — cosponsor (person) - Patterson — cosponsor (person) - Paul — cosponsor (person) - Perry — cosponsor (person) - Raney — cosponsor (person) - Schaefer — cosponsor (person) - Shaheen — cosponsor (person) - Shine — cosponsor (person) - Smith — cosponsor (person) - Smithee — cosponsor (person) - Springer — cosponsor (person) - Stephenson — cosponsor (person) - Stickland — cosponsor (person) - Stucky — cosponsor (person) - Swanson — cosponsor (person) - Thompson, Ed — cosponsor (person) - Tinderholt — cosponsor (person) - Toth — cosponsor (person) - VanDeaver — cosponsor (person) - White — cosponsor (person) - Wilson — cosponsor (person) - Wray — cosponsor (person) - Zedler — cosponsor (person) ## Timeline The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote. - **2019-03-07** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing` - **2019-03-07** Filed `filing` - **2019-03-19** Read first time `introduction, reading-1` - **2019-03-19** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee` - **2019-05-07** Co-author authorized - **2019-05-13** Posting rule suspended - **2019-05-13** Considered in public hearing - **2019-05-13** Reported favorably w/o amendments `committee-passage-favorable` - **2019-05-13** Committee report printed and distributed - **2019-05-14** Placed on intent calendar - **2019-05-15** Co-author authorized - **2019-05-15** Rules suspended-Regular order of business - **2019-05-15** Record vote - **2019-05-15** Read 2nd time `reading-2` - **2019-05-15** Amendment(s) offered `amendment-introduction` - **2019-05-15** Point of order - **2019-05-15** Point of order overruled - **2019-05-15** Amendment to amendment offered - **2019-05-15** Substitute amendment offered - **2019-05-15** Amendment fails of adoption - **2019-05-15** Record vote - **2019-05-15** Amendment amended `amendment-amendment` - **2019-05-15** Record vote - **2019-05-15** Amendment adopted as amended - **2019-05-15** Record vote - **2019-05-15** Amendment(s) offered `amendment-introduction` - **2019-05-15** Amendment withdrawn `amendment-withdrawal` - **2019-05-15** Amendment(s) offered `amendment-introduction` - **2019-05-15** Amendment fails of adoption - **2019-05-15** Record vote - **2019-05-15** Amendment(s) offered `amendment-introduction` - **2019-05-15** Amendment fails of adoption - **2019-05-15** Record vote - **2019-05-15** Passed to engrossment as amended - **2019-05-15** Record vote - **2019-05-16** Co-author authorized - **2019-05-16** Rules suspended-Regular order of business - **2019-05-16** Record vote - **2019-05-16** Read 3rd time `reading-3` - **2019-05-16** Passed `passage` - **2019-05-16** Record vote - **2019-05-16** Reason for vote recorded in Journal - **2019-05-16** Remarks ordered printed - **2019-05-16** Reported engrossed - **2019-05-16** Received from the Senate `introduction` - **2019-05-16** Read first time `introduction, reading-1` - **2019-05-16** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee` - **2019-05-17** Considered in formal meeting - **2019-05-17** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage` - **2019-05-17** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator - **2019-05-17** Committee report distributed - **2019-05-17** Committee report sent to Calendars - **2019-05-17** Considered in Calendars - **2019-05-20** Placed on Major State Calendar - **2019-05-20** Read 2nd time `reading-2` - **2019-05-20** Point of order overruled - **2019-05-20** Amended `amendment-passage` - **2019-05-20** Amendment(s) offered `amendment-introduction` - **2019-05-20** Point of order withdrawn (amendment) - **2019-05-20** Amendment fails of adoption - **2019-05-20** Record vote - **2019-05-20** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal - **2019-05-20** Passed to 3rd reading as amended - **2019-05-20** Record vote - **2019-05-20** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal - **2019-05-21** Read 3rd time `reading-3` - **2019-05-21** Passed `passage` - **2019-05-21** Record vote - **2019-05-21** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal - **2019-05-21** House passage as amended reported - **2019-05-23** House amendment(s) laid before the Senate - **2019-05-23** Read - **2019-05-23** Senate concurs in House amendment(s) - **2019-05-23** Record vote - **2019-05-23** Senate concurs in House amendment(s)-reported - **2019-05-23** Reported enrolled - **2019-05-25** Signed in the Senate - **2019-05-25** Signed in the House - **2019-05-25** 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/ab895bac-6eb5-4923-8e89-d16af8eb5d52`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).