---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to expressive activities at public institutions of higher education."
description: "Relating to expressive activities at public institutions of higher education."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "89R"
identifier: "SB 2972"
citation: "Texas SB 2972 (89R)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Remedies & Liabilities (I0065)", "Education--Higher--Institutions & Programs (I0223)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Creighton", "Leach"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 87
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2025-03-14"
last_action: "2025-06-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9475867b-b651-4aa6-b6fd-fd55a3ae0beb"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/89R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB02900_SB02999/SB 2972.xml"
source_hash: "3b7a33e3e31af01f4b7fd71a3e3fc77c88a966b935a98c60be9a6ec394c217f1"
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 2972 (89R) — Relating to 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://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB02972I.HTM)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB02972E.HTM)
3. **House Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB02972H.HTM)
4. **Senate Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB02972S.HTM)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB02972F.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **22–9** (pass) · upper
- passage — **97–39** (pass) · lower
- passage — **97–39** (pass) · lower
- passage — **97–39** (pass) · upper
- passage — **21–10** (pass) · upper
- passage — **111–27** (pass) · lower
- passage — **21–10** (pass) · upper
- passage — **21–10** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Creighton — primary (person)
- Leach — primary (person)
- King — cosponsor (person)
- Kolkhorst — cosponsor (person)
- Middleton — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-03-14** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing, introduction`
- **2025-03-14** Filed `filing`
- **2025-04-07** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-04-07** Referred to Education K-16 `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-16** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2025-04-16** Considered in public hearing
- **2025-04-16** Testimony taken in committee
- **2025-04-16** Left pending in committee
- **2025-04-23** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2025-04-23** Considered in public hearing
- **2025-04-23** Vote taken in committee
- **2025-04-28** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-28** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2025-05-09** Placed on intent calendar
- **2025-05-13** Co-author authorized
- **2025-05-13** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2025-05-13** Record vote
- **2025-05-13** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2025-05-13** Amendment(s) offered `amendment-introduction`
- **2025-05-13** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2025-05-13** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-05-13** Passed to engrossment as amended `amendment-passage`
- **2025-05-13** Record vote
- **2025-05-14** Co-author authorized
- **2025-05-14** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2025-05-14** Record vote
- **2025-05-14** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2025-05-14** Passed `passage`
- **2025-05-14** Record vote
- **2025-05-14** Reported engrossed
- **2025-05-15** Received from the Senate `introduction`
- **2025-05-16** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-05-16** Referred to Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2025-05-19** Considered in formal meeting
- **2025-05-19** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-05-20** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator `filing`
- **2025-05-20** Committee report distributed
- **2025-05-21** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2025-05-22** Considered in Calendars
- **2025-05-24** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2025-05-27** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2025-05-27** Postponed
- **2025-05-27** Laid out as postponed business
- **2025-05-27** Postponed
- **2025-05-27** Laid out as postponed business
- **2025-05-27** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2025-05-27** Record vote
- **2025-05-27** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-05-27** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2025-05-27** Record vote
- **2025-05-27** Passed to 3rd reading as amended `amendment-passage`
- **2025-05-27** Record vote
- **2025-05-27** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-05-28** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2025-05-28** Passed `passage`
- **2025-05-28** Record vote
- **2025-05-28** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-05-28** House passage as amended reported `amendment-passage`
- **2025-05-29** House amendment(s) laid before the Senate
- **2025-05-29** Read
- **2025-05-29** Senate refuses to concur
- **2025-05-29** Senate requests conference committee
- **2025-05-29** Senate appoints conferees
- **2025-05-29** Senate refuses to concur-reported
- **2025-05-29** Senate requests conference committee-reported
- **2025-05-29** Senate appoints conferees-reported
- **2025-05-30** House grants request for conference committee
- **2025-05-30** House appoints conferees
- **2025-05-30** House grants request for conf comm-reported
- **2025-05-30** House appoints conferees-reported
- **2025-05-31** Conference committee report filed `filing`
- **2025-05-31** Conf. Comm. Report distributed
- **2025-06-01** House adopts resolution to go outside bounds
- **2025-06-01** House adopts conference committee report `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-01** Record vote
- **2025-06-01** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-06-01** Senate adopts resolution to go outside bounds
- **2025-06-01** Senate adopts conference committee report `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-01** Record vote
- **2025-06-01** House adopts conf. comm. report-reported
- **2025-06-01** Reported enrolled `enrolled`
- **2025-06-02** Senate adopts conf. comm. report-reported
- **2025-06-02** Signed in the Senate `passage`
- **2025-06-02** Signed in the House `passage`
- **2025-06-03** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-06-20** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-06-20** Effective on 9/1/25 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9475867b-b651-4aa6-b6fd-fd55a3ae0beb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).