---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to the right of a public school employee to engage in religious speech or prayer while on duty."
description: "Relating to the right of a public school employee to engage in religious speech or prayer while on duty."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "89R"
identifier: "SB 965"
citation: "Texas SB 965 (89R)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education--Primary & Secondary--General (I0230)", "Religion (I0646)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bettencourt", "Campbell", "Creighton", "Hall", "Hinojosa, Adam", "Kolkhorst", "Leach", "Middleton", "Parker", "Paxton"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 59
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2025-01-29"
last_action: "2025-06-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0fa573f8-e0e0-42ff-8425-a8a0aaac6dce"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/89R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB00900_SB00999/SB 965.xml"
source_hash: "57b256b4da30d8ac20210d448c256f406e6425d7d7b3854ca7a49f67dbeb9ad3"
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 965 (89R) — Relating to the right of a public school employee to engage in religious speech or prayer while on duty.

## 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/SB00965I.HTM)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00965E.HTM)
3. **House Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00965H.HTM)
4. **Senate Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00965S.HTM)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00965F.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **20–11** (pass) · upper
- passage — **20–11** (pass) · upper
- passage — **20–11** (pass) · upper
- other — **11–20** (fail) · upper
- passage — **86–48** (pass) · lower
- passage — **84–52** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bettencourt — primary (person)
- Campbell — primary (person)
- Creighton — primary (person)
- Hall — primary (person)
- Hinojosa, Adam — primary (person)
- Kolkhorst — primary (person)
- Leach — primary (person)
- Middleton — primary (person)
- Parker — primary (person)
- Paxton — primary (person)
- Alders — cosponsor (person)
- Bonnen — cosponsor (person)
- Buckley — cosponsor (person)
- Cain — cosponsor (person)
- Capriglione — cosponsor (person)
- Cook — cosponsor (person)
- Curry — cosponsor (person)
- DeAyala — cosponsor (person)
- Dorazio — cosponsor (person)
- Flores — cosponsor (person)
- Harrison — cosponsor (person)
- Hefner — cosponsor (person)
- Hickland — cosponsor (person)
- Hopper — cosponsor (person)
- Hull — cosponsor (person)
- Isaac — cosponsor (person)
- Kerwin — cosponsor (person)
- King — cosponsor (person)
- LaHood — cosponsor (person)
- Leo Wilson — cosponsor (person)
- Little — cosponsor (person)
- Lozano — cosponsor (person)
- McLaughlin — cosponsor (person)
- Metcalf — cosponsor (person)
- Morgan — cosponsor (person)
- Noble — cosponsor (person)
- Olcott — cosponsor (person)
- Oliverson — cosponsor (person)
- Patterson — cosponsor (person)
- Paul — cosponsor (person)
- Pierson — cosponsor (person)
- Schatzline — cosponsor (person)
- Shaheen — cosponsor (person)
- Slawson — cosponsor (person)
- Spiller — cosponsor (person)
- Swanson — cosponsor (person)
- Troxclair — cosponsor (person)
- Vasut — cosponsor (person)
- Virdell — cosponsor (person)
- Wharton — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-29** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing, introduction`
- **2025-01-29** Filed `filing`
- **2025-02-13** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-02-13** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-03** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2025-03-03** Considered in public hearing
- **2025-03-03** Testimony taken in committee
- **2025-03-03** Left pending in committee
- **2025-03-13** Considered in public hearing
- **2025-03-13** Vote taken in committee
- **2025-03-17** Reported favorably w/o amendments `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-17** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2025-03-17** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2025-03-24** Co-author authorized
- **2025-03-24** Placed on intent calendar
- **2025-04-01** Co-author authorized
- **2025-04-01** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2025-04-01** Record vote
- **2025-04-01** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2025-04-01** Amendment(s) offered `amendment-introduction`
- **2025-04-01** Amendment fails of adoption `amendment-failure`
- **2025-04-01** Record vote
- **2025-04-01** Passed to engrossment
- **2025-04-01** Record vote
- **2025-04-01** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2025-04-01** Record vote
- **2025-04-01** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2025-04-01** Passed `passage`
- **2025-04-01** Record vote
- **2025-04-01** Reported engrossed
- **2025-04-02** Received from the Senate `introduction`
- **2025-04-09** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-04-09** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2025-05-12** Considered in public hearing
- **2025-05-12** Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
- **2025-05-12** Left pending in committee
- **2025-05-12** Considered in formal meeting
- **2025-05-12** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-05-14** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator `filing`
- **2025-05-14** Committee report distributed
- **2025-05-15** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2025-05-19** Considered in Calendars
- **2025-05-21** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2025-05-22** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2025-05-22** Point of order withdrawn `withdrawal`
- **2025-05-22** Passed to 3rd reading
- **2025-05-22** Record vote
- **2025-05-22** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-05-23** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2025-05-23** Passed `passage`
- **2025-05-23** Record vote
- **2025-05-23** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-05-23** House passage reported `passage`
- **2025-05-23** Reported enrolled `enrolled`
- **2025-05-26** Signed in the Senate `passage`
- **2025-05-26** Signed in the House `passage`
- **2025-05-27** 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/0fa573f8-e0e0-42ff-8425-a8a0aaac6dce`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).