Report: Texas Bathroom Bill Diverted From School, Tax Issues
AUSTIN, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — A new report on keeping Texas prosperous says legislators in 2017 unnecessarily diverted attention from topics like education and taxes to concentrate on a failed "bathroom bill."
Tuesday's report from the House Select Committee on Economic Competitiveness was based on public hearings and testimony from more than 40 witnesses in business, law enforcement, education and local communities.
The bathroom bill would have barred transgender people from using public bathrooms of their choice.
Some business leaders said the bill could cost Texas billions in boycotts and lost jobs.
The panel's chairman, GOP Rep. Byron Cook of Corsicana, says businesses became involved in the fight against the "divisive and pointless legislation," which faltered during the regular and special sessions.
Cook says the bathroom bill was "ineffectual" and "dangerous" to the Texas economy.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)