Release: New Texas Laws Update!! Texas: Take Effect Next Week

Austin, TX – August 28, 2025 – New laws in Texas impacting faith, family, & freedom go into effect September 1, 2025. After every Texas Legislative Session, most laws that are passed and signed by the Governor, go into effect starting on September 1st. Some particularly important bills are included below with expanded discussion and analysis from our law and policy team who served as expert witnesses on many of these new laws while they were being heard in the legislature, and are available for comment. 

Laws Impacting Public Schools

• SB 10 requires the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools at all public elementary and secondary schools in each classroom beginning this upcoming 2025–2026 school year. The bill specifies the exact wording of the Ten Commandments to ensure uniformity across schools and allows for privately donated materials. The Ten Commandments Law is currently undergoing litigation. Judge Fred Biery ruled against the Texas Ten Commandments Law, however, this ruling only applies to a few school districts in Texas, and his ruling has been appealed by the Texas Attorney General’s Office. (Alamo Heights Independent School District, North East Independent School District, Lackland Independent School District, Austin Independent School District, Northside Independent School District, Lake Travis Independent School District, Dripping Springs Independent School District, Houston Independent School District, Fort Bend Independent School District, Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District, and Plano Independent School District.) Texas Attorney General’s office sent a letter to all Texas Independent School Districts not enjoined by ongoing litigation. Texas Values ally, First Liberty Institute, sent a letter to 1,200 Texas school superintendents encouraging continued compliance with Texas Ten Commandments Law. To learn more of order posters for schools near you, visit TenCommandmentsTexas.com. 
• SB 12Parents’ Bill of Rights focuses on strengthening parental rights in public education. Key protections include:
  • Preventing public schools from infringing on parents’ rights to direct their child’s moral, religious, and educational upbringing
  • Prohibiting DEI hiring and training
  • Banning instruction and guidance on harmful sexual orientation and gender identity concepts in K-12 public schools
  • Prohibiting public schools from infringing on parents’ rights to make decisions regarding a child’s medical treatment
  • Sex Education is “opt in” not “opt out.” Requires public school districts to first have permission from parents before the school can teach their child Sex Education content. Sex education is not required at all under state law.
• SB 13 strengthens parental oversight in public school libraries, and requires school districts to establish local school library advisory councils—composed mainly of parents not employed by the district—to provide recommendations on library material standards and access policies. The bill mandates that school boards (or these advisory councils, if established by parent petition) have ultimate authority over library content, including the approval, removal, or retention of books based on complaints and community values. This bill expands on HB 900 (2023), which prohibits harmful and explicit content in school libraries. 
• SB 11 allows public schools to create a period of voluntary prayer or reading of the Bible. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 597 U.S. — (2022): also known as “The Coach Kennedy Supreme Court case” solidified the fact that teachers, coaches and school employees all have the constitutional right to pray on a public school campus. SB 965 (2025) codified the Kennedy decision in Texas.
• SB 965 relates to the right of a public-school employee to engage in religious speech or prayer while on duty. This bill puts the essence of an important U.S. Supreme Court decision from 2022 upholding religious freedom (Kennedy v. Bremerton) into state law to ensure clarity for state court judges and longevity of religious freedom protections.
• HB 100 returns the complete authority back to the elected Texas State Board of Education (15 members spread out in geographic districts across the state) to select instructional materials for all public schools in the state. Instructional materials submitting a bid for consideration by the state board must meet 100% of the Texas Essential Knowledge Skills teaching standards, preventing schools from using unapproved instructional materials.
• HB 824 adopts civics instruction in public school as a part of the government curriculum requirements for high school students.
• SB 413 requires that the board of trustees of independent school districts post their meeting minutes on the district’s internet website and requires all school board meetings to be recorded, allowing parents to have more insight into the decisions made regarding their children’s school districts. 
• SB 2 establishes a statewideEducation Savings Account (ESA)or “School Choice” program which allows eligible students to receive public funding to use for approved educational expenses such as private school tuition, instructional materials, online courses, and educational therapies. As a result, parents have greater control over their child’s education, choosing the best educational environment—public, private, charter, or home-based—for their needs.

Other Laws Impacting Faith, Family, & Freedom

• SB 33 (Not Tax Dollars for Abortion Travel etc) explicitly bans governmental, including local government entities from spending or appropriating public money for the purpose of assisting in the procurement of abortions or providing logistical support for such services. The City of Austin has been providing money to “abortion assistance” organizations for years which fund transportation (out of state), lodging, childcare, and other expenses for women seeking abortions out of state, in an attempt to circumvent current pro-life laws. The City of San Antonio is currently being sued for using tax-payer dollars to traffic women across state lines for abortions. This bill will make sure that life is protected in the state and women aren’t sent to obtain a dangerous procedure that is against the law in Texas.  
• HB 229 (What Is a Woman Law) establishes a legal definition of biological sex in Texas Government Code and mandates that all governmental entities collecting vital statistics or other data related to sex must classify individuals strictly as either “male” or “female” based on biological reproductive capacity. It relates to claims of discrimination where most transgender individuals abuse the law to gain access to women’s spaces. The Women’s Bill of Rights will make sure that women’s sports, private spaces, and opportunities are protected. Save Women’s Sports leaders Riley Gaines and Brooke Slusser strongly supported this bill. This bill received bipartisan support and is headed to Gov. Abbott’s desk and Gov. Abbott has already posted on social media that he will sign this new law. 
• $200 Million in funding for Moms and Babies. The Texas Legislature approved a budget increase to protect life. The Texas Legislature approved funding of $210 million for the Thriving Texas Families Program which serves to give mothers a better alternative to abortion by funding pregnancy resource centers and other agencies that can provide helpful resources and guidance for successful family formation. This will continue to help the thousands of babies that are being saved by the Texas Heartbeat Law and by Roe v. Wade being overturned. 
• SB 1257 Ensures Adequate Health Care Coverage for Detransitioners – often people who attempt to live outside of the biological reality of their own sex, decide later that they want to change back to their original sex (detransition). Often insurance companies will provide coverage for the transition, but not the detransition. SB 1257 makes it clear that if the insurance provides coverage for the transition, they also have to provide coverage for the detransition. Detransitioners like Chloe Cole have brought this issue into the spotlight. 
• SCR 19 (Texas Life Monument on Capitol Grounds) authorizes the State Preservation Board to approve the construction of a “Texas Life Monument” at the State Capitol Complex, specifically on a site outside of the historic Capitol grounds as a way of celebrating the miracle of life. The monument will be the same as the National Life Monument in Washington, DC. The monument is of a mother with a world shaped womb with a child in the center. This bill sends a statement that Texas is pro-life.  
• HB 1106 protects parents who want to affirm their child’s God-given identity. In some parts of the country, kids are being removed from their homes whenever a parent does not agree with the child’s gender identity. This law will make sure that parents are not accused of child abuse whenever they disagree with their child choosing a gender identity separate from their sex. 
• SB 1188 provides definitions for “male” and “female”, and “biological sex” and requires electronic health records to accurately reflect these terms. The bill also defines “sexual development disorder’ in order to counter false claims of persons being “intersex”, which is often used for men to claim they are women.
• SB 1388 clarifies and reinforces that organizations under the Thriving Texas Family Program are pro-life organizations.
• SJR 34 affirms the constitutional right of parents raising their children as they see fit.  
• SB 1233 requires doctors to offer perinatal palliative care to babies diagnosed with severe conditions in the womb. Doctors are required by law to educate mothers on the diagnosis. This bill will encourage women to choose life for their child and to not be pressured to abort their babies.
• HB 3284 creates the Texas Commission on Marriage and Family.
• SB 412 repeals the “affirmative defense” in criminal code that allows showing sexual content to a minor for educational purposes. This will inhibit the ability of Texas public schools to allow obscene and age-inappropriate content for Texas students.

Jonathan Saenz, President and Attorney for Texas Values, released the following statement:

“The 2025 Texas Legislature focused on restoring values in Texas by returning the Ten Commandments to classrooms, restoring parental rights, and restoring confidence in common sense truths like stating in law a clear and accurate definition of male and female. These new Texas laws are what Texas voters asked for, and many of them received bipartisan support because these new laws create real solutions, to real problems.”

Members of the Texas Values law & policy team are available for comment. Contact Ashley at media@txvalues.org or (737) 314-2450 (m) to schedule an interview.

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About Texas Values 

Texas Values is the largest statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to standing for faith, family, and freedom in Texas. More information is available at txvalues.org.