Jr. Hate Crimes Bill, recently passed out of the House Judicial Affairs Committee, and will soon make it to the floor for a vote. Please support the bill as passed out of committee. HB 938 carves no special privileges for any group. All individuals equally share the traits indentified in the bill. For example, every individual is a member of a race.
Every individual has a sexual orientation.
So, the bill protects any person who falls victim to a crime motivated by prejudice on these universal categories. HB 938 meets constitutional tests. The bill is drafted to track the language of the Wisconsin hate-crimes law that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld as constitutional. Furthermore, the bill meets the tests of equal protection in the Texas Constitution. The protected categories specified in the bill are universal traits held by everyone.