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Texas House on Monday gave tentative approval of what is known as the Star Spangled Banner Protection Act, a conservatively-backed bill that requires professional sports teams that have contracts with the state of Texas to play the national anthem before a national anthem begins game .
Senate Bill 4 was passed with one vote without voting by the House. It is expected to receive a record vote and final passage on Tuesday and go to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk.
The House Republicans defeated several party-model amendments, signaling more division in the lower chamber than in the Senate, which passed the bill last month with overwhelming support from both parties and only two votes against.
Athletes protesting the national anthem has become a divisive and partisan topic since NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling in 2016 in protest at police brutality against black Americans.
In February, Patrick named the bill one of his legislative priorities after Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, stopped playing the anthem ahead of home games, which went largely unnoticed during the pandemic with no fans in the stands.
This decision quickly drew the ire of conservative lawmakers in the state.
“Sell the franchise and some Texas Patriots will buy it,” Patrick said in a tweet at the time. “We are the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
In a public response to the outcry condemning his decision, the Cuban expressed support for the anthem but said that the team’s leaders “also hear aloud the voices of those who feel the anthem does not represent them “. The NBA later said all teams would play the anthem before the games.
During Monday’s debate on the House floor, opponents questioned the constitutionality of a law that they believe links funding with freedom of speech by threatening negative action against sports teams who express their views by refusing to Playing anthem.
“We have laws back that are openly and aggressively unconstitutional,” said Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat who tried unsuccessfully to convert the bill into a resolution that allowed the House to stand up for the anthem without the Force The Law.
Bill sponsor Dustin Burrows Rep. R-Lubbock said the bill does not violate free speech as teams can still choose not to play the anthem and forego funding and doing business with the state.
“It’s very simple. If they don’t want to play the national anthem, they don’t take the taxpayers’ money,” said Burrows. “If we want to subsidize the sports facilities and the hard-earned US dollar teams in the different ways that I think according to what is expressed in this bill, then that would be the case. “
Democratic attempts to require teams to play both the Star-Spangled Banner and Lift Every Voice and Sing, or to choose between them, have been halted by party politics.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is popularly known as “the black national anthem,” said Jasmine Felicia Crockett, D-Dallas MP, who drafted one of the amendments.
“I don’t even understand why we’d feel the need to make someone sing a song,” said Crockett. “But if we want to force people to sing a song, we should at least consider the people who play on these teams, the people who actually stand in the stands and support these teams.”
Burrows rejected the amendments “with the utmost respect for my friend and colleague” because he wanted to avoid changes to the bill that would slow the governor’s progress in the last week of the legislature.
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