AUSTIN — A controversial “bathroom bill” that was part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s agenda failed to pass during a special session but questions persist about whether it could return in a yet another called session. 

A version of the proposal, which also foundered during the regular session, where it was a top priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, sparked opposition from corporate leaders from dozens of Fortune 500 companies, and projections from the Keep Texas Open for Business coalition that passing a bathroom bill could cost some $5.6 billion in statewide revenue loss through 2026.

So-called “privacy” bills governing transgender use of restrooms not only polarized Texas residents, but also Republican lawmakers in Austin.

University of Houston political scientist Brandon Rottinghaus said that moderate House Republicans, led by Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, “needed some extra oomph” to fight a bathroom bill and that big-business opposition “gave them the coverage they needed to say no” and shut it down.

A federal court decision earlier this week could provide an opportunity for the governor to bring lawmakers back for a second called session to address “an impermissible racial gerrymander” in two congressional districts. 

Whether to turn it over to the Legislature or to the courts is up to the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton. 

A call to Paxton’s office for comment on his decision was not immediately returned. 

But if state lawmakers were called back to fix the problems with the Congressional districts, which the court ruled violate the Voting Rights Act and Constitution, it could open the door to adding a bathroom bill yet again, should the governor, who has sole power to set special-session agendas, make it a priority.

Abbott has not ruled out the possibility of a second special session. 

While privacy legislation was an Abbott priority for the just-concluded special session, his top agenda item was property tax reform, which like the bathroom legislation failed to pass.

“The biggest issue is, does the governor call us back for property tax,” said state Drew Springer, R-Muenster.

The New York Times this week reported the lieutenant governor as saying that “next session,” a bathroom bill would be back. 

“You know why it’s going to be back next session? Because the people will demand it,” the Times said Patrick told reporters on Tuesday night. “The issue is not going to go away.”

In both recent sessions, bathroom bills passed the Senate, where Patrick, a social conservative presides.

In the House, under Straus’ leadership, the bathroom bills were bottled up and never got a vote on the floor. 

Rottinghaus said that the key conflict of the special session, which ended earlier this week, was the unsuccessful effort on the part of the Senate to assert itself against the House.

“The House,” Rottinghaus said, “has made it clear that it’s first among equals.”

The governor’s office did not respond immediately on Thursday to a request for comment on another session, but he addressed it in a recent KTRH radio interview. 

“So I’m going to be making decisions later on about whether we call another special session,” Abbott said, “but in the meantime, what we must do is we need to all work to get more support for these priorities and to eliminate or try to dissolve the difference between the House and the Senate on these issues so we can get at a minimum an up-or-down vote on these issues or to pass it.”

State Rep. DeWayne Burns, R-Cleburne, supported bathroom legislation.

But Burns would not opine on whether another run at a bathroom bill — something that has already failed twice this year — might prompt Abbott to call another special session to reconsider the issue, or to add it to a session convened to deal with gerrymandering issues. 

“I hate to speculate on what might break that log jam,” Burns said, “but I wish we could.”

Rottinghaus said that as things now stand, Abbott would not benefit politically from calling a special session on bathroom legislation, or from adding such a bill to a session convened to deal with gerrymandering or property taxes. 

“A special session called on the bathroom bill would be a disaster and make him look institutionally weak,” Rottinghaus said. “And it would make him look like he’s wasting taxpayers’ money on an issue he knows will not pass.”

John Austin covers the Texas Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jaustin@cnhi.com.