By Anthony Gutierrez & Emily Eby French

The Texas legislative session ended on Monday, June 2. Legislators filed 8,719 bills this year, but they only passed 1,208 of them. Texas voters desperately needed many of the reforms that now lie in the legislative ash heap; we will have to wait at least two years for online voter registration, expanded voter IDs, and campaign finance reform. But bad bills fell too, and few were as bad–or fell as hard–as SB 16.

Senate Bill 16 would have required every Texan to show proof of citizenship documents in order to register to vote. Every new voter Và every currently registered voter would be facing a poorly defined “Show Me Your Papers” process in order to access their full ballot.

This conspiracy-based bill was a top priority for election deniers like President Donald Trump, Governor Greg Abbott, and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Trump included Proof of Citizenship in his (illegal) March Executive Order. Patrick designated SB 16 as an Emergency Item back in January, allowing him to speed it through the legislative process. All 20 Republican Senators signed on as co-authors, as did 53 of the 88 Republicans in the House.

SB 16 could easily have sailed through the Texas Legislature. Instead, we kept it from becoming law. 

Lots of factors contributed to the death of SB 16. One of the biggest factors: you! Thanks to months of hard work and tireless advocacy from Common Cause members like you, along with the hundreds of coalition partners, activists, and supporters of voting rights who showed up at committee hearings, sent emails, made calls, and spread the word across social media. 

Our friends at MOVE Texas ran the numbers:

Our top priority was defeating Senate Bill 16, a dangerous voter suppression bill that would have required documented proof of citizenship to register to vote. Thanks to months of hard work by you, our dedicated supporters, and coalition partners, SB 16 was quietly squashed by Texas lawmakers. Together, we mobilized 250+ public comments, 150+ in-person visits with lawmakers, 419 dropped cards and testimonies, and more. 

When SB 16 came up in the Senate, only 26 people registered for it. 314 people registered against it. When its companion (HB 5337) came up in the House, we testified until midnight. Texans said it loud and clear: this bill does not work for us.

But we know effective opposition is about more than just making lots of calls. We did that! But we also made a compelling argument on why this policy would disenfranchise countless Texans, with no added benefit to election security.

For example, take the House Elections Committee hearing on SB 16’s identical companion bill, HB 5337. 

The Vice Chair of the Elections Committee, Rep. John Bucy, asked the bill author basic questions that highlighted the many, many flaws of this undercooked legislation. 

It’s 8pm, and @BucyForTexas just gave a masterclass indicting a voter suppression bill.

HB3557 claims to be about stopping noncitizens from voting (which is already illegal).

Rep. Bucy makes it clear––Texas citizens, especially women, will be hurt by hurdles built by this bill. pic.twitter.com/7N20mEXnVv

— katya (@EhresmanKatya) April 25, 2025

Our friend Chase Bearden from the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities outlined this bill’s negative impact on the disability community. 

HB 5337 creates two separate paths to prove citizenship – treating some Texans as second-class citizens.

Chase Bearden w/ @TxDisabilities warns bifurcation means some voters couldn’t vote for President or Mayor – just Congress.

That’s not how a free republic treats its people. pic.twitter.com/ibR0CbQ3Qv

— katya (@EhresmanKatya) April 25, 2025

And our own Policy Director Emily Eby French pointed out the difficulties that women with married names (like herself) would face under SB 16. 

No one is as endearing as @emilyebytx when pointing out fatal errors in the Texas voter bill.

“That’s my name –– but it’s NOT what’s on my birth certificate.”

As written, HB3557 would hurt Texas women who may not be able to vote due to not-updated birth certificates. pic.twitter.com/GCPztguXOU

— katya (@EhresmanKatya) April 25, 2025

By the time that committee hearing ended, over 100 people had shown up in-person to register in opposition to the bill. Only five people showed up in favor. Of those who submitted public comments online, there were 230 in opposition. Only 30 comments showed support for the bill.

And throughout the hearing, the bill author failed over and over to answer specific questions about how the legislation would enact these new requirements without infringing on the voting rights of millions of Texans. When the time for her bill was over, she literally sprinted out of the committee room.

As we summed it up to the Associated Press: 

“The bill authors failed spectacularly to explain how this bill would be implemented and how it would be able to be implemented without inconveniencing a ton of voters,” said Anthony Gutierrez, director of the voting rights group Common Cause Texas.

This policy could always be brought up in a special session, or in 2027 when our legislature is set to convene again. But, for now, this is a big win for voting rights – and one that really shows that, when we show up and fight, even against the steepest of odds, we can win.