Texas Sues California for State Worker Travel Ban, Calling It ‘Economic Warfare’

Texas has filed suit against California at the U.S. Supreme Court over a California ban on travel by state employees to Texas at state expense.

California instituted the ban in 2017 “on account of the discriminatory nature of laws” enacted Texas, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said at the time.

AB 1887, the California law under which Becerra acted, prohibits state-funded and state-sponsored travel to states with any law that “authorizes or requires discrimination against same-sex couples or their families or on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”

Becerra identified Texas as having a discriminatory law because in 2017 the Legislature enacted HB 3859, which Becerra said “allows foster care agencies to discriminate against children in foster care and potentially disqualify LGBT families from the state’s foster and adoption system.”

That meant that California employees could no longer travel to Texas for work purposes, with a few exceptions, such as for litigation, law enforcement, or to meet a training requirement of a grant program. California also imposed a travel ban on Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee.

Nothing in the Texas Family Code prohibits gay adoption, and all adults are eligible to adopt whether they are single or married. But under HB 3859, Texas child welfare providers are allowed to deny adoptions of children in their care based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the California law, saying it punishes Texas for creating religious-liberty exceptions in its foster care law.

Paxton said in a press release, “Texas respects and honors the religious beliefs of its citizens. California lawmakers do not.”

He added, “Texas partners with a diverse array of agencies to expand the number of safe and loving homes available to children. California’s opposition to diverse and inclusive options for foster children, along with its decision to utilize commerce as a tool of economic warfare, divide the nation and demonstrate a disregard for the safety and well-being of Texas children.”

Texas’ suit references Supreme Court precedent set in the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case, which affirmed a Colorado baker ‘s right to refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who authored the 7–2 majority opinion in the case, wrote that the Colorado Commission “showed elements of a clear and impermissible hostility toward the sincere religious beliefs motivating [the baker’s] objection.”

Paxton referred to that case, saying that California lawmakers had belittled and disparaged sincerely held religious beliefs — a claim that, if proven to be true, could put California afoul of the standard set by Masterpiece Cakeshop.

The Texas Attorney General is also arguing that the California law undermines national unity in a way the U.S. Constitution is meant ot prevent: “Boycotting states based on nothing more than political disagreement breaks down the ability of states to serve as laboratories of democracy while still working together as one nation — the very thing our Constitution intended to prevent.”

For his part, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra told Washington, D.C.-based Politico, “We’re reviewing the complaint… In California, we have chosen not to use taxpayer money to support laws discriminating against the LGBTQ community.”

Becerra’s office also said in a 2017 statement justifying the travel ban, “Discriminatory laws in any part of our country send all of us several steps back. That’s why when California said we would not tolerate discrimination against LGBTQ members of our community, we meant it.”

According to the lawsuit, a number of planned visits by Californians had to be canceled because of the travel ban. For example, public university scholars seeking to attend a research symposium for women in mathematics in Houston last year were unable to attend.

Likewise, several students from California Polytechnic State University had to cancel a planned visit to the National Organization of Minority Architects in Houston, because they could no longer secure school funding.