The above video is from KXAN coverage that aired on Sept. 22, 2025.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released an online form Wednesday for Texans to file complaints against publicly owned facilities, marking the first statewide step in enforcing Senate Bill 8.
The law requires state agencies and political subdivisions to take “reasonable steps” to ensure people only use government-owned, sex-segregated private spaces that match their assigned sex at birth. It took effect Dec. 4.
An important caveat of SB 8 is that it doesn’t prohibit private individuals from using affected spaces, nor does it permit other private individuals to impede use of those spaces.
Instead, the law can lead to the Texas AG issuing fines to the entities after written complaints, if the facility’s managers don’t take steps to remedy the alleged offense.
The complaint process requires a person to have given a letter to the facility about its alleged violation of SB 8. That letter, along with the filer’s willingness to testify or sign an affidavit, are required before the Texas AG can take legal action.
The AG’s form asks for the filer’s name, contact info and home address. Beyond personal information, filers must also describe what they believe happened, when it was observed, where it happened, and a “description of evidence.”
The form also has upload fields for the letter and for photos.
Texas law still holds that invasive visual recording is a state jail felony. U.S. Fifth Circuit Court appellate judges issued a relevant ruling on Dec. 9 that taking photos of transgender women in restrooms is likely not protected under the First Amendment.
“It is highly unlikely, to say the least, that there is a First Amendment right to distribute, without their consent, images of a person’s genitalia or other anatomy … while utilizing bathroom facilities,” the judges wrote. “It is also far from clear that there is a First Amendment right to capture and distribute an image, without their permission, of a fully clothed adult while in a public bathroom.”