Texas Schools And The Unraveling Of The F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Bill

Texas is getting close to the end of its legislative session, and it has been a wild one. It's still far from over, though, and there is still plenty of controversy to go around.

Most recently, the bill regarding furries in classrooms has crept back into the news after it hit a snag. It looks like the bill may be dead in the water after failing to make its way out of committee.

The Bill Banning Litter Boxes In Texas Classrooms Gets Hung Up In Committee

News reports have been coming out regarding HB 4814, the Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education Act. The text of the bill also refers to it as the F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act.

You have to admit that kind of creativity in politics is almost cute. I wonder how long it took someone to come up with that acronym. It's kind of like one of those Gary Busey motivational "Buseyisms".

It is one of a handful of controversial and headline-stealing bills that have been introduced this year. The F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act has garnered all kinds of attention from both supporters and opponents.

The F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act seems to have met its demise after getting hung up in committee. It's a fate a lot of bills receive during legislative sessions. It was supposed to have been done by Monday.

What Would The F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act Do In Texas If It Passed

This act would have banned any non-human behavior in schools. The text of the bill actually lists out several types of behavior that it would ban.

I never thought I would read the words "using a litter box for the passing of stool, urine, or other human byproducts" in a piece of legislation, but here we are in 2025 with the F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act. It also bans:

leashes
collars
tails
fur
barking
meowing
licking yourself or someone else for the purpose of grooming

The list goes on. You can read it on page 5 of the bill for yourself by following this link.

Is There A Furry Problem In Texas Schools

This is where things get dicey. It has been believed for several years now that some school districts are allowing students to behave like literal animals, even to the point of providing litter boxes.

Unfortunately, it's hard to come up with hard evidence of this happening. There have been several cases over the past few years where these types of claims have been debunked by school districts across the country, including in Texas.

That isn't stopping some Texas lawmakers from making sure homo sapiens behave like homo sapiens. That's the whole point of this bill.

Opponents of the legislation aren't for kids acting like feral cats in the classroom. They're concerned that there are more pressing matters, and that this bill is attacking a problem that simply doesn't exist.

With the end of the Texas legislative session around the corner, the fate of the F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act may finally be sealed as it has failed to make it out of committee.