Texas Senate chief, lawmakers at odds over sexual harassment policy. Are changes coming?

Several current and former Texas senators are calling for change in the state's upper legislative chamber after a Texas Monthly investigation published Friday uncovered new sexual harassment allegations against two senators and found that lawmakers who are accused of sexually harassing or assaulting staff members are "seldom held accountable." Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, however, told the American-Statesman on Friday that he stands by the Senate's rules and procedures.

"The members and I take this issue very seriously," Patrick, who oversees the Senate, said in an email response to the Statesman's questions. "Harassment of any type is not tolerated on my own staff. Each of my staff, including myself, has taken sexual harassment prevention training, as have senators and their staffs."

The magazine's story highlights a 2018 policy revamp that Patrick requested and was spearheaded by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham. Its enforcement is largely overseen by Secretary of the Senate Patsy Spaw, the executive administrator of the upper chamber. While the policy added a requirement for sexual harassment prevention training, it puts senators, supervisors and their chiefs of staff in charge of managing any complaints their offices receive and it does not require the complaints to be recorded or reported to higher authorities.

Yet Texas law makes employers legally liable for harassment if they are aware of the behavior and fail to correct or prevent it, regardless of whether a formal complaint is made. And for public servants in Texas, subjecting a person to sexual harassment is a crime that can range from a Class A misdemeanor to, in rare cases, a felony.

"Leaders in the Texas Senate have created a system in which lawmakers who sexually harass employees, interns, and students — a state crime — are seldom held accountable," Texas Monthly reported. "As a result of a lack of records, the public is left in the dark.”

The policy also says victims can bypass their supervisors to report an incident to the secretary of the Senate or human resources, which will trigger an independent investigation, but it has not yet been done.

The magazine's report found that the Senate has not recorded or investigated an official complaint of sexual harassment for more than 20 years, despite the secretary of the Senate acknowledging that she knew about several instances of misconduct.

In its report, Texas Monthly detailed previously unreported accusations of harassment against state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, and Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston. Miles' staff declined to comment Friday, and Schwertner did not respond to the Statesman's phone and email requests for comment.

Former state Sen. Wendy Davis, a Democrat, told the Statesman that she has long believed the Senate should adopt the approach taken by the Texas House, which created a General Investigative Committee to look into allegations of misconduct made against lawmakers.

"The imbalance of power that exists and the way it is wielded in the Texas Capitol is hard to describe," Davis said. "I’m frustrated that, even with these reported experiences (and, likely, scores of unreported ones), the Texas Senate has done nothing meaningful to create a safer climate for the young women who work there."

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan — who moved swiftly to have the lower chamber's General Investigating Committee look into accusations made against former Rep. Bryan Slaton in 2023 of providing alcohol to a 19-year-old staffer and having sex with her — jumped at the opportunity to remind House members in a letter late Friday afternoon of the chamber's "proactive" policies and procedures. The letter, while it was sent hours after the Texas Monthly report was published, did not directly address the article.

"The persistence of sexual harassment in the Texas Capitol has been an enduring stain, perpetuated by a culture of silence and complicity," Phelan wrote in the letter. "However, the Texas House of Representatives has taken significant strides in recent years to combat sexual misconduct among members and staff as a part of a continual effort to ensure all Texans’ voices are heard and respected."

The results of the General Investigating Committee's inquiry into Slaton led to a unanimous vote by the panel in favor of expelling him from the lower chamber. Slaton resigned but the House ultimately voted to expel him.

In response to questions about Friday’s report, Patrick told the Statesman that he does not plan to change the Senate's policies or its investigation structure and vehemently denied any allegations that he buried complaints. He also noted that senators voted to approve the policy.

"As far as an investigative committee like the House, the Senate does not like that model," Patrick said. "It leaves too much room for politics."

He said the Senate has a "strong policy that offers multiple avenues for victims to report sexual harassment without fear of retaliation while providing a fair and just process for those accused." However, he said no harassment complaints have been "filed with the Senate" since the new policy was adopted and that no complaints have been brought to his office.

Patrick also asserted to the Statesman that the Senate's policy "makes sure complaints are handled by outside independent and impartial investigators without bias or relationships with members or their staff." But the policy does not require complaints presented to senators' offices to be reported or investigated.

The victims of numerous alleged incidents reported in the Texas Monthly story said they feared retaliation.

Texas senators, politicos discuss next steps

Most Texas politicians have not publicly addressed the allegations made in the Texas Monthly article. The Statesman reached out to all seven members of the Senate Committee on Administration, which oversees the chamber's sexual harassment policy, but none provided comment.

In response to questions from the Statesman, Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilbert Hinojosa sidestepped a direct confrontation of the allegations against Democratic senators made in the story, seeking instead to shift the focus onto Patrick.

"Championing the rights and freedoms of women is central to the Texas Democratic Party’s mission, and any action that contradicts those values is utterly unacceptable and deserves condemnation on all accounts," Hinojosa wrote in a statement. "We commend the brave women who have come forward, and confronting the failed workplace policies made by Patrick’s Texas Senate should be a top priority as we approach the next legislative session.”

The Republican Party of Texas did not respond to the Statesman's request for comment.

State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, said she is "dedicated to identifying what will make the Texas Senate safe and getting those changes made."

"Sexual harassment is not about sex. It’s about power," Eckhardt wrote in response to questions from the Statesman. "We are in desperate need of fair processes, transparency, and accountability. Without them, power — and abuse of power — go unchecked. Clearly our current system does not work."

Sen. Judith Zaffirini, the first female dean of the Senate and its longest-serving member, proposed changes related to sexual harassment when she was a member of the Senate Administration Committee. She said she and her staff would review those proposals and the Senate's current policy anew "to determine whether to make suggestions regarding updating our policy and its enforcement."

Zaffirini also told the Statesman that she believed "every state institution" should adopt zero-tolerance policies for sexual harassment.

"Evidence must be pursued, and the innocent must be exonerated," Zaffirini wrote. "The focus should be on discovering the truth, which is in the best interest of the victims and of anyone who might be accused falsely."

'They want to see change'

More responses to the Texas Monthly story may come in time. The reporters on the more-than-yearlong investigation, Olivia Messer and Cara Kelly, told the Statesman they didn't expect to see immediate feedback or calls to action.

"We know how complex and dense and long the story is," said Messer, who has long reported on sexual harassment and assault at the Capitol. "I expected it to take some time to digest and respond to."

But Messer and Kelly both said they have received an overwhelmingly positive response to their reporting, including from current and former staff members at the Legislature.

"I've gotten a lot of messages from women who work in the Lege who are really appreciative of the story and who feel like it reflects their experiences," Messer said. "It is really meaningful to see that, and validating of the reporting that we did."

The pair is continuing to explore tips they've received in the past, some of which they did not have the time or capacity to fully investigate while reporting the magazine's story.

For both anonymous and named sources, speaking up "took a lot of bravery," Messer said. The pair spoke with each source's friends and colleagues to corroborate details, looked into job histories and other details of the sources' pasts and had fact-checkers for Texas Monthly vigorously review each detail of the story.

The Senate staff members that Messer and Kelly spoke with "believe in the mission of the institution, and they want to be able to (work there) without harassment," Kelly said. "That is what inspires them to actually talk to us. They want to see change."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Senate buries sexual harassment complaints, media report finds