Just reported in the online version of the Austin American Statesman.
Republican legislation seeking to create a permanent ban on gay marriage died Wednesday night without a vote in the Texas Senate.
The language, added to a “shell bill” designed to be a bin for legislation that would expire, would have banned state and local government employees from issuing a marriage license to same-sex couples, even if the SCOTUS rules this summer that bans on gay marriage are unconstitutional.
The attempt failed, when the shell bill's author— Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston — said he would kill it if the anti same sex marriage language remained.