Texas Legislature · 2027 · A Civil Rights Imperative
THE
UNKNOWN
BILL

No abuser should be permitted to sue their victim while criminal charges are pending. This bill has no number. No sponsor. No name.
It is, by law, unknown. So are the survivors it would protect.

Give It a Name What It Does
Your Silence Is Consent
Woman holding FILED court document over her face
EXHIBIT A — THE SYSTEM IN ACTION
The Problem

THE COURTS WERE BUILT TO PROTECT YOU.

In Texas today, a person accused of a violent crime can file a civil lawsuit against the person who reported them — while criminal charges are still pending.

The victim must now defend two cases at once. The same facts. The same evidence. Two courts. One person trying to survive both.

It is legal. It is common. It is used deliberately — not to win, but to drain, exhaust, silence, and punish anyone who dared to report.

Attorneys facilitate it. Courts permit it. The Bar has not stopped it.

No state in America has passed a law to prevent it before it starts.
The Unknown Bill would make Texas the first.

Read the Framework →
Why It Has No Name

In Texas, a bill doesn't exist until a legislator files it.
No sponsor means no bill number. No hearing. No vote. No law.
Until that happens, this legislation is — by definition —

UNKNOWN.
Give It a Name. →

The moment a Texas legislator sponsors this bill, it gets a number. A name. A place in the record. That day, we will announce it to every person who signed below. Until then — it remains what the system has chosen to make it: unknown.

The Framework

WHAT THE UNKNOWN BILL DOES

Three provisions. One principle: no survivor should be forced to fight in two courts at once.

01

AUTOMATIC STAY

The moment criminal charges are filed against a person, any civil lawsuit that person files against their accuser is automatically frozen — until the criminal case resolves. No motion required. No court appearance. The law does it automatically.

02

RECOGNITION OF COURT-BASED ABUSE

Post-separation legal harassment is named for what it is: domestic abuse conducted through the courts. Trauma-informed protective procedures become mandatory — not discretionary — regardless of which judge is assigned.

03

ATTORNEY ACCOUNTABILITY

An attorney who files a civil suit on behalf of an accused abuser against their victim — while criminal charges are active — faces professional consequences. Texas Rule 4.04 already prohibits this. The Unknown Bill makes it enforceable.

What It Does Not Do

THE OPPOSITION WILL LIE.
HERE IS THE TRUTH.

✗

It Does Not Take Away the Right to Sue

The accused person's civil claims are not dismissed. They are paused until the criminal case resolves. Every civil right is preserved. Nothing is extinguished.

✗

It Does Not Predetermine Guilt

The bill does not decide who is telling the truth. The underlying civil claims survive intact. They simply wait — so the victim is not forced to defend retaliation while cooperating with law enforcement.

✗

It Does Not Apply to Unrelated Disputes

The stay applies only to civil suits targeting the person who reported the crime, and only when those suits arise from that report. Unrelated business disputes are not affected. This bill is surgical.

Rally outside Capitol with The Unknown Bill signs
Legal Foundation — Research by Paxton Washington, J.D.

THIS IS NOT RADICAL.
TEXAS ALREADY DOES THIS.

Three Texas statutes already use the same tools the Unknown Bill proposes. This bill does not create new law. It extends existing principles to a context the legislature has ignored.

Texas Already Uses Automatic Stays

When a governmental unit takes an interlocutory appeal, proceedings are automatically stayed by statute. When a defendant moves to declare a plaintiff a vexatious litigant, the case is stayed. The Unknown Bill uses the same tool Texas already trusts.

Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 51.014, 11.052 · In re Tex. Dep't of Transp., 510 S.W.3d 701 (2016)

Texas Already Links Criminal Charges to Civil Proceedings

Texas Family Code already allows a parent to seek a continuance in a termination case when criminal charges relate to the grounds for termination, and authorizes temporary denial of child access while charges are pending.

Tex. Fam. Code § 161.2011

Texas Already Prohibits Attorney Harassment

Texas Disciplinary Rules already prohibit lawyers from using civil or criminal charges solely to harass, intimidate complainants, or gain leverage. The Unknown Bill does not create a new rule. It enforces the one that already exists.

Tex. Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct 4.04
It Has Been Done Before

THREE TIMES, ONE PERSON
CHANGED AMERICAN LAW.

None of them were lawyers. None of them had political connections. All of them refused to let the system stay broken.

1980

CANDY LIGHTNER & MADD

Her 13-year-old daughter Cari was killed by a drunk driver with three prior DUI convictions. He had been released from jail two days earlier. When told he would likely serve no time, Candy Lightner — a divorced real estate agent, not registered to vote — started Mothers Against Drunk Driving in her daughter's bedroom.

Within months she was testifying before state legislatures. By 1984, Congress had raised the national drinking age to 21. By 2000, alcohol-related traffic fatalities had dropped 40%.

Started in a bedroom. Ended on the White House lawn.
1994

MEGAN'S LAW

Seven-year-old Megan Kanka was murdered by a twice-convicted sex offender who lived across the street. Her parents, Richard and Maureen Kanka, said she would still be alive if they had known the truth about their neighbor. They demanded community notification.

New Jersey enacted Megan's Law 89 days after her death. Within two years, every state in the country had a version. Today there are over 786,000 registered sex offenders in public registries nationwide.

89 days. Two parents. Every state in America.
1994

THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT

In 1970, there were no federal laws against domestic violence. For twenty years, survivors, shelter workers, and advocates built the argument that abuse was a crime — not a private matter. They testified to committees that weren't listening. They drafted bills that failed. They came back the next session.

In 1994, President Clinton signed VAWA into law — the first federal legislation to name domestic violence a crime. Between 1993 and 2010, the rate of intimate partner violence declined 67%.

20 years of groundwork. One law. 67% reduction in violence.
Speaker at rally, fist raised
How a Bill Becomes Law in Texas — Research by Paxton Washington, J.D.

8 STAGES.
7 CHOKEPOINTS.
140 DAYS.

The Texas Legislature meets only once every two years. The next session: January 2027. If the Unknown Bill does not pass that session, survivors wait two more years.

01

Filing

A bill must be filed by a member of the House or Senate. Citizens cannot file bills. The Unknown Bill needs a legislator willing to put their name on it.

→ CHOKEPOINT: No sponsor. No bill. Full stop.
02

Committee Referral

The Speaker of the House or Lt. Governor assigns the bill to a committee. They choose which committee. They choose the chair.

→ CHOKEPOINT: Hostile committee. No hearing. No announcement. Just silence.
03

Committee Hearing

The chair schedules a public hearing. Survivors can testify. Attorneys can oppose. Packed hearing rooms move bills. Empty ones kill them.

→ CHOKEPOINT: 24-hour notice. Working Texans can't attend. Or it never gets scheduled at all.
04

Committee Vote

The committee votes whether to advance the bill to the full floor. Simple majority required.

→ CHOKEPOINT: A 6-5 vote buries the bill without the full Legislature ever seeing it.
05

Floor Debate & Vote — First Chamber

Full House or Senate debates, amends, and votes. Simple majority passes it.

→ CHOKEPOINT: Floor amendments can gut the automatic stay provision entirely.
06

The Second Chamber

The bill runs the entire process again in the other chamber. If both pass different versions, it goes to Conference Committee.

→ CHOKEPOINT: Conference Committees meet in private. The public cannot attend. Lobbyists can.
07

The Governor's Desk

10 days to sign, veto, or let it become law by inaction. A veto requires a two-thirds override to defeat — which has happened exactly twice in Texas history.

→ Constitutional requirement: Tex. Const. Art. IV, § 14
08

Effective Date

Most bills take effect 90 days after adjournment. Emergency legislation takes effect immediately — but requires a supermajority to declare the emergency.

→ The Unknown Bill qualifies as an emergency. Survivors are not waiting 90 days.
Unknown Bill wheat paste poster on brick wall

GIVE IT
A NAME.

Sign the petition below. Call your legislator. Show up.

"Washington State took the first brave step in 2021. Five years later, survivors there must still endure the abuse before they can seek relief. Texas has the opportunity to go further — to stop the harm before it starts." — The Unknown Bill · Texas, 2027

GIVE IT
A NAME.

In Texas, a bill doesn't exist until a legislator names it. Your signature tells every legislator in the state: this bill exists. We exist. We are watching.

Sign the Petition →
Add Your Name

SIGN THE PETITION.

Every signature is a constituent. Every constituent is a vote. When a legislator sees 500 signatures from their district, this bill becomes a political priority.

✓ Your name has been added. When this bill gets a sponsor, you'll be the first to know.

Now — share this page. Every name matters.
— TEXANS HAVE SIGNED
Take Action

WHAT YOU CAN
DO RIGHT NOW

Sign the Petition Above

Every signature is a constituent. Legislators track districts. When they see names from their own voters, the bill becomes a political priority — not just a good idea.

Call — Not Email

A phone call carries ten times the weight of an email in a legislative office. Find your legislator at capitol.texas.gov/MemberInfo. Ask to speak to the constituent services staffer. Say: "I support legislation requiring an automatic stay of civil actions filed by accused abusers against their victims while criminal charges are pending. I want my representative to sponsor this bill."

Contact the Texas Council on Family Violence

TCFV has lobbied for domestic violence protections for nine sessions and has direct relationships with legislators on both sides. Ask them to include automatic stay legislation in their 2027 agenda. Visit tcfv.org.

Show Up to Hearings

Committee hearings are public. Your testimony becomes permanent public record. Packed rooms move bills. Your story, in that room, on the record, cannot be ignored. Watch for hearing notices at capitol.texas.gov.

Share This Page

The most powerful thing in a legislative session is a constituent who tells two people, who each tell two people. The Unknown Bill needs to be known. Share unknownbill.com.

NO MORE LEGAL ABUSE march
Legal document on fire