California's Texas Travel Ban May Impact NCAA

HOUSTON, TX -- The NCAA is facing some confusion amid California's travel ban to states with anti-LGBTQ laws, including Texas, as California Attorney General Xavier Becerra added Texas to California's list of states to which it will not fund travel.

California currently funds public university coaches' trips around the country to recruit, oftentimes to the Lone Star State. But California law may prohibit those trips.

California's Assembly Bill 1887 was created in the wake of the embattled North Carolina "Bathroom Bill," which has been partially repealed. Signed in September last year, California AB 1887 prohibits state-funded travel to states that have passed laws voiding "protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression."

"Our country has made great strides in dismantling prejudicial laws that have deprived too many of our fellow Americans of their precious rights. Sadly, that is not the case in all parts of our nation, even in the 21st century," Becerra said in a press release.

The controversial part of Texas House Bill 3859, which is set to take effect on Sept. 1, 2017, reads "A child welfare services provider may not be required to provide any services that conflict with the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs." This means adoption services can deny services to LGBTQ people based on religious beliefs, critics say.

"HB 3859, allows foster care agencies to discriminate against children in foster care and potentially disqualify LGBT families from the state’s foster and adoption system," Becerra said in a statement.

The Texas Tribune reported UCLA officials as saying in the past that they have no intentions of banning California out of postseason games in banned states, and that UCLA Los Angeles, UCLA Berkely and San Jose State University all have Texans on their current rosters.

The Tribune reported that the California attorney general's office is "considering issuing its formal legal opinion" about whether the ban applies to coaches in the state's public university systems. They reported an attorney general's office as saying they plan "to provide guidance on this general issue soon."

Regardless, California's AB 1887 says travel will be banned "subject to certain exceptions," so it is plausible that an exemption could be made for NCAA coaches and teams under the current law. If an exception is not made for public university teams, however, Texas may not be host to certain NCAA events.

Texas is home to NCAA postseason events like the 2018 Men's Final Four in San Antonio and College Football Playoffs at the AT&T Center in Arlington.

Article image Harry How/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images