Texas Republican Ken Paxton enlisted outside group to gut rights for pregnant workers

In 2023, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hired the Texas Public Policy Foundation to help kill a program requiring accommodations for pregnant workers. Five months later, the foundation’s members contributed more than $276,000 to Paxton’s campaign.

Paxton was elected Attorney General of Texas in 2014. He was reelected in 2018 and 2022.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a right-wing think tank launched in 1989. Its website states that the foundation’s mission “is to promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise.” The foundation is officially recognized as a nonprofit.

A review of financial disclosures shows that since 2015, Paxton has received multiple donations from members of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s board of directors. In 2016, Paxton urged the Texas Appeals Court to support a Texas Public Policy Foundation lawsuit against Austin’s short-term rental ordinance. In 2021, Paxton appointed Texas Public Policy Foundation lawyers to lead a case challenging new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency.

In February 2023, Paxton’s office contracted the Texas Public Policy Foundation to provide legal counseling. The contract’s expiration date is August 2099, slightly more than 76 years. The contract stated that Robert Henneke, the executive director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and other attorneys working for their foundation would provide their services pro bono.

That same month, Paxton enlisted the Texas Public Policy Foundation to help with a lawsuit challenging a Dec. 2022 spending package passed by Congress. The package was passed by proxy (remotely) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Paxton argued that proxy voting in Congress doesn’t count toward a quorum, thus making the package unenforceable.

Paxton’s lawsuit specifically challenged the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, a law that requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers. These accommodations can include more breaks, modified work schedules, or temporary reassignment to less physically demanding work. The law also empowered pregnant people to sue if these accommodations were not made.

Paxton argued the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act put an undue burden on businesses and the Texas judicial system.

Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas ruled in favor of Paxton earlier this year and nullified the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act in Texas. Hendrix did not strike down the entire spending package.

In June 2023, five months after the Texas Public Policy Foundation contract was signed, five members of the foundation’s board of directors contributed a combined $276,005 to Paxton. The largest donation was $150,000 from Tim Dunn who is also an oil and gas executive.

A Paxton spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.