The proposed bill seeks to create a criminal offense that would be known as “gender identity fraud.” It states that people will be in violation if they make “a false or misleading” verbal or written statement to their employer or a governmental body that identifies themselves as the opposite gender from their gender at birth.

A bill proposed in the Texas legislature could charge transgender Texans with a felony if they commit what proponents call “gender identity fraud.”

Transgender Texans could be charged with fraud under state legislation filed this month that seeks to make publicly identifying as trans illegal. House Bill 3817, introduced last week by Republican state Rep.