Steve Toth
Steve Hixson Toth is an American businessman, ordained pastor, and politician serving as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 15, The Woodlands area. Toth is a candidate for Texas's 2nd congressional district against Dan Crenshaw in the March 2026 Republican primary.
Early life and education
Born and raised in New York, Toth attended Pittsford Mendon High School in suburban Rochester. He also attended Rochester Bible College.Career
Toth owns Acclaim Pools and My Pool Xpert in The Woodlands. He is a former pastor at Family Life Ministries of the Fellowship of The Woodlands, a congregation now known as The Woodlands Church. He was formerly an elder and teacher at another non-denominational congregation, WoodsEdge Community Church also in The Woodlands, Texas. Toth is also a commentator on the political show FOX Faceoff which appears on Fox 26 Houston.Texas House of Representatives
Texas House District 15 is based entirely in suburban Montgomery County, centered around The Woodlands. It is part of the Houston Metro area in the southeastern portion of the state.2012–2014
Toth won the 2012 election to the State House district 15. In February 2013, newly inaugurated Representative Toth was elected by his colleagues to the House Republican Caucus Policy Committee as the East Texas representative on the panel.In his first legislative session in 2013, Toth authored and carried the CSCOPE Transparency Act in the House. The bill brought the CSCOPE curriculum under the purview of the Texas State Board of Education.
Gun legislation
He authored the Firearms Protection Act, restricting federal control and regulations of firearms, which made it a Class A misdemeanor to interfere with a Texan's Second Amendment rights. The act also protected Texas' state and local law enforcement officers from violating the U.S. Constitution, and prevented the federal government from targeting certain firearms and accessories with restrictions. Toth received assistance from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in drafting the bill. On May 6, 2013, HB 1076 received enough votes to pass in the Texas House but was never approved by the Senate so did not become law. A similar bill, supported by Toth, passed the Texas House and the Texas Senate and was signed by Governor Greg Abbott on June 17, 2021.Toth supports constitutional carry for Texas.
2019–2021
On January 11, 2019, Toth filed House Bill 792 with the 86th Legislature and entitled it the Jones Forest Preservation Act. The Jones Forest Act protects the 1,722-acre William Goodrich Jones State Forest from development. Texas A&M University suggested that the university would develop a Texas A&M campus on the land, which sits next to The Woodlands, Texas. Neighborhood associations in the area complained that the development would add to traffic congestion and eliminate a forest that has been part of Texas heritage since 1923. It was passed by both the Texas House and the Texas Senate and sent to Governor Greg Abbott on May 25, 2019.In January 2019, he was appointed to the House Appropriations Committee by Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen. On January 25, Toth along with Will Metcalf and Cecil Bell filed House Bill 1042 which would require Texas schools and law enforcement agencies to establish active shooter response plans and law enforcement agencies to conduct annual drills while also requiring law enforcement to immediately contain or eliminate a threat.
On February 7, 2019, Toth filed the JD Lambright Local Government Ethics Reform Act, which requires cities, counties, and other political subdivisions statewide to post contracts they have with taxpayer-funded lobbyists and to post how much they are paying the lobbyists. It was filed in the Senate by Brandon Creighton on February 8 as Senate Bill 710. The house bill was passed by both chambers and was sent to the governor for signature on May 29, 2019. Governor Abbott signed the bill into law on June 14, 2019.
In February 2019, Toth co-authored Texas House Bill 1500 which would ban abortions after the detection of an unborn child's heartbeat. He also co-authored Texas House Bill 896 which would prohibit abortion. In March 2019, Toth became a cosponsor of SB 22 which prohibits government entities from providing taxpayer-funded resources to Planned Parenthood. It was a response to Planned Parenthood's $1-per-year rental agreement with the City of Austin for a clinic. It passed both chambers and was sent to Abbott on May 25, 2019, for signature. The bill was signed into law by Abbott on June 7, 2019.
On March 5, 2019, Toth introduced Texas HB 3145, the School Lunch Bill. It clarifies that each parent, including the non-custodial parent, in a divorce can visit their child during school lunch and school activities regardless of possession schedule. It passed both chambers and was sent to the governor on May 28, 2019.
In March 2019 Toth introduced Texas House Bill 2518 which aims to reduce cannabis possession from a Class B to a Class C misdemeanor. To take it down from B to C would remove jail time for simple possession and lower the monetary penalty from $2,000 down to $500.
In August 2020, Toth, along with fellow state representatives Mike Lang, Kyle Biedermann, Bill Zedler, and state senator Bob Hall sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott over a $295 million COVID-19 contact tracing contract Abbott awarded to a small Frisco, Texas technology firm without approval from the Texas legislature. In May 2020, Toth protested Abbott's lockdown order by getting a haircut.
In November 2020, during the 87th Texas legislative session, Toth filed again the Texas Firearm Protection Act, basically the same piece of legislation that he originally filed in January 2019. The previous version passed the Texas House with a 100-vote supermajority but died in the Senate. Governor Greg Abbott assisted Toth in writing the bill in 2013 when Abbott was serving as Texas Attorney General. It is also known as the Second Amendment sanctuary bill. It would make any attempt to enforce federal gun laws in Texas void if those laws were not part of Texas law. The bill had 14 co-sponsors including Briscoe Cain, Valoree Swanson, Cecil Bell, and Tony Tinderholt. It was referred to the State Affairs Committee of the House, from which it never progressed. However, a similar bill, House Bill 2622 passed the Texas House and the Texas Senate and was signed by Governor Greg Abbott on June 17, 2021.
Toth was ranked the fourth most conservative House member of the 2021 Texas legislature by Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University.
On July 19, 2021, Toth introduced a bill to conduct a forensic audit of the November 2020 election in the 13 counties with the largest populations in Texas, which tend to lean for the Democratic Party. The bill has been named the Texas Voter Confidence Act. Asked why he did not call for an audit of all counties in the state, Toth argued it would be time-consuming and expensive, and cited the Republican lean of the counties, "What’s the point? I mean, all the small counties are red." Election experts said that it did not make sense to specifically exclude Republican-leaning counties if the intent was to detect errors. On September 23, 2021, former President Donald Trump endorsed Toth's House bill 16.
2021–present
Toth, during the pre-filing period of the Texas legislature, in November 2022, introduced House Bill 41, which would prohibit healthcare providers from receiving professional liability insurance coverage for performing or prescribing certain “gender transitioning” procedures for children, including genital removal surgeries, chemical castration, puberty blockers, and other sex-change therapies.Toth supports a ban on Democrats being given committee chairmanships as long as the Republicans hold the majority of seats.
On February 8, 2023, Toth was appointed to the Appropriations and Corrections committees of the 88th Session. Toth has served on the Appropriations Committee every legislative session since 2019.
On March 7, 2023, Toth filed HB 3928 in the 88th Texas Legislature, which is also known as the Beckley Wilson Act. The Act focuses on public school students with dyslexia, specifically reforming dyslexia services, parental notice, and the rights of parents with students with disabilities. The bill clearly defines dyslexia under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It passed the Texas House on May 22 and passed the Texas Senate on May 23. It was signed by the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott on June 10, 2023.
On May 27, 2023, Toth voted no to impeach Ken Paxton.
In January 2025, Toth introduced HB 2258, the Vulnerable Youth Protection Act, into the 89th Texas legislature, the goal of which was to end social transitioning of children. The Vulnerable Youth Protection Act establishes strict civil liability for any person who facilitates or engages in actions that lead to a minor adopting a gender identity inconsistent with their biological sex, commonly referred to as “social transitioning.” The bill was sent by Speaker Dustin Burrows to Ken King's committee, which refused to give the bill a hearing--killing the bill. Toth then attached the bill to SB12 through an amendment, with the support of Senator Brandon Creighton. SB12 passed both the Texas House and the Texas Senate and was sent to Texas Governor Greg Abbott for signature on June 3, 2025.
During the 89th session of the Texas legislature, Toth introduced HB 1001, which requires the use of paper ballots in all Texas elections and prohibits the use of electronic voting devices for certain election processes. He also introduced HB 4541, which focuses on the placement of "voting centers" in a county and removes outdated provisions related to consolidated precincts and countywide polling programs. On June 2, 2025, Toth voted no on SB 293 Conference Committee Report on pensions, voting against a legislative pension increase. In a few flood bills designed to help flood warning and preventing flooding Toth voted no in both cases. In April Toth voted against warning systems that would have helped situations like Camp Mystic. Toth voted no to SB1532, an anti-flooding bill that will help residents in CD2 on Lake Houston, stating he does not believe dreding helps remediate flooding. Toth voted against SB10 a bill that would limit property tax increases without a vote of the residents.
Toth was named the third most conservative member of the 89th session of the Texas legislature by Rice University.