Texas representative introduces bills to require halal public school meals

Texas Rep. Suleman Lalani, a Sugar Land Democrat, has filed bills ahead of the 2027 legislative session that would require public schools to offer halal meals on request and designate a Muslim Heritage Day, renewing an effort that failed to pass in 2025.

House Bill 401 says a school district or open-enrollment charter school “shall provide a halal option” to a student when the student, parent, or guardian asks for one.

Lalani filed two versions of the bill that both create a new Education Code section. The first version, House Bill 401, applies statewide with no minimum student population size. The second version, House Bill 426, limits the requirement to districts and charter schools wholly or partly in a county of at least 2.1 million people, or in a county next to one. 

Animals which are slaughtered according to Islamic religious requirements approved by a recognized Islamic authority are considered halal, according to the Texas Business and Commerce Code, which the bills reference. Neither includes a funding source or a requirement that schools tell parents which foods are halal. 

Texas state Rep. Lalani, a physician born in Pakistan, was one of the first two Muslims elected to the Texas Legislature, in 2022, ABC13 reported. His first effort to require halal meal options occurred in 2023 and he repeated the attempt in 2025, with neither becoming law, according to the Dallas Express.

No Texas or federal law requires schools to serve halal food. Under U.S. Department of Agriculture guidance, schools must accommodate requests tied to a disability, but accommodating religious, cultural, or personal requests is optional. 

The School Nutrition Association’s survey of 37 Texas and 27 Indiana districts found 53% accommodated religious preferences, most often with meat-free options on Fridays in Lent. Kosher options were rare, and the report did not mention halal. 

In addition to his halal bills, Rep. Lalani has also introduced a bill to establish Feb. 4 as Muslim Heritage Day and a House Resolution that recognizes the “holy month of Ramadan 2027.”

The bills introduced by Lalani, like the candidacy of Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan,  raise questions about how religion and governance intersect, given the differences between classical Sharia law and the predominant American cultural understanding of the interplay within a Christian context.

When he was questioned about allegations that he would push sharia law upon people if he was elected, El-Sayed said, “Nobody is trying to push Sharia law on anyone else, just like I hope nobody is trying to push canon law on anybody else.”

But, as CatholicVote President Kelsey Reinhardt noted in an October analysis, “Classical sharia is a different kind of thing. Many American Muslims understand it as a matter of personal devotion, and that is their right. In its historic jurisprudence, though, sharia is a comprehensive legal order. It reaches into family law, criminal punishment, and the governance of the state.” 

Canon law, on the other hand, is only used to internally govern the Church. “It makes no claim over the criminal code of any nation,” Reinhardt explained.

The filings come as some Texas Republicans press measures targeting Islam, The Dallas Morning News reported in August. Gov. Greg Abbott’s spokesman said Abbott plans to sign a “complete ban on Sharia law in Texas” in 2027.

Rep. Salman Bhojani, a Muslim Democrat, has criticized proposals aimed at the Muslim community, saying, “Texas Muslims are not a threat to this state. We are part of it. … We deserve better than a blueprint that treats us like an enemy.” 

The 90th Legislature convenes Jan. 12, 2027.