Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D) called out fellow state Rep. Stan Gerdes (R) for wasting government time with the F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act, a bill that would ban students from using litter boxes in school — a far-right conspiracy theory that has been debunked.

“I find it concerning that these types of debunked conspiracy theories are being used by politicians at the highest levels of our government, including in this legislature, who know that they’re incorrect,” Talarico said Wednesday during a Texas House of Representatives Committee on Public Education hearing.

Gerdes couldn’t name any school that he knew of where students used litter boxes. He said the bill he authored, also known as the Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Educational Spaces Act, would stop it from happening in the first place.

However, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has claimed without evidence that students are dressing up as cats and using litter boxes in classrooms. Abbott has used conspiracy theories to portray Texas public schools as messes to help him pass statewide private school vouchers. The conspiracy theory also became a GOP talking point with many right-wing politicians claiming students identified as cats, seemingly meant to scare voters into thinking people who are trans or gender-nonconforming will soon begin to identify as animals.

During the hearing on Wednesday, Gerdes insisted the claims were true, however.

“My concern is that instead of holding a hearing about student mental health, instead of holding a hearing about school closures across Texas, we are spending precious legislative time toward the end of this legislative session on a bill called the F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act,” Talarico said.

Talarico continued, calling the whole thing “just weird” and “a little creepy.”

“And I think that’s the point,” he said, “because this is all, in my opinion, a manufactured, debunked smear campaign against our Texas public schools.”

Neither Talarico nor Gerdes responded to requests for comment.