BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1732
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 5, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS
Rudy Salas, Chair
AB 1732
(Ting) - As Amended March 30, 2016
SUBJECT: Single-user restrooms.
SUMMARY: Requires, commencing on March 1, 2017, businesses,
places of public accommodation, or state or local government
agencies that offer a single-user toilet facility to be
designated as an all-gender toilet facility, as specified, and
authorizes a local health officer or health inspector to inspect
for compliance.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires publicly and privately owned facilities where the
public congregates to be equipped with sufficient temporary or
permanent restrooms to meet the needs of the public at peak
hours. (Health and Safety Code (HSC) Section 118505(a))
2)Requires every public agency that conducts an establishment
serving the public or open to the public and that maintains
therein restroom facilities for the public, shall make every
water closet for each sex maintained within the facilities
available without cost or charge to the patrons, guests, or
invitees of the establishment, and defines "public agency" to
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mean only the state and any agency of the state and a city, a
county, and a city and county. (HSC Section 118500)
3)Requires that public facilities have a particular number of
water closets based on total occupancy using a formula listed in
the Plumbing Code based on the number of male and female
occupants. (Title 24, California Code of Regulations (CCR)
Section 422.1)
4)Specifies that theaters, concert halls, and auditoriums with
fixed seating and sporting facilities with spectator seating and
amusement parks, grandstands, and stadiums, are required to have
three (3) water closets for every 400 male occupants and eight
(8) water closets for every 400 female occupants and also
requires one additional toilet for every 500 men and for every
125 women beyond 400. (24 CCR Section 422.1)
THIS BILL:
1)Requires all single-user toilet facilities in any business
establishment, place of public accommodation, or state or local
government agency to be identified as all-gender toilet
facilities, and designated for use by no more than one occupant
at a time or for family or assisted use, beginning March 1,
2017.
2)Defines a "single-user toilet facility" to mean a toilet
facility with no more than one water closet and one urinal with
a locking mechanism controlled by the user.
3)Specifies that during any inspection of a business or place of
public accommodation by a health officer or inspector, the
inspector may inspect for compliance, as specified.
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FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. This bill is sponsored by California NOW , Equality
California , and the Transgender Law Center . According to the
author, "restrooms are a necessity of life, and access to them
influences our ability to participate in public life. However,
current practices that restrict access to single-occupancy
restrooms by gender create problems of safety, fairness, and
convenience. This burden disproportionately impacts members of
the LGBT community, women, and parents or caretakers of
dependents of the opposite gender. We must change our focus
from segregating access to equalizing access to this solitary
room. This will enable everyone to get in and out on the same
terms. [This bill] eliminates the fears and frustration that
many people experience in public restrooms on a daily basis by
requiring all single-occupancy restrooms to be designated as
"all gender." This is not a novel concept, as restrooms in
homes and airplanes, for example, are not gender-specific. The
bill follows a best practice for the workplace set by the United
States Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) and is similar to local ordinances adopted
by cities across the nation to ensure that everyone's rights are
protected."
Background. The scope of this bill is limited to single-user
toilets located in a business, a place of public accommodation
or state or local government agency. This bill does not address
multi-stall restrooms. For those entities that offer
single-user restrooms, they will be required to make those
restrooms all-gender accessible. Current law requires certain
public and privately owned facilities to maintain a designated
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number of restroom facilities made accessible to employees or
the general public depending on California Building Standards
Code (CBC) or other municipal code requirements. People have
become accustomed to the traditional "male" and "female"
designations in order to determine the appropriate restroom
facility to use.
This bill will not change existing laws with respect to the
number of, specifications for, or other facility requirements
for restrooms that a business or entity must comply with under
the existing CBC or current local ordinances, but changes the
restroom access designation. The author notes that the
traditions of gender-based restroom restrictions create three
categories of problems: 1) convenience; 2) fairness; and, 3)
safety. In an effort to address those concerns, this bill will
require those businesses with "single-user" restrooms to be
universally accessible regardless of a person's gender
designation.
A universal access toilet facility may make it easier for
parents or caregivers of opposite genders to utilize an
available restroom and provides easier access for transgender or
gender non-conforming individuals to choose the appropriate
restroom to use. According to an article in the Journal of
Public Management and Social Policy, Gender Restrooms and
Minority Stress: The Public Regulation of Gender and its Impact
on Transgender People's Lives", noted that "All people share the
real human need for safe restroom facilities when we go to work,
go to school, and participate in public life. Since the need is
universal, one would think that it would be a priority of our
society to make sure restrooms are safe and available for all
people. Yet, the way gendered public restrooms are designed and
constructed harms transgender and gender non-conforming people,
some of whom may not conform to reified expectations of how men
and women will look and act."
The California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) is
responsible for developing building standards for state owned
buildings, including University and State College buildings, and
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for developing green building standards for most buildings
except for housing, public schools, and hospitals. The CBSC
publishes the CBC in Title 24 of the California Code of
Regulations every three years and its supplements, such as the
California Green Building Standards Code, in intervening years.
The building codes apply to all building occupancies and related
features and equipment throughout the state, and set
requirements for structural, mechanical, electrical, and
plumbing systems, and require measures for energy conservation,
green design, construction and maintenance, fire and life
safety, and accessibility. The size of the facility, its
purpose, the number of occupants, or location can determine the
requirements for the number of water closets or toilet
facilities an entity is required to have. This bill does not
require businesses to add or remove existing restroom facilities
or alter current restroom structures, it simply requires a
single-user toilet facility (meant for one single-user occupant
at a time) to be made available to any person, regardless of a
person's gender designation. Enforcement of this bill is
delegated to a health officer or inspector, at the local level,
but does not require those inspectors to do so.
Signage Requirements. The CBC requires certain signage
designations for restroom facilities which include only a
geometric symbol. Terms frequently seen on restroom doors such
as "restroom" "male" or "female" are not currently required
under the current CBC. Symbols are required on restroom doors
or immediately adjacent to restroom entrances when doors are not
available. Geometric symbols are intended for visually impaired
persons to identify the appropriate restroom facility to use.
If word designations are included on the sign, then there are
additional compliance requirements including type, size and
font. Compliance with the CBC requirements for bathroom signage
is typically handled by local building officials. According to
the Department of General Services, geometric signage
designations were not required under state law until 1982. This
bill does not require businesses to add or remove existing
restroom facilities or alter current restroom structures, it
simply requires a single-user restroom facility (meant for one
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single-user occupant at a time) to be made available to any
person.
California and Other States. Several cities and a number of
educational institutions are in the process or have already
transitioned to a "universal access" approach to restroom
facilities. In the City and County of San Francisco, an
ordinance was proposed in January of 2016, that would mandate
businesses and places of public accommodation designate
single-user toilet facilities that are available to the public
or employees as all-gender and accessible to persons of any
gender identity, as specified. A January 11, 2016 article in
Time Magazine stated that if that ordinance passes, "it will add
San Francisco alongside Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington, D.C.,
West Hollywood, Calif[ornia]. and Austin, Texas, to the list of
cities with gender-neutral bathroom provisions. More than 150
U.S. colleges and universities have also instituted such
measures, including the entire University of California system."
Prior Related Legislation. AB 662 (Bonilla), Chapter 742,
Statutes of 2015, requires a person, private firm, organization,
or corporation that owns or manages a commercial place of public
amusement to install and maintain at least one adult changing
station for persons with a physical disability, as specified.
SB 1350 (Lara) of 2014, would have directed the CBSC, as part of
the next triennial update of the California Building Standards
Code adopted after January 1, 2015, to require that, if a baby
changing station is installed in a new or newly renovated
restroom in a place of public accommodation, the station be
equally available regardless of gender. NOTE: This bill was
vetoed by Governor Brown. In his veto message he indicated that
the bill was unnecessary and could be adequately handled by the
private sector.
SB 1358 (Wolk and Lara) of 2014, would have required buildings
owned, or partially owned by state or local governments, as well
as other private buildings open to the public, as specified, to
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maintain at least one safe, sanitary, and convenient baby diaper
changing station that is accessible to both women and men.
NOTE: This bill was vetoed by Governor Brown. In his veto
statement he indicated that the bill was unnecessary regulation
that could be adequately handled by the private sector.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:
Equality California writes in support, "[This bill] will help
resolve safety concerns of transgender and gender non-conforming
people, promote bathroom equity for everyone, regardless of
gender, and give greater convenience for parents of
different-gender children and people with disabilities who rely
on caretakers of a different gender. [This bill] eliminates the
fears and frustration that many people experience in restrooms
on a daily basis. Unrestricted restroom access is not a novel
concept. Restrooms in homes and airplanes, for example, are not
gender-specific. The same is true for portable restrooms,
existing restrooms in many small businesses (such as small
restaurants or coffee shops), and existing "family restrooms" in
airports and other commercial locations. The value of equal
access to single occupancy restrooms is increasingly being
recognized. In 2015, the United States Department of Labor's
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) named
gender nonspecific single-occupancy restrooms as a best practice
in the workplace. This bill allows people to use the restroom
that is right for them."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION:
The Health Officers Association of California writes in
opposition, "while health officers recognize the need to ensure
equitable restroom access to every individual, public restroom
signage falls outside of the health officers' purview. As
introduced, [this bill] would create the expectation that local
health officers should inspect restroom signage in every
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business or pace of public accommodation. This is greatly
outside of the health officers' scope, and is an issue that does
not require the health officers' medical and public health
expertise."
POLICY ISSUE FOR CONSIDERATION:
As currently drafted, this bill authorizes a health officer or
inspector to inspect for compliance with the new restroom access
requirements; however, as noted by the Health Officers
Association of California, this type of inspection is currently
outside of their scope. The author may wish to remove the
health officers from this bill to ensure enforcement of this
requirement is delegated to the appropriate authority.
AMENDMENT:
In order to address the issue raised above, the author should
amend the bill as follows:
On page, 2, strike lines 15 through 17, inclusive, and insert,
During any inspection of a business or a place of public
accommodation by an inspector, building official, or other local
official responsible for code enforcement, the inspector or
official may inspect for compliance with this section.
REGISTERED SUPPORT:
Equality California (co-sponsor)
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American Civil Liberties Union of California
San Francisco Unified School District
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
REGISTERED OPPOSITION:
Health Officers Association of California
California Right to Life Committee, Inc.
Analysis Prepared by:Elissa Silva / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301