BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1732
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
1732 (Ting)
As Amended August 9, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |55-19 |(May 9, 2016) |SENATE: |28-7 |(August 18, |
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Original Committee Reference: B. & P.
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 an inspector, as specified to inspect for compliance.
The Senate amendments:
1)Specify that the signage requirements for a single-user toilet
facility comply with Title 24 of the California Code of
Regulations.
2)Clarify who may inspect for compliance.
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FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, this bill will result
in negligible state costs.
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. This
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
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
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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
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
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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
single-user occupant at a time) to be made available to any
person.
California and Other States. Several cities and a number of
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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
United States colleges and universities have also instituted
such measures, including the entire University of California
system."
Analysis Prepared by:
Elissa Silva / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301 FN:
0003957