By Ruth Brown, Idaho Reports
After a short debate, the Idaho Senate passed SB 1100, a bill to keep separate bathrooms and changing areas in schools based on biological sex, on Thursday afternoon on a party line vote.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, mandates anyone in K-12 schools must use the bathroom that matches their biological sex. He pitched it as a student privacy bill.
Schools would be required to maintain separate restrooms, showers, dressing areas, locker rooms and overnight accommodations for biological girls and biological boys. The school would need to provide accommodation for any student who is unwilling or unable to use the standard facilities.
An amendment was added to the bill, allowing coaching staff to enter a facility of the opposite sex during athletic events. The amendment came after some legislators had concerns because coaches often go into locker rooms at halftime.
The bill includes a civil action option, which states that any student who used a facility could sue the school if a person of the opposite sex also used the facility with the school’s permission. The plaintiff could sue as late as four years after the incident, for $5,000 for each instance in which they came across the person of the opposite sex in the facility. Further damages could be requested for psychological, emotional and other harm suffered.
Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, supported the bill, saying the school districts currently need guidance.
Currently, Idaho law allows individual school districts to set policy on how to accommodate transgender, non-binary or intersex students.
“When I look at this bill, this is something superintendents want,” Lenney argued.
Rep. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, opposed the bill, saying it leaves out people who are intersex.
“This bill is unnecessary and it’s harmful, and I don’t think we are really able to enforce it that well anyway,” Wintrow said.
The bill passed in a 28-7 vote and now heads to the House.
