Idaho Republican lawmakers are bringing new bills that expand the state’s law banning transgender people from using their preferred school bathrooms.
Two bills introduced Friday seek to extend the ban beyond schools to government buildings and private businesses — and create criminal charges and more opportunities for lawsuits.
The criminal bill, sponsored by Rep. Cornel Rasor, a Republican from Sagle, would create criminal misdemeanor and felony charges for people who “knowingly and willfully” enter a bathroom or changing room designated for the opposite sex, with some exceptions.
The other bill, written by the Idaho Family Policy Center and sponsored by Eagle Republican Rep. Ted Hill, would allow people to sue if government entities and private businesses don’t ensure their restrooms and changing facilities are separated by sex.
The Idaho House State Affairs Committee introduced both bills. The votes clear the way for the bills to return for a full public committee hearing.
In 2023, the Idaho Legislature passed a law that forbids people of one sex from entering public school bathrooms, showers, changing facilities and overnight accommodations that are designated for another sex, with some exceptions.
The latest bills, or their bill numbers, were not immediately available on the Legislature’s website.
Rasor’s bill would criminalize the action of “knowingly and willfully” entering a restroom or changing room in government-owned buildings and places of public accommodations that are designed for the opposite sex.
A first offense would carry a misdemeanor. A second offense within five years would be a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
The bill outlines several exceptions, including to give medical assistance, law enforcement assistance, and if a single-user facility “is the only facility reasonably available at the time of the person’s use.”
Rasor called much of the bill “very common sense.”
“The concern I have, and the people that have come to me have, is the multitudes of women and girls who are afraid to even speak about this because there’s no avenue to deal with it,” Rasor said. “This provides an avenue to deal with it so they can begin reclaiming their spaces.”
Rep. Annie Henderson Haws, a Boise Democrat, questioned the intent of the bill.
“If what we’re worried about is assault, we already have laws on the books to penalize and prosecute people of any gender that assault children,” she said.
Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, an Idaho Falls Republican, said she’s never encountered a man in the women’s bathroom in her life.
“Sometimes we are legislating for problems that might happen or are one-offs, and I don’t think we should be legislating like that,” she said.
The Idaho Family Policy Center’s bill, sponsored by Hill, proposes a lengthy set of regulations for bathrooms and changing rooms.
In government buildings, bathrooms and changing facilities must be “designated for use by male individuals only or female individuals only; and used only by individuals of the sex corresponding to the designation.” And it assigns a duty for “every place of public accommodation” to “take reasonable steps to ensure that the privacy and safety of an individual is protected from members of the other sex in every restroom or changing facility maintained by the place of public accommodation.” The bill outlines exceptions in both government buildings and public accommodations.
“Currently, in many Idaho communities, state law and local policies allow biological men to use the female restrooms and locker rooms, threatening the privacy and safety and dignity of the girls and women that use those facilities,” Hill told the committee.
Pressed by Henderson Haws, an attorney, about whether the bill only dealt with government buildings, Hill didn’t seem sure.
He asked if he could consult Idaho Family Policy Center President Blaine Conzatti.
Committee chairman Brent Crane, a Nampa Republican, said no — because the bill hadn’t been formally introduced yet.
In a written statement, Conzatti praised the bill as continuing the conservative Christian lobbying group’s work.
“Over the last few years, Idaho Family Policy Center has made significant progress toward protecting the privacy and safety of girls in vulnerable places,” Conzatti wrote. “Now we’re ready to finish the work of protecting every woman in all public buildings — ensuring that they never feel unsafe as a result of biological men invading their restrooms and locker rooms.”
