Fair & Family Friendly Restrooms, HB23-1057 Amenities for All Genders in Public Buildings, has passed both Chambers of the State Legislature and is now on its way to be signed by Gov. Polis and become Colorado law.
Below are some key points about the bill and what it will do once it becomes law.
We extend our heartfelt appreciation to all of the individuals and organizations who supported this legislation including those who shared information with their networks and offered written or verbal testimony. None of this would have been possible without the attentive care and advocacy of our primary sponsor, Rep. McCormick, and support from Rep. Vigil and Sen. Jaquez Lewis.
This bill will make our state buildings more accessible to many constituents, including parents, caregivers, people who require restroom assistance, and LGBTQ+ people. To paraphrase testimony from Michael Neil with the Colorado Cross Disability Coalition, ‘good bills help one group of people; great bills help many— this is a great bill.
THANK YOU ALL! Some of the supporting organizations include:
Rose Community Foundation
The Umbrella Collective
One Colorado
Envision:You
Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center
Raise Colorado
Inside Out Youth Services
Colorado Children’s Campaign
Elephant Circle
American Atheists
Transformative Freedom Fund
Asian Pacific Development Center
Center on Colfax
Colorado Cross Disability Coalition
Good Business Colorado
PFLAG Broomfield
Colorado Secular Advocacy Team
Fair & Family Friendly Restrooms Legislation Details
The details of the bill evolved as we engaged multiple stakeholders and incorporated their contributions. See the important features and details below.
This bill applies to: public entities, defined as state, county, and municipal buildings, and institutions of higher education. To be clear, this bill does not apply to K-12 schools or private buildings. The first component begins January 2024 for buildings accessible to the public and July 2025 for buildings that have state employees or higher ed students.
For new buildings,
non-gendered restrooms are required on any floor where restrooms exist and may be either single or multi-stalled.
Additionally, baby diaper changing stations must be available to all genders.
This may be in gendered restrooms if those are the only option;
in non-gendered restrooms if one exists, and in that case they are encouraged but not required in gendered restrooms;
or in an easily accessible private location.
For existing gendered multi-stall restrooms undergoing substantial renovations, they must be renovated into a non-gendered multi-stall restroom OR a gendered AND non-gendered restroom.
Substantial renovations are defined to not include routine repairs such as replacement of fixtures, but rather is applicable to renovations that
require a permit and
increase the square footage by adding, gutting, or removing exterior restroom walls,
Installing or modifying a plumbing or elective system, or
Installing a heating, ventilation, or air conditioning system.
The second component relates to signage and building directories. Beginning July 2024 and by July 2026, all public entities will update restroom signage to have pictograms void of gender for all
Single-stall restrooms,
Baby changing stations.
Building directories that designate restroom locations must also be updated to reflect non-gendered restroom and changing table locations.
To facilitate the success of this bill’s intent, it also includes a survey of applicable state buildings, at the request of the Dept of Personnel, to determine the number and location of signs and directories that will need to be changed. Additionally state agencies will have state funding allocated in the bill, and sponsors have committed to ensuring the funding is available moving forward.