Plain English Breakdown
The official status shows the bill passed both chambers, but no effective date is provided in the metadata.
AB 1998: Rules for Intimate Spaces in Businesses
This bill changes the legal definition of sex to mean immutable biological sex and requires businesses to separate bathrooms, locker rooms, and similar private areas by that definition.
What This Bill Does
- Defines 'sex' as an individual's immutable biological sex, including either female or male.
- Removes current definitions where 'sex' includes gender identity and gender expression for business accommodations.
- Requires businesses to separate intimate spaces based on biological sex, regardless of a person's gender identity or expression.
- Defines 'intimate spaces' as bathrooms, showers, changing rooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms, and other areas where people expect privacy from the opposite sex.
- Allows single-occupancy intimate bathrooms to be used by any gender.
Who It Names or Affects
- Business establishments that provide public accommodations within the state.
- People who use bathrooms, showers, locker rooms, or changing areas at those businesses.
Terms To Know
- Intimate spaces
- Areas like bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms where a person expects privacy from the opposite sex.
- Immutable biological sex
- The definition of sex used in this bill as either female or male based on biology.
Limits and Unknowns
- The text does not state a specific date when these rules will take effect.
- The summary notes that the bill makes legislative findings and declarations but does not list what those statements are.
- The source material mentions 'further defined' for biological sex but does not provide the full details of that definition in this excerpt.