What SB 8 Does
Beginning Dec. 4, Texas will implement Senate Bill 8, also known as the Texas Women’s Privacy Act. The law restricts transgender people’s access to certain restrooms, showers, and changing rooms in government-owned buildings. These include:
- County and city properties
- State agency buildings
- Public schools and charter schools
- Public universities
Private businesses, such as restaurants, are not affected and may set their own restroom policies.
Exceptions Under the Law
SB 8 makes specific allowances for entering facilities that don’t align with one’s sex assigned at birth. These include:
- Emergency medical assistance
- Custodial, maintenance, or inspection duties
- Law enforcement purposes
- People helping someone who needs assistance
- Children 9 or younger accompanied by an adult
Institutions may still offer single-user restrooms open to anyone.
Additional Rules for Prisons and Shelters
Two areas receive separate requirements:
Texas prisons: The Texas Department of Criminal Justice must classify housing based on sex assigned at birth. Officials say they already do so for the roughly 1,750 trans inmates in custody.
Family violence shelters: Shelters designed specifically for female victims may only serve those assigned female at birth and the victims’ children under 18. However, advocates note many shelters receive federal grants that require services for all survivors regardless of sex, suggesting SB 8 may not apply to most facilities.
Concerns Over Enforcement
The law instructs institutions to take “every reasonable step” to ensure compliance but provides no clear enforcement rules. This lack of guidance has raised alarms among civil rights groups who fear:
- Harassment in public spaces
- Over-surveillance
- Requests for identification
- Potential physical inspections
Although Sen. Mayes Middleton called physical inspections “extreme examples” during debate, SB 8 does not explicitly prohibit them.
Government entities are now drafting their own policies, while others say they already meet the law’s requirements and expect no major changes.
Penalties Target Institutions — Not Individuals
Individuals who use a restroom that doesn’t match their sex assigned at birth are not fined or prosecuted under SB 8. Instead, penalties fall on the public institution responsible for the facility.
The enforcement process works as follows:
- A Texas resident must first submit a written complaint to the agency where a violation occurred.
- The agency has three days to fix the issue.
- If unresolved, the Attorney General’s Office may investigate.
- Institutions with verified violations have 15 more days to comply.
- Fines begin at $25,000 for the first violation and $125,000 per day for each subsequent one.
Additionally, individuals “affected” by an institution’s failure to enforce the law can file lawsuits seeking court orders to force compliance.
For more on this story, stay tuned to Que Onda Magazine.