AB 1998

Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, provides that all persons within the jurisdiction of this state are entitled to full and equal accommodations in all business establishments regardless of their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status. Existing law, for purposes of this provision, defines “sex” to include, but does not limit it to, a person’s gender. Existing law further defines “gender” to mean sex, and includes a person’s gender identity and gender expression, as the latter is defined. Existing law prohibits the act from being construed to require any construction, alteration, repair, structural or otherwise, or modification of any sort whatsoever, beyond that construction, alteration, repair, or modification that is otherwise required by other provisions of law, to any new or existing establishment, facility, building, improvement, or any other structure, or to augment, restrict, or alter in any way the authority of the State Architect to require construction, alteration, repair, or modifications that the State Architect otherwise possesses pursuant to other laws. This bill would include in the provision regarding full and equal business accommodations the characteristics of gender identity and gender expression, as defined, and make corresponding changes in existing law. The bill would delete the above definitions of “sex” and “gender” and, instead, define “sex” to mean an individual’s immutable biological sex, including either female or male, as further defined. The bill would require that accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments related to intimate spaces be separated on the basis on sex, irrespective of gender identity or gender expression. The bill would define “intimate spaces” to include bathrooms, showers, changing rooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms, and any other area in which an individual would have a reasonable expectation of privacy from the opposite sex. The bill would authorize single-occupancy intimate bathrooms to be gender neutral. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations.