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Starting on Dec. 4, a new Texas law prohibiting men from entering women’s restrooms will go into effect.
Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), also known as the Texas Women’s Privacy Act, will apply to bathroom and changing room facilities in public schools, universities and other buildings across the Lone Star State.
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Authored by Texas state Sen. Mayes Middleton, SB 8 passed in September with bipartisan support, making Texas the 20th state in the nation to enact legislation protecting restroom privacy for women and girls.
Opponents of the bill, however, have voiced concerns about over-enforcement and potential public harassment by people they deride as “bathroom monitors.”
Here are four things to know about Texas’ new law.
1. Private establishments excluded from SB 8
While Texas’ so-called “bathroom bill” applies across multiple-occupancy private areas in public buildings — such as restrooms with multiple stalls or showers — SB 8 only applies to government-owned and operated facilities, including county and city buildings, government agency buildings, public schools, open-enrollment charter schools and public universities.
Under SB 8, there are several exemptions allowing certain people to use restrooms that do not correspond to their sex, including those rendering emergency medical assistance, custodial staff and other workers, law enforcement officials, and children under 9 years old who are accompanied by an adult.
Churches, restaurants, gyms and other private facilities are not affected by SB 8.
2. Questions linger over enforcement
One of the questions at the heart of political debate over SB 8 has centered around enforcement. While SB 8 does not lay out specific steps for schools and other institutions to take concerning enforcement, the bill calls for hefty fines for violators, as much as $125,000 for a second or repeated violation.
In addition to giving private citizens the right to sue violators of SB 8, the law also gives broad authority to the attorney general to prosecute violations as well, a legal combination which was modeled after the state’s so-called “heartbeat” law prohibiting abortion, according to conservative advocacy group Texas Policy Research.
3. Texas Attorney General’s Office to lead complaint process
Anyone seeking to file a complaint pursuant to SB 8 must meet certain criteria before doing so, including being a Texas resident. All complaints must involve alleged incidents that occurred in those institutions covered under the law.
A complaint cannot be filed with the Attorney General’s Office until a written notice is first filed with the institution where the alleged violation took place. Once a complaint is filed with the attorney general, the institution or agency has three days to resolve the violation before any official investigation can begin, according to Texas Policy Research.
4. ‘Bathroom bill’ immune from judicial overreach
Under SB 8, courts are prohibited from issuing injunctions to block its enforcement, as they did with Senate Bill 10, which mandated the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms across Texas.
If the legality of SB 8 is appealed, appellate jurisdiction will be centralized in the newly-formed Fifteenth Court of Appeals, rather than in the jurisdiction where the challenge originated, according to Texas Policy Research.
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This article was originally published at The Christian Post. Photo Credit: benkrut/Getty Images via Canva Teams.
