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H 264

PROTECTING THE PRIVACY OF WOMEN – Adds to existing law to establish provisions regarding safety and privacy in certain covered entities and to provide for remedies.

68th Legislature, 1st Regular Session (2025)

H 264 requires state and certain facilities to designate multi-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters for exclusive use by one sex and provide privacy according

Reported Signed by Governor on April 1, 2025 Session Law Chapter 251 Effective: 07/01/2025
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Bill Summary · H 264

Summary — H 264: Protecting the Privacy of Women (Idaho, 2025)

Purpose

H 264 (Session Law Chapter 251) requires certain state-run institutions to designate multi‑occupancy restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters for exclusive use by one sex, with the stated aim of preserving privacy and safety for women and girls. The law took effect July 1, 2025.

Scope and key definitions

  • Applies to "covered entities": state correctional facilities and local correctional facilities, juvenile correctional centers, state-operated domestic violence shelters, and state educational institutions (University of Idaho, Lewis‑Clark State College, Idaho State University, Boise State, the School for the Deaf and the Blind, and public community colleges under the State Board of Education).
  • Uses statutory cross‑references (section 73‑114, Idaho Code) for the terms "sex", "male", and "female".
  • "Multi‑occupancy": spaces designated for simultaneous use by multiple persons.
  • "Sleeping quarters": rooms with more than one bed where multiple people are housed overnight.

Major provisions

  • Each multi‑occupancy restroom, changing room, and sleeping quarters in a covered entity must be designated for exclusive use by either females or males.
  • Only persons who are members of the designated sex may use those sex‑designated multi‑occupancy facilities.
  • Covered entities must take "reasonable steps" to provide privacy from members of the opposite sex.

Exceptions and accommodations

The single‑sex restrictions do not apply when an opposite‑sex individual enters for:
- Custodial/maintenance duties;
- Rendering medical assistance;
- Law enforcement assistance or to supervise an arrestee/detainee/inmate in a custodial setting;
- Emergency response, disaster relief, or to prevent a serious threat to order or safety;
- Use of a single‑user facility when it is the only reasonably available option;
- Use of facilities temporarily redesignated for a person’s biological sex;
- Coaching or athletic training during events;
- Accompanying and assisting a family member, legal guardian, or a designated aide who is not a member of the designated sex.

Covered entities may still adopt ADA‑required accommodations, create single‑occupancy or family facilities, and may redesignate facilities between sexes.

State educational institutions must provide a "reasonable accommodation" to any student or employee unwilling or unable to use a multi‑occupancy facility designated for their sex if a written request is provided; however, accommodation does not permit access to opposite‑sex facilities while members of the opposite sex are present or could be present.

Remedies and enforcement

  • Individuals who encounter a person of the opposite sex in a sex‑designated restroom/changing room (because the covered entity permitted it or failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it) may bring a private cause of action for declaratory and injunctive relief against the covered entity.
  • Individuals required to share sleeping quarters with the opposite sex may seek declaratory and injunctive relief.
  • Actions must be filed within two years of the alleged violation. A prevailing plaintiff may recover reasonable attorney fees and costs. The statute does not authorize compensatory or punitive damages (the remedies enumerated are declaratory/injunctive relief and fees).

Fiscal, procedural, and legal notes

  • Fiscal note: reported no state or local fiscal impact.
  • Includes a severability clause.
  • Emergency clause makes the act effective July 1, 2025.
  • Legislative action: introduced February 18, 2025; passed both houses with amendments; signed by the Governor April 1, 2025.

Practical impact

  • Requires operational changes in covered entities (facility designation, signage, policies, privacy measures).
  • Creates potential legal exposure to covered entities via private suits seeking injunctive relief and attorney fees if the statute’s rules are not followed.
  • The law’s definitions reference existing Idaho statutory definitions of sex, which may inform how it affects transgender and gender‑nonconforming persons in practice (see section 73‑114, Idaho Code, for statutory definitions).

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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