Senate OKs bill exempting public works contractors from gender considerations

A bill exempting state public works contractors from requirements to provide access to non-gendered multi-use restroom or locker facilities on job sites easily passed the Idaho Senate on Wednesday in a 28-7 vote.

Senate Bill 1003 is sponsored by Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, and would allow projects that are funded only by state or local funding to disregard a federal provision about discrimination in contracting. Former President Barack Obama amended an executive order in 2014 to include sexual orientation and gender identity to the non-discrimination clauses in federal contracts, along with the long-established factors of race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

“As a result of that executive order, any federal contract that has more than $10,000 in the state of Idaho for public works construction basically requires that our contractors waive their ability to segregate their own bathroom, locker room and changing facilities on the basis of biological sex,” Herndon said during the Senate floor debate.

The bill does not affect public agencies and subdivisions, only the public works contractors who sign bids for projects that are solely funded by state or local dollars. Herndon told the Senate the issue came to him from a constituent in Bonner County who was going to work on a solid waste project and was asked to sign a contract including a provision allowing people to use the restroom that aligned with their gender identity rather than biological sex.

That contractor, Luis Munilla, owns CoyotePak Construction in Sandpoint and said he has never had a large enough project that would require availability of multi-use restrooms or locker rooms, but said it was about the principle and he thought it was discrimination toward his religious belief that biological gender is given by God.

Sens. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow, and Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, spoke in favor of the bill, while Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, said the bill was unnecessary.

“Most facilities on construction sites are (porta-potties), single use, and they don’t really need this,” Wintrow said. “I think this is a bill that is, again, just growing hostility against a group of people who just want to live their lives and go to the bathroom when they need to.”

The bill will now head to the Idaho House of Representatives, where a hearing will need to take place for the legislation to advance.