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Read. Follow. Verify.Arizona measure sets public school restroom rules and pronoun restrictions requiring parental permission
Last action · March 9, 2026: C&PSponsor: John Kavanagh
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What This Bill Proposed
A proposed Arizona measure establishes public school requirements for sex-designated facilities, creates private causes of action for school restroom and sleeping quarter violations, and restricts school employees from using pronouns or non-record names for minors without written parental permission.
Establishes legal liability for public schools and school districts regarding student facility access and staff address practices, while creating a referendum process for voter approval at the next general election.
- Referendum measures passed by the Arizona Legislature are submitted directly to the state's voters for approval at a general election. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
public school students
Students are subject to facility designation rules, accommodation request procedures, and parental permission requirements for pronoun and name usage.
public school employees and independent contractors
School staff must obtain parental permission before addressing minors by non-record names or unaligned pronouns, and are protected from mandatory pronoun use that violates religious or moral convictions.
public schools and school districts
Educational institutions must process accommodation requests, adopt implementation policies, and face potential private lawsuits for unapproved facility assignments.
Key Facts
- Public schools must provide reasonable accommodations in writing to any person unwilling or unable to use a multioccupancy restroom, changing facility, or sleeping quarter designated for their sex, provided they submit satisfactory evidence of their sex.
- Satisfactory evidence of sex includes an original birth certificate or an amended birth certificate accompanied by a physician's written statement attesting that biological sex is consistent with chromosomal count.
- Reasonable accommodations may include access to a single-occupancy restroom, changing facility, or employee restroom, but cannot include facilities designated for the opposite sex while opposite-sex persons are present.
- Any person whose written request for a reasonable accommodation is denied has a private cause of action against the public school unless the school demonstrates undue hardship.
Show all 10 facts
- Individuals have a private cause of action against a public school if they encounter someone of the opposite sex in a sex-designated restroom or changing facility, or share sleeping quarters with an unrelated opposite-sex person, with school permission.
- Claims under the school facility section must be brought in superior court within two years of the alleged violation, and prevailing plaintiffs may recover monetary damages for psychological, emotional, and physical harm plus attorney fees and costs.
- School district and charter school employees and independent contractors may not address or refer to a student under 18 by a pronoun differing from their biological sex or a first name other than official records without written parental permission.
- School staff members are exempt from using pronouns contrary to their biological sex if doing so violates their religious or moral convictions.
- Each school district governing board and charter school governing body must adopt policies to implement the pronoun and parental permission section.
- The Secretary of State must submit this proposition to voters at the next general election.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is required to obtain a reasonable accommodation for school restrooms or changing facilities?
Can school employees be forced to use pronouns that do not align with a person's biological sex?
What happens if a school denies a written request for a reasonable accommodation?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · passed the Senate · in House committee.
Procedural history
12 actions- Mar 9, 2026HouseC&P
- Mar 3, 2026HouseCommitteeDP
- Feb 26, 2026HouseFloorHouse Second Reading
- Feb 25, 2026HouseIntroducedHouse First Reading
- Feb 23, 2026HouseTransmit to House
- Feb 23, 2026SenateFloorPASSED
Show 6 earlier actions
- Feb 23, 2026SenateDP
- Feb 2, 2026SenatePFC
- Jan 28, 2026SenateCommitteeDP
- Jan 14, 2026SenateFloorSenate Second Reading
- Jan 12, 2026SenateIntroducedSenate First Reading
- Dec 30, 2025SenateIntroducedPrefiled
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Voting Record
Passed
Total
30
- Yes
- 16
- No
- 11
- Present
- 0
- Not voting
- 3
- Abstain
- 0
How they voted (23)
Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Establishment of Private Rights of Action for School Facilities
The bill creates a specific statutory mechanism allowing individuals to sue public schools in superior court for facility assignment violations, coupled with recovery for emotional and physical harm.
Connected Entities
Sources
apps.azleg.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance85How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy90Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz75Current news / social attention level
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