Indiana bill would restrict shared restroom use based on sex

Covered buildings and businesses would reserve shared restrooms and changing areas for male or female use. The rules cover shared rooms in public buildings, covered schools, state colleges, and certain businesses. People would generally use rooms matching the bill's definition of sex based on biological traits at birth. Temporary room reassignment, upkeep, emergency aid, and helping someone who needs assistance are allowed. At state colleges, a parent may also help their child. The shared-room rules are set to take effect July 1, 2026.

Health officials would provide short birth certificates, keep long forms for internal use, and reissue certain certificates with altered sex entries. The reissue rule covers Indiana birth certificates with altered sex entries that conflict with the bill's definition of sex. Only listed reasons allow a short-form certificate to be amended; a long-form certificate cannot be amended. The reissue rule excludes changes made to fix clerical errors. These rules would start upon passage; the instruction to reissue certificates would expire December 31, 2028.

Schools would be barred from promoting or requiring certain names and pronouns. Covered schools include public schools and certain private schools. The limits concern words that differ from a person's sex under the bill or a student's name on their birth certificate. School staff could use a student's requested name or pronoun if an adult or emancipated student, or a parent of an unemancipated minor, requests it in writing and provides the required health care provider documentation. These school rules are set to take effect July 1, 2026.

State prisons and county jails would house incarcerated people according to the bill's definition of sex. The rule covers people held in state correctional facilities and county jails. Starting July 1, 2027, the attorney general could ask a court to fine a prison superintendent or sheriff up to $10,000 for each violation. The housing rules are set to start July 1, 2026; lawsuits and penalty actions would start July 1, 2027.

People could face criminal trespass charges for certain shared-room violations, while state courts would be barred from hearing certain challenges to the room and housing rules. Trespass applies to shared rooms in public buildings. The lawsuit limit covers challenges seeking to stop enforcement of the shared-room and prison or jail rules. A person must knowingly or intentionally enter a public building's shared room designated for another sex and refuse a government worker's or officer's request to leave before the trespass rule applies. Both provisions are set to start July 1, 2026.