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May 21, 2017      9:39 PM

Updated: Paddie bathroom amendment approved 91 to 50

Speaker Straus says “Representative Paddie's amendment will allow schools to continue to handle sensitive issues as they have been handling them."

A version of the so-called “bathroom bill” was tentatively passed Sunday night in the form of an amendment to a bill dealing with school safety measures.

The amendment by Rep. Chris Paddie tacked onto the legislation is not as extensive as its predecessors Senate Bill 6 and House Bill 2899, excluding all entities other than public schools and open enrollment charter schools. It does require school board trustees provide a single occupancy bathroom for students who don’t want to use the bathroom of their “biological sex.”

The amendment says “The board of trustees of a school district or the governing body of an open-enrolment charter school shall ensure that each school or school facility accommodates the right of each student to access restrooms, locker rooms, and changing facilities with privacy, dignity, and safety by requiring the provision of single-occupancy facilities for use by a student who does not wish to use the facilities designated for use or commonly used by persons of the student’s biological sex.”

By Eleanor Dearman

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