Idaho Gov. Little signed SB 1016, barring localities from requiring gender-neutral facilities in public-works contracts

On March 27, 2023, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed Senate Bill 1016 into law as Session Law Chapter 144, amending Idaho Code section 67-2802A, the state's "Discrimination in Procurement Prohibited" statute. The amendment provides that a public entity or political subdivision may not require a public-works contractor to provide access to a multiple-occupancy restroom, shower facility, or changing room "on any basis other than sex," with sex defined by reference to a birth-certificate-based standard that fixes sex at birth and excludes gender identity.

The measure grew out of a Sandpoint contractor's religious objection to a federal-contracting nondiscrimination clause — tracing to a 2014 executive order covering sexual orientation and gender identity — that would have required permitting gender-neutral facility access on public-works job sites. The enacted law bars Idaho's state and local governments from including any such inclusive-access requirement as a term in publicly funded construction contracts. It took effect on July 1, 2023.

Senate Bill 1016 was sponsored by Sen. Scott Herndon and passed the Senate before clearing the House, one of several 2023 Idaho measures addressing sex-designated facilities and the definition of sex in state law.