North Dakota enacted HB 1522 restricting transgender students' restroom use and barring schools from concealing their status from parents

On May 8, 2023, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1522 (enrolled act 23.0864.10000) into law with an emergency clause, making it effective immediately. The measure requires public school boards to prohibit students from using multiple-occupancy restrooms and locker rooms that do not coincide with their "biological sex," permitting a separate single-occupancy accommodation only with parental approval. It also bars schools and teachers from adopting any policy on a student's transgender status, and from withholding or concealing a student's transgender status from the student's parent or legal guardian. A further provision prohibits government entities from requiring or forbidding an employee's use of a coworker's preferred pronouns.

The bill cleared the North Dakota Legislative Assembly during its 68th regular session, passing the House 73-19 and the Senate 31-16 before the chambers adopted the emergency clause and sent the enrolled act to the governor. Burgum, a Republican, said in a statement that the law "largely codifies existing practices while reaffirming the First Amendment right to free speech" and requiring restroom accommodations. HB 1522 was one of several bills restricting transgender North Dakotans that Burgum signed the same day, and it followed his earlier veto of a broader pronoun bill, SB 2231, which the Legislature failed to override.

By requiring schools to restrict transgender students' restroom use and to disclose a student's transgender status to parents, the law treats transgender students differently from their classmates and removes their control over sensitive personal information about their gender identity.