Texas Bathroom Laws: SB 8 Rules, Exemptions and Federal Overlap

The Texas bathroom law, Senate Bill 8 from the 89th Legislature’s second special session, took effect December 4, 2025 and requires every government-owned multi-occupancy restroom, locker room, changing room, and shower room in the state to be designated for use by one biological sex only. It covers public schools, universities, city and county buildings, state agencies, and prisons. Private businesses are not covered and remain free to set their own restroom policies.

What Senate Bill 8 Requires

SB 8 added Chapter 3002 to the Texas Government Code. The core rule: every political subdivision and state agency must designate each multi-occupancy private space it owns, operates, or controls for use by individuals of one biological sex only, and must take “every reasonable step” to keep someone of the opposite sex from entering.¹

A “multiple-occupancy private space” is any facility designed for simultaneous use by more than one person where someone could be in a state of undress, even if the space has curtains or partial walls. That definition sweeps in restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, and shower rooms.¹ Single-occupancy restrooms with a locking door are not covered by the designation requirement.

The statute defines “sex” as biological sex using reproductive-system-based definitions. “Female” refers to an individual whose reproductive system is designed to produce and transport eggs for fertilization; “male” refers to an individual whose reproductive system is designed to produce and utilize sperm for fertilization. Both definitions account for congenital anomalies and intentional or unintentional disruptions.¹

Where the Law Applies

SB 8 reaches nearly every government-controlled property in Texas. “Political subdivision” includes counties, municipalities, school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, junior college districts, and special-purpose districts. “State agency” includes every executive, legislative, and judicial branch department, along with institutions of higher education.¹ In practice:

Public K-12 schools and charter schools must designate every multi-stall restroom, locker room, and changing room by sex.
Public universities and community colleges fall under the same requirement across their campuses.
City and county buildings, including courthouses, public libraries, recreation centers, and municipal offices, are covered.
State agency buildings, including the Capitol, must comply.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice must house inmates according to biological sex, including in dormitories and cellblocks.
Family violence shelters designed specifically for female victims may only serve females and children age 17 or younger of those receiving services.

When Someone Can Enter an Opposite-Sex Facility

SB 8 lists specific situations in which a person may enter a multi-occupancy space designated for the opposite sex without a violation:²

Custodial or maintenance work. Janitors and maintenance staff can enter to clean or inspect regardless of their sex.
Medical or other emergencies. Anyone rendering emergency assistance is covered.
Law enforcement acting in an official capacity.
Helping someone who needs physical assistance, such as a caregiver accompanying a person with a disability or an elderly individual.
Rendering assistance necessary to prevent a serious threat to proper order or safety.
Children age nine or younger, when accompanied by a supervising adult.

Government entities can also build or designate single-occupancy restrooms, family restrooms, or individual changing rooms as an alternative accommodation, and they can change which sex a given space is designated for. What they cannot do is let someone use a multi-occupancy space designated for the opposite sex as an “accommodation.”²

Penalties and How Complaints Work

Enforcement runs through the Texas Attorney General. Anyone can file a complaint alleging that a political subdivision or state agency is out of compliance. If the office finds the complaint has merit, the entity receives notice and has 15 days to fix the violation. If it fails to cure within that window, or has been found liable before, the Attorney General can sue for civil penalties and seek a court order compelling compliance.¹

The penalties are steep. A first violation carries a $25,000 civil penalty. A second or subsequent violation jumps to $125,000. Each day a violation continues counts as a separate offense, so a district or city that ignores the rule for weeks can accumulate penalties quickly.¹

Individuals have a separate path. A person affected by a government entity’s violation can file a civil lawsuit seeking a declaration that the entity broke the law, an injunction ordering compliance, and recovery of court costs, attorney fees, and witness fees.¹

Going the other direction is harder. State courts cannot declare SB 8 unconstitutional or issue any order restraining its enforcement. Government entities and their employees keep sovereign and governmental immunity against suits challenging the law’s validity. And a fee-shifting provision makes anyone who sues to block enforcement of sex-based facility rules liable for the other side’s attorney fees if they lose.³

Private Businesses Are Not Covered

SB 8 applies only to government-owned and government-controlled buildings. Restaurants, retail stores, shopping centers, and other private businesses can set their own restroom policies.¹ Some maintain sex-segregated restrooms; others offer gender-neutral facilities. Texas treats that choice as a property-rights question.

Private businesses still have to meet federal accessibility standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which set requirements for wheelchair-accessible stalls and fixtures in places of public accommodation.⁴

If a patron refuses to follow a business’s posted restroom policy, the owner can ask them to leave. Staying on the property after being told to go is criminal trespass under Texas Penal Code Section 30.05.⁵ The default classification is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail, a fine of up to $2,000, or both. The same trespass statute applies to anyone who refuses to leave a government building after being told to do so.

Federal Workplace Rules Still Apply

Texas employers also sit under federal standards that do not always line up with SB 8.

OSHA Sanitation Standards

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires every employer to provide sanitary, immediately available toilet facilities, with the minimum number of restrooms scaling to workforce size and facilities separated by sex. Workers must be allowed to leave their stations to use a restroom when needed, and employers cannot impose unreasonable restrictions that cause extended delays.⁶

Title VII After Bostock

In Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), the U.S. Supreme Court held that firing someone for being transgender is sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, extending the statute’s prohibition on sex-based employment discrimination to gender identity and sexual orientation.⁷

In February 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a decision stating that federal agency employers may maintain sex-based bathroom designations and exclude employees from facilities that do not match their biological sex. The EEOC specified that the decision applies only to federal workplaces and is not binding on private-sector employers or federal courts. Private employers may continue offering restroom access based on gender identity. An employee who faces workplace discrimination over restroom access can file a charge with the EEOC within 180 days of the incident, or within 300 days if a state or local agency enforces a parallel anti-discrimination law.⁸

Local Nondiscrimination Ordinances

Several Texas cities adopted nondiscrimination ordinances covering gender identity before SB 8 existed. Dallas and Fort Worth have had such protections for over two decades, and Austin and San Antonio followed. These ordinances generally prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on gender identity, among other categories.

SB 8 creates tension with those local rules. Because the state law’s definition of “political subdivision” explicitly includes municipalities, city-owned buildings must now follow the biological-sex designation requirement regardless of a local ordinance that might otherwise have allowed gender-identity-based access in public facilities. City buildings, public recreation centers, and municipal offices all fall under SB 8. How cities reconcile their nondiscrimination ordinances with the state mandate in day-to-day enforcement is still developing.

For private businesses inside these cities, local ordinances may still shape restroom policies, since SB 8 does not reach private property. A business in Austin or Dallas could still face a complaint under the local ordinance if it discriminates in public accommodation based on gender identity. Enforcement of those municipal codes typically falls to local human relations commissions or civil rights departments.

1
Texas Legislature Online. 89(2) SB 8 – Enrolled Version
2
Texas Legislature Online. 89(2) SB 8 – Senate Committee Report Version
3
LegislScan. Bill Text TX SB8 89th Legislature 2nd Special Session Enrolled
4
ADA.gov. ADA Standards for Accessible Design
5
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 30.05 – Criminal Trespass
6
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Restrooms and Sanitation Requirements
7
Supreme Court of the United States. Bostock v Clayton County 590 US 644
8
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits for Filing a Charge