SB753

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that, in 2004, Allyson Bain, a fourteen-year-old who had a flare-up of her Crohn's disease, was shopping with her mother at a large retail establishment in Illinois when she experienced a sudden need to use the restroom. There were no public restrooms nearby and Ms. Bain was denied access to the employee-only restroom of the establishment, causing her to soil herself. Thereafter, Ms. Bain and her mother worked with their state representative to introduce and pass a bill to permit customers access to employee-only bathrooms if the customer has an eligible medical condition requiring immediate access to a toilet. Illinois became the first state to enact the Restroom Access Act, informally known as Ally's Law, in 2005.

The legislature further finds that individuals with certain medical conditions, including but not limited to Crohn's disease and inflammatory bowel disease, may experience urgent restroom needs. Since the passage of Ally's law in Illinois, sixteen other states have passed similar legislation, including Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. Ally's law falls under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The purpose of this Act is to join those states who have adopted Ally's law and require any retail establishment operating within the State that has an employee-only restroom to permit a customer suffering from an eligible medical condition to use that restroom during normal business hours under certain conditions.

SECTION 2. Chapter 321, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part I to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§321- Retail establishment; customer access to employee toilet facility; eligible medical condition. (a) A retail establishment that has a toilet facility for its employees shall allow a customer to use that facility during normal business hours; provided that the following conditions are met:

(1) The customer requesting the use of the employee toilet facility suffers from an eligible medical condition and provides the retail establishment with proof of an eligible medical condition, in the form of:

(A) A statement signed by a physician; or

(B) A specially issued card from a health organization or state health agency;

(2) Three or more employees of the retail establishment are working and physically present on the premises of the retail establishment at the time the customer requests use of the employee toilet facility;

(3) The retail establishment does not normally make a restroom available to the public;

(4) The employee toilet facility is reasonably safe and is not located in an area where providing access would create an obvious health or safety risk to the customer or an obvious security risk to the retail establishment; and

(5) A public restroom is not immediately accessible to the customer.

(b) A retail establishment or an employee of a retail establishment shall not be civilly liable for damages arising from any act or omission in allowing a customer who has an eligible medical condition to use an employee toilet facility that is not a public restroom; provided that the act or omission is:

(1) Not negligent;

(2) Occurs in an area of the retail establishment that is not accessible to the public; and

(3) Results in an injury to or death of the customer or any individual other than an employee accompanying the customer.

(c) A retail establishment shall not be required to make any physical changes to an employee toilet facility for the purposes of this section.

(d) Any retail establishment or employee of a retail establishment who violates this section shall be fined not more than $100 for each violation.

(e) For the purposes of this section:

"Customer" means an individual who is lawfully on the premises of a retail establishment.

"Eligible medical condition" means Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, any other inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, or any other medical condition that requires immediate access to a toilet facility.

"Physician" means an individual authorized to practice medicine or osteopathy under the laws of any state.

"Retail establishment" means a place of business open to the general public for the sale of goods or services. "Retail establishment" does not include a fuel filling or service station, with a structure of eight hundred square feet or less, that has an employee toilet facility located within that structure."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	753
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII