Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
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State of Arkansas 1
94th General Assembly A Bill 2
Regular Session, 2023 HOUSE BILL 1334 3
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By: Representatives T. Shephard, F. Allen, Ennett, Pilkington, Scott, Springer 5
By: Senator L. Chesterfield 6
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For An Act To Be Entitled 8
AN ACT TO CREATE THE RESTROOM ACCESS ACT; TO ALLOW 9
RESTROOM ACCESS TO C USTOMERS WITH CERTAI N ELIGIBLE 10
MEDICAL CONDITIONS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOS ES. 11
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Subtitle 14
TO CREATE THE RESTROOM ACCESS ACT; AND TO 15
ALLOW RESTROOM ACCESS TO CUSTOMERS WITH 16
CERTAIN ELIGIBLE MEDICAL CONDITIONS. 17
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 20
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SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 20, Chapter 14, Subchapter 3, is 22
amended to add an additional section to read as follows: 23
20-14-311. Restroom Access Act. 24
(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Restroom 25
Access Act". 26
(b) As used in this section: 27
(1) "Customer" means an individual who is lawfully on the 28
premises of a retail establishment; 29
(2) "Eligible medical condition" means Crohn's disease, 30
ulcerative colitis, any other inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel 31
syndrome, or any other medical condition that requires immediate access to a 32
toilet facility; and 33
(3)(A) "Retail establishment" means a place of business open to 34
the public for the sale of goods or services. 35
(B) "Retail establishment" does not include a filling 36 HB1334
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station or service station with a structure of eight hundred square feet (800 1
sq. ft.) or less that has an employee toilet facility located within that 2
structure. 3
(c) A retail establishment that has a toilet facility for its 4
employees shall allow a customer to use that facility during normal business 5
hours if the employee toilet facility is reasonably safe and all of the 6
conditions under this subsection are met: 7
(1) The customer requesting the use of the employee toilet 8
facility provides the retail establishment with evidence of the customer's 9
eligible medical condition that ma y include: 10
(A) A copy of a statement signed by a physician, advanced 11
practice registered nurse, physician assistant, or another person acting 12
under the delegation and supervision of a licensed physician that indicates 13
that the customer suffers from an eligible medical condition or uses an 14
ostomy device; or 15
(B) An identification card that is issued by a nationally -16
recognized health organization or local health department which indicates 17
that the customer suffers from an eligible medical condition or uses an 18
ostomy device; 19
(2) Three (3) or more employees of the retail establishment are 20
working at the time the customer requests use of the employee toilet 21
facility; 22
(3) The retail establishment does not normally make a restroom 23
available to the publ ic; 24
(4) The employee toilet facility is not located in an area where 25
providing access would create an obvious health or safety risk to the 26
customer or an obvious security risk to the retail establishment; and 27
(5) A public restroom is not immediately accessible to the 28
customer. 29
(d) A customer who uses an employee toilet facility under this section 30
shall leave the employee toilet facility in the same condition as the toilet 31
facility was before the customer used the employee toilet facility. 32
(e) In providing access to an employee toilet facility under this 33
section, the retail establishment or an employee of a retail establishment 34
does not owe the customer to whom access is provided a greater degree of care 35
than is owed to a licensee on the premises. 36 HB1334
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(f) A retail establishment or an employee of a retail establishment is 1
not civilly liable for any act or omission in allowing a customer to use an 2
employee toilet facility that is not a public restroom if the act or 3
omission: 4
(1) Is not willfuly or gro ssly negligent; 5
(2) Occurs in an area of the retail establishment that is not 6
accessible to the public; and 7
(3) Results in an injury to or death of the customer or any 8
individual other than an employee accompanying the customer. 9
(g) A retail establishment is not required to make any physical 10
changes to an employee toilet facility under this section. 11
(h) A retail establishment or an employee of a retail establishment 12
that violates subsection (c) of this section commits a violation and is 13
subject to a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100). 14
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