A sign points to bathrooms at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
After being flooded with more than 12,000 complaints — most of them false reports protesting Utah’s new transgender bathroom law — Utah State Auditor John Dougall on Wednesday said his office had concluded its investigation into four out of the five that appeared to be in “good faith.”
While the fifth complaint is still under review, Dougall said, his office did not substantiate any of the four complaints’ allegations.
Of 12K hoax trans bathroom complaints, Utah auditor investigates 5 that may be ‘good faith’
“We were unable to substantiate the allegations in any of the four complaints, but we did note two separate issues,” Dougall said in a news release, noting the auditor’s office sent letters to four governmental entities that were named in the unsubstantiated allegations.
Of the five complaints Dougall’s office investigated because “we thought might reflect a good-faith effort to attempt to make plausible allegations of a government entity’s violation” of law, Dougall said four involved Duschesne County, Provo School District, Alpine School District, and North Sevier Recreation Center.
Utah’s new law (with some exceptions) restricts transgender people from accessing certain bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with in publicly owned and controlled buildings including public schools, the Utah Capitol, and city and county buildings.
Utah’s transgender bathroom restrictions
HB257 restricts transgender individuals from accessing certain bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with. It’s a complex bill with many caveats:
It only applies to public schools and government-owned or controlled facilities, like the Utah Capitol or city and county buildings. It does not apply to any privately owned buildings.
In public schools, it restricts access to bathrooms, changing rooms and locker rooms, while in other government-owned facilities only changing rooms and locker rooms are restricted.
It includes no explicit penalties to punish a transgender person for simply entering a government-owned bathroom they identify with — unless there are circumstances or behavior that cause “affront or alarm.”
It does, however, make it a crime for a person to simply enter a sex designated changing room that does not correspond with their “biological sex,” and they could also face increased criminal penalties for other crimes committed in that situation.
It allows exceptions if a person has legally changed their birth certificate to correspond with the sex-designation of the changing room and has undergone a primary sex characteristic surgical procedure.
It does not require Utahns to show documentation or paperwork to access a bathroom or privacy space.
It does, however, require government entities to contact law enforcement in response to complaints or allegations of criminal behavior, which could include simply accessing a sex-designated changing room that doesn’t correspond with someone’s “biological sex.”
The Utah Auditor’s Office, which began fielding complaints as of May 1 when the enforcement provision of HB257 took effect, is required to investigate allegations that a government entity has failed to comply with the law. It does not require the office to investigate actions of individuals, which Dougall has repeatedly emphasized since the law took effect.
“We only investigate alleged violations of the Statute by government entities,” Dougall said in a statement last month. “We will not investigate allegations about an individual’s bathroom use, and we will not investigate or determine an individual’s sex or gender.”
Dougall in recent weeks has criticized Utah’s new transgender bathroom law and his fellow Republicans for making him “bathroom monitor.”
‘MAGA antics’: Utah auditor chides transgender bathroom law as hoax reports mount to nearly 12K
When asked for more details about the allegations and why they were unsubstantiated, Dougall told Utah News Dispatch on Wednesday, “I would generically describe (them) as broad allegations of an individual who appeared,” according to the complainant, to be using a facility in violation of the law. However, Dougall said there were “no records of any type of complaint being filed about it,” and auditors didn’t know the date of the alleged violation, or other details.
Even though these allegations were unsubstantiated, the Utah Auditor’s Office sent letters to the four governmental entities either stating the auditor’s office believes the entity was in compliance with the law, or reminding the entities to adopt “privacy compliance plans” as required under HB257.
Through the adoption of “privacy compliance plans,” Dougall said the law requires government entities to have a policy or procedure to allow accommodations for somebody who may be “uncomfortable” using a bathroom or locker room under HB257’s restrictions.
The letters, linked below, include the following:
Duchesne County “failed to provide” the auditor’s office with a required privacy compliance plan. The office has “reminded the County of its duty to adopt a compliance plan and have allowed them 30 days to do so.”
Provo School District had not yet adopted a final privacy compliance plan, the auditor’s office said, but the district’s draft privacy compliance plan “appears to address the requirements of Statute. We have allowed (the district) 30 days to adopt the plan.”
Alpine School District, the auditor’s office determined, “has a privacy compliance plan that appears to comply” with the law.
North Sevier Recreation Center has a privacy compliance plan that appears to comply with the law, auditors determined.
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Duchesne County, Provo School District and North Sevier Recreation Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday, but Alpine School District provided Utah News Dispatch with its policy that outlines its compliance plan.
“In straightforward terms, this new law means the following for our schools,” the policy states:
“If a restroom, shower, or locker-room has been designated as a male or female space, that space can only be used by students whose birth certificate matches the designation.
“Unisex or single-occupant facilities are undesignated, so they may be used by any student.
“If students do not feel comfortable using a restroom, shower, or locker room that has been designated as a male or female space, the school shall coordinate with the student’s parent to develop a privacy plan.
“A privacy plan should provide the student with reasonable access to unisex or single-occupancy facilities or allow the student to use faculty or staff restrooms.
“If access to either of these first two options are not available, a student may be authorized to use a facility that doesn’t match the birth certificate, so long as steps are taken to provide temporary privacy (such as allowing the student to access the locker room 5 minutes before/after other students would be using it).”
While the bill’s sponsors and its conservative supporters have argued it’s not meant to “target” transgender individuals but rather “protect” Utahns, especially women, from uncomfortable encounters, its critics (which included a handful of Republicans and all Democrats in the Utah Legislature) argued it singles out transgender people, a small but vulnerable group, by forcing many of them to use facilities where they don’t feel safe or comfortable, while casting them in a criminal light.
When HB257 was fast-tracked through the first two weeks of the 2024 Utah Legislative session, opponents of the bill also worried that the bill would embolden vigilante behavior of Utahns policing each other based on their physical appearances.
The Utah Auditor’s Office has urged Utahns to “make a good faith effort to address and resolve concerns with the government entity before submitting a complaint to the State Auditor.”
If an auditor’s investigation substantiates a violation and if a government entity “fails to cure” it within 30 days, the auditor could refer the violation to the Utah Attorney General’s Office, and the district or agency could face a fine of up to $10,000 per violation per day, according to HB257.
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