HOUSE BILL 40

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2025

INTRODUCED BY

Kathleen Cates

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO ACCESSIBILITY; ENACTING THE TRAVELING WITH DIGNITY ACT; REQUIRING ALL FACILITIES THAT RECEIVE STATE FUNDING TO INSTALL UNIVERSAL ADULT CHANGING STATIONS.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] SHORT TITLE.--This act may be cited as the "Traveling with Dignity Act".

     SECTION 2. [NEW MATERIAL] UNIVERSAL ADULT CHANGING STATIONS REQUIRED IN STATE-FUNDED FACILITIES.--

          A. As used in this section:

                (1) "commercial place of public amusement" means an auditorium, a convention center, a cultural complex, an exhibition hall, a permanent amusement park, a sports arena, a theater or a movie house for which the maximum occupancy is determined to be two thousand five hundred or more people;

                (2) "covered facility" means a public building or commercial place of public amusement that:

                     (a) houses an entity or program that receives state funding to cover any portion of the entity or program's operating costs; and

                     (b) receives at least two thousand five hundred visitors per year, as measured by the tourism department;

                (3) "public building" means a building owned by the state that is open to the public, including a state park that has permanent sanitary facilities;

                (4) "sanitary facility" means a restroom equipped with a flush toilet and proper drainage for all toilets, sinks, basins, bathtubs and showers; and

                (5) "universal adult changing station" means a powered, height-adjustable and adult-sized changing table that is installed in a single-occupancy restroom that is universal to gender and available to the public.

          B. By July 1, 2032, each covered facility shall install and maintain at least one universal adult changing station that is universally accessible to all genders when the facility is open to the public.

          C. After July 1, 2025:

                (1) each covered facility that undergoes a renovation that is estimated to cost more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) shall install and maintain at least one universal adult changing station that is universally accessible to all genders when the facility is open to the public; and

                (2) any newly constructed facility that receives state funding for construction or operating costs shall be built with at least one universal adult changing station that is universally accessible to all genders when the facility is open to the public.

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