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Public restrooms in Alabama could soon be equipped with adult-size changing tables if lawmakers approve of a new bill introduced in the Senate last week.
SB83 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, ushered the bill through the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee after robust discussion between lawmakers.
Amanda Dixon told committee members that changing her disabled child in a public setting is difficult, with the only options being changing him in the car or on the floor of the public restroom.
“I’ve been confronted by the police before for changing him out in my car because it’s public indecency,” Dixon said. “That’s an issue I shouldn’t have to deal with as the mother of a disabled child.”
The bill requires any “public entity that constructs a new public restroom accessible to both men and women in a public building, or that totally renovates an existing public restroom that is accessible to both men and women in a public building” to “ensure that one or more of the public restrooms has a powered, height-adjustable, adult-size changing table that is capable of serving both a baby and an adult.”
Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, who opened his comments with “always a Grinch,” questioned the financial feasibility of the program.
“There’s always a cost to these matters and these things will be substantial,” Albritton said.
Each table costs about $5,000 and there will also be costs for the additional square footage necessary to house the changing tables.
The fiscal note attached to the bill doesn’t estimate the cost to the state, but just using the $5,000 figure, $1 million would fund 200 tables across the state.
Sen. Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville, questioned whether the exceptions are clear enough to ensure how much traffic qualifies the public building as “frequented by the public” and how to determine whether the installation is feasible.
The committee discussed finding matching federal funds that could lighten the burden on the state for providing the changing tables.
The committee voted unanimously to advance the bill for consideration on the Senate floor.
