S.C. Colleges Could Face Penalties Over New Bathroom Law

Public colleges in South Carolina will have to attest annually that they are in compliance with a new state law barring transgender students from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity, The State reported.

Trans students instead will have access to a single-stall restroom or a changing facility. The law, signed by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster in May, requires the institutions to “take reasonable steps to ensure that all restrooms and changing facilities provide its users with privacy from members of the opposite sex.” It does not offer more details about what those steps entail.

The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, which is enforcing the law, adopted a policy last week that will require the annual attestation. If the commission receives a complaint, it will ask the college to reattest its compliance within 30 days. Universities that don’t attest annually or respond within 30 days when asked can lose a quarter of their state funding in the following fiscal year. A court finding against a college could also trigger the penalty. 

“We’re not physically inspecting, we’re not investigating,” the commission’s executive director, Jeffrey Perez, told the board, The State reported. “We contact the campuses, say, ‘Are you in compliance with the act?’ They send us a letter back saying, ‘Yes, we are in compliance.’”

Perez added that the policy aligns with what lawmakers intended.