WA could require diaper changing stations for both moms and dads

When Alex Johnson and her husband are on an outing with their kids and a diaper needs to be changed, she almost always ends up handling the job. Not because she likes changing diapers more than her husband, she said, but because most changing stations are located in women’s restrooms.

That reality places an extra burden on moms like Johnson and sends a pernicious message to kids, said Johnson, 35, a pediatric nurse who recently mentioned the situation to a state lawmaker and helped inspire a bill that could increase access to changing stations in restrooms across Washington.

“What are the implications for our children when they see that the mom is the only one providing the care?” the Snoqualmie resident mused earlier this month, describing the problem as even more acute for single dads and male couples. “When the dad may want to but can’t provide the care?”

Sponsored by Rep. Lisa Callan, D-Issaquah, House Bill 2052 would require new and renovated buildings and businesses with public restrooms to include changing stations in at least one restroom accessible to men and in at least one accessible to women or in at least one gender-neutral restroom.

Callan decided to propose the bill after talking to constituents like Johnson and after recalling her experience as a parent. She thought the timing might be right this year, partly because there happens to be a lot of Washington lawmakers with young children at the moment, she said.

“This is about ensuring there are more stations available and more available to anybody who’s going to be changing that diaper,” Callan said. “We have a lot of dads and uncles and grandpas right now who don’t have access.”

Some Washington venues — like the Bellevue Arts Museum, which the Johnsons visited for an interview — already offer diaper stations in restrooms for men and women. But the state has no data on the topic, Callan said.

Federal law has required changing stations to be accessible to men and women in U.S. government buildings since 2016, and several states, such as California, Illinois and Utah, have adopted the same approach with local government buildings. Miami, New York City and San Antonio require changing stations accessible to men and women in most buildings with public restrooms.

Washington lawmakers have considered the problem before. A bill that would have required certain restaurants (those with children’s menus and 60-plus seats) to include changing stations with access for men and women cleared the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Business in 2019.

That bill failed to advance any further, however, and Washington today has no statewide requirement for diaper changing stations. The Washington Hospitality Association, which represents restaurants and hotels across the state, said at one point that restaurants could face challenges with a strict requirement because some restrooms lack space for changing stations.

Last week, a spokesperson said the association isn’t opposed to Callan’s 2024 proposal but is working with her on “amendment language” to make sure the bill jibes with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations for restrooms.

Callan wants to make HB 2052 “friendly to small businesses,” potentially by limiting the scope of the bill to major renovations, rather than all renovations, she said. Diaper stations don’t cost much, $300-$500, but do need adequate space and can need reinforced walls, she said.

“We’re trying to make sure it’s not cost-prohibitive,” she said about her bill, which the House Committee on Local Government has scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday and for a potential committee vote Friday.

Alex Johnson’s husband — Jo Johnson, a public school teacher who serves on the Snoqualmie City Council — thinks HB 2052 could actually be “good for businesses” because parents are more likely to patronize places where they know diaper changing is easy, he said, recalling times when he was parenting alone somewhere without a restroom changing station he could access.

“You end up having to go out to the car,” unless you’ve taken transit and don’t have that option, said Jo Johnson, 36, whose kids are 2 and 4. “It’s probably a little chilly, probably raining. You’re trying to do it in the trunk of your car.”

When the Johnsons are out together and a diaper needs to be changed, Jo knows that Alex is the parent “who’s more likely to get up, whose dinner gets interrupted, whose dinner is cold when she gets back,” he said.

Diaper stations may seem like “a little thing” compared to some other political matters that lawmakers are debating this session, Jo Johnson said.

“But all the little things add up to a big thing,” he said. “When you do more things like this, in the aggregate, that’s what changes our culture.”