Proposed Bathroom Bill Would Allow More Than Customers Only [Poll]

I think everyone’s been in this situation.

You have to go to the bathroom, so you run into a business, like a restaurant, bar or store, only to find a sign on the door that states that “bathrooms are for customers only”. That’s kind of the way that I was brought up. If you need to use the bathroom, you should purchase something from the business. The Silver Slipper Bar in Albany has this policy.

I know that some people will agree that the owner of the business has a right to deny people access to their bathroom if they don’t buy something from the business, but there may be a good reason that this may have to change. Now there’s a New York State Assemblyman that wants to make it illegal for a business to do this. Assemblymen Steve Englebright (D - Setauket) is proposing the bill. He believes that “there are many people have emergency need for a public restroom, should not be turned away because they didn’t buy something in that store”. His proposed bill would fine the violators $500 dollars.

According to the story from WNYT, there are a couple of other people from the New York State Assembly that have a different proposal. One of those is Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D - Scarsdale). She wants to have the business owners allow people to use the bathroom if they have certain medical conditions. But those people would need some sort of what she called “reasonable evidence” about their condition, if the owner requested it.

So how do you feel. Overall, do you think that anyone should be allowed to use a business’s bathroom, even if they don’t purchase something from the business? Please take our poll.