TALLAHASSEE — As lawmakers returned to Tallahassee this week to begin a new legislative session, a bill introduced by Rep. Frank Artiles (R-Miami) that would make it illegal for people to use public facilities intended for the opposite sex has survived its first test.

After nearly a two-hour hearing, a majority of the House Subcommittee on Civil Justice voted 9-4 to move forward with HB 583, or the so-called transgender bathroom bill, which would make it a crime for people to use single-sex public facilities like restrooms if they were not born with that gender.

Reps. Dwight Dudley (D-St. Petersburg), Kionne McGhee (D-Cutler Bay), Lori Berman (D-Boynton Beach) and Cynthia Stafford (D-Opa Locka) voted against the bill.

Openly gay Rep. David Richardson (D-Miami Beach) attended the hearing but is not on the committee and did not vote.

The bill has two more committee stops to make before it goes to the full House for a vote.

A Senate version of Artiles’ bill has been introduced in the upper house by Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness.

The two bills are not identical but both would limit the use of single-sex, public facilities such as restrooms to people of a specified gender only. Those found guilty could face a steep fine or time behind bars.

Claiming public safety as a justification for the measure, Artiles said his bill was filed in response to a Miami-Dade ordinance that bans discrimination based on gender identity. LGBT advocates say the bill would target transgender Floridians unfairly.

The 60-day legislative session began Mar. 3.

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