North Carolina ended their special session yesterday without repealing HB2, as the governor-elect and Charlotte officials were hoping would happen:
NBC NEWS – After the North Carolina House adjourned without making a decision, the state’s Senate voted down the motion to repeal the controversial so-called “bathroom bill.”
Lawmakers walked away after hours of debate in public and behind closed doors with flocks of protesters crowding the statehouse, most of them seeking the law, known as House Bill 2 or HB2, to be killed off. Their day ended in disappointment.
As the debate in the North Carolina Senate began to spiral, the crowd reacted.
Senate adjourns as crowd chants "Shame" #wcnc #hb2 pic.twitter.com/WaROHfyemf
— Ty Chandler (@TyChandler_News) December 22, 2016
“Do what you said you would do,” a member of the audience yelled. The larger audience chanted “shame” as the North Carolina Senate adjourned.
Governor-elect Roy Cooper wasn’t happy:
Gov.-elect Roy Cooper accused the Republican-led legislature of failing to fulfill their promise. “I’m disappointed for the people of North Carolina — for the jobs that people won’t have,” Cooper said. “I’m disappointed that we did not remove the stain on our great state.”
The lack of resolution is a blow to Cooper, the Democratic attorney general who campaigned against the law. After narrowly defeating Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, Cooper worked to broker a deal between the Republican-led legislature and the city of Charlotte, whose ordinance expanding LGBT protections in February prompted the law.
Here’s why the repeal of HB2 failed:
The breakdown in talks came when Republican leadership said they would only repeal the bill if they also passed a moratorium or “cooling off period” that prohibited local governments from regulating employment practices, public accommodations or access to restrooms, showers or changing facilities.
“This moratorium that sprung up in the final hours doubles down on discrimination for an indefinite period of time,” Cooper said.
While that was part of the reason, I suspect this was more consequential:
Many Republicans said they still support HB2.
“No economic, political or ideological pressure can convince me that what is wrong is right,” Lt. Gov. Dan Forest said in a statement early Wednesday. “It will always be wrong for men to have access to women’s showers and bathrooms. If HB2 is repealed, there will be nothing on the books to prevent another city or county to take us down this path again.”
Boom! Now there’s some common sense logic I just can’t disagree with!
And I think Forest is right about the future too.
If Republicans repeal HB2 now, then what would stop Charlotte or other cities from implementing non-discrimination policies that endanger women and children all over again? And we all know that Cooper would never sign any legislation like HB2 that prevented cities from doing this in the future, so Republican lawmakers would be stuck if they repealed this.
In the end I think not repealing HB2 is the right thing to do, just as Forest suggested.