North Carolina governor signs measure to roll back 'bathroom bill'

Mark Barrett

Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law Thursday a compromise bill to roll back HB2, the measure on bathroom access and discrimination that colored the state's image and sparked continued bickering among residents and political leaders after it was passed a little more than a year ago.

The compromise measure, approved earlier in the day by the state General Assembly, repeals the law but keeps some aspects of HB2 in place in a different form, disappointing LGBT rights groups who led much of the opposition to the bill and wanted a complete repeal.

But legislators supporting the bill approved Thursday said both sides had to compromise to remove the shadow HB2 casts over the state and end moves by the NCAA and some entertainers and corporations to avoid North Carolina. Cooper called the measure "the best deal that we could get."

"If we're going to move forward, we have to take it a step at a time," said Sen. Dan Blue, D-Wake.

The bill passed the state Senate 32-16 and the House 70-48 with members of both parties split. Cooper, a Democrat, worked out the compromise with leaders of the Republican-dominated legislature.

Some legislators voted against the bill because they wanted to keep HB2 on the books. Others voted "no" because it falls short of a full repeal.

NCAA President Mark Emmert said on Thursday evening at a Final Four news conference that the NCAA's board of governors have to determine over the course of the next few days whether the bill "was sufficient change in the law" and added that the NCAA "doesn’t consider itself an entity that has any business telling a state what their laws should be." ACC commissioner John Swofford said the recently passed legislation creates an opportunity to "reopen the discussion with the ACC Council of Presidents regarding neutral site conference championships in North Carolina" and said the discussion "will take place in the near future."

Based on what the NCAA's board of governors outlined in September when it decided to relocate championship events from North Carolina, HB142 does not appear to meet the association's requirements on discriminatory measures.

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The legislature adopted HB2 in March 2016 in response to a move by Charlotte City Council to ban discrimination against LGBT people in public accommodations and employment. HB2 said local governments could not take such actions and that people must use the bathroom or changing room that corresponds to the sex listed on their birth certificate, a provision that was especially troubling to transgender people.

In response, entertainers like Bruce Springsteen canceled plans to perform in the state and companies including PayPal reversed plans to expand in North Carolina. HB2 was a major issue in last year's gubernatorial campaign, in which Cooper narrowly unseated Republican Pat McCrory, who had signed HB2 the same day it passed the legislature.

There have been sporadic attempts to repeal the law over the past year. The NCAA is making decisions now over where tournaments and championships will be held over the next several years, a process that created more urgency for legislative action.

Cooper credited the NCAA's concerns with playing a major role in prompting Republican legislative leaders to act and said they might not have agreed to any changes otherwise.

But he said more was at stake than sporting events in this college basketball-crazy state.

"House Bill 2 was wrong in and of itself," he said.

The NCAA moved some games in the early rounds of this year's men's basketball tournament out of North Carolina because of HB2. Its influence on the debate rankled HB2 backers, who said HB2 is necessary to keep men out of women's restrooms.

During floor debate in the House, one legislator said the American and North Carolina flags that fly in front of the Legislative Building should be replaced by a white flag and another for the NCAA.

Another, Rep. Carl Ford, R-Rowan, told colleagues in the House chamber, "If we could have props in here, I’d take a basketball, cover it in money and roll it down the middle aisle there because that’s what this is about: money and basketball."

Critic Rep. Dean Arp, R-Union, said the bill would allow middle-school boys into middle-school dressing rooms. Other legislators disagreed, saying existing law protects privacy and safety.

Rep. Susan Fisher, D-Buncombe, was among legislators who voted against the bill Thursday because they felt it did not go far enough.

"I don't vote to discriminate against other citizens of North Carolina. We don't compromise on civil rights," she told the House.

The compromise bill says state law will govern access to restrooms, showers and changing facilities built to accommodate more than one person, but it removes the HB2 language about who may use which restroom. It prevents local governments from regulating private employment practices or public accommodations until December 2020, when that provision will expire.

Repeal of N.C.’s ‘bathroom bill’ stumbles. What happens now?

Cities and counties would then be able to enact non-discrimination ordinances if they choose.

Groups favoring LGBT rights said that is not a full repeal of HB2 and argued against the bill.

"This proposal is a train wreck that would double down on anti-LGBTQ discrimination," said Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality NC.

The compromise is still better than HB2, said House Minority Leader Darren Jackson, D-Wake.

"I don’t see how you can possibly deny that this bill is a step forward from the terrible piece of legislation that was passed in March 2016," he said.

Rep. Scott Stone, R-Mecklenburg, said a compromise of some sort was the only way to repeal HB2.

"The time has come to get out of the national spotlight for negative things," he said. "You can’t go anywhere on this planet without someone knowing what HB2 is and having some perception of it."

Cooper said at a press conference the bill "makes an important step forward. It doesn't take a single step backward."

Some HB2 opponents might have wanted the law to stay on the books if the legislature would not pass a full repeal, Cooper said, but he called waiting until later a bad deal.

Because of Republican opposition to repeal in the legislature, he said, "Here was my choice: I could demand that House Bill 2 be repealed fully, as I have been doing for a long time, and just not do anything other than demand that it be repealed and this law would have continued to go on."

Contributing: Scott Gleason, USA TODAY. Follow Mark Barrett on Twitter: @MarkBarrettACT

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