Yesterday North Carolina lawmakers passed a new bill to repeal the highly controversial HB2, or “The Bathroom Bill”. Over the past year, many businesses, sporting events, and musicians cited the bill as their reason for not coming to our state.
The state’s new House Bill 142 was signed into law just 12 hours after it was agreed upon by state leaders. The NC Senate passed it with a 32-16 vote, then the House with a 70-48 vote, and just two hours after that, Democratic Governor Roy Cooper signed the new bill into law.
In a press release, he commented, “For over a year now, House Bill 2 has been a dark cloud hanging over our great state. It has stained our reputation. It has discriminated against our people and it has caused great economic harm in many of our communities.”
He also noted that the new law is “not a perfect deal and it is not my preferred solution.”
Today we repealed House Bill 2, but this is just the first step. pic.twitter.com/7XIplKFjEh
— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) March 30, 2017
Even though it does technically repeal HB2, House Bill 142 also reinstates two provisions that were key features of the controversial HB2, including:
– Leaving bathroom access regulations up to the state legislature.
– Preventing local governments from passing or amending their own nondiscrimination ordinances relating to private employment and public accommodation until December 2020, but places no restrictions on them after that date.
HB142 does not reinstate any aspect of HB2’s prohibition of local governments from setting rules for private contractors regarding minimum wage and worker benefits
What are your thoughts on HB2 and the new repeal?