North Carolina HB2 Repeal Fails During Wednesday Special Session

North Carolina lawmakers voted during a special session Wednesday not to repeal the state's controversial "bathroom law" that stripped protections for LGBT people in the state. The vote to repeal the bill failed 32-16.

The apparent hang-up came in how the law would be repealed. Republicans proposed a repeal with a “six-month cooling-off period” that would forbid local governments from passing any “ordinance regulating employment practices or regulating public accommodations or access to restrooms, showers or changing facilities.”

State Democrats and their Republican allies voted down that proposal, and lawmakers went home late Wednesday night having accomplished nothing after hours of closed-door meetings and political maneuvering.

The special session was called after Charlotte, the state's largest city, repealed its LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance that HB2 essentially voided. Incoming Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, has also been a vocal opponent of the law.

But Republican lawmakers, who control the state house, said the city's repeal of its ordinance was not enough for it to fully repeal HB2, which has caused businesses, major sporting events and performers to cancel or postpone planned events or expansions into the state.

Sen. Phil Berger, a leading state Republican, filed a bill that would repeal HB2 with a catch: It would also put a moratorium on city and county legislation that provided protections for LGBT people.

The Charlotte City council said in a Wednesday afternoon statement that HB2 "caused serious economic damage to our economy and to the perception of our state." The statement added, "It is not known if there are enough votes to repeal."

Wednesday's special session was called on Monday by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who narrowly lost his reelection bid to Cooper in a bitterly contested race.

In calling the session, McCrory hinted that HB2 could be repealed but did not say so explicitly.

"But as I promised months ago, if the Charlotte ordinance was repealed, I would call our General Assembly into a Special Session to reconsider existing state legislation passed earlier this year," McCrory said. "And I'm doing just that for this Wednesday."

READ MORE: North Carolina Expected To Repeal Controversial 'Bathroom Bill'

The Charlotte Observer, though, reported that the Charlotte ordinance was not actually fully repealed. That could anger some Republicans who may vote to keep HB2 in place.

Here's how the Observer explains it:

Council members did remove the part of its ordinance that dealt with public accommodations, prohibiting business such as stores and restaurants from discriminating against people based on categories such as race and religion – and also sexual orientation and gender identity. That part of the ordinance included the provision that related to transgender people being allowed to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

However, council members left some parts of the ordinance intact.

The city’s ordinance still prohibits the city from hiring contractors who have been found to discriminate against a subcontractor because of an employee’s race or religion – as well as because of sexual orientation or gender identity.

That means the city ordinance still offers some legal protections, though small ones, to people who are gay or transgender.

Read more from the Charlotte Observer here.

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