Repeal of HB2? 'We're having discussions,' Hardister says

The law excludes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from statewide anti-discrimination protections and bars local governments from passing such protections. It also requires people to use bathrooms and changing rooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate in government buildings and schools.

Seen as discriminatory, House Bill 2 has been the focus of intense criticism since it was signed into law in late March.

Although leaders of the General Assembly’s GOP majority have said they aren’t considering revisions to the law, several Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate confirmed there is a growing consensus that thinks change is necessary.

“The bill will at least be amended,” Hardister said. “It is possible the bill will be repealed and replaced with a compromise. It’s just a matter of whether to amend it, whether it will be repealed and what would replace it.”

Revisiting legislation after it’s been passed isn’t uncommon, Hardister said.

“We did it last year when we passed tax reform and a medical tax deduction was eliminated,” Hardister explained. “We had to go back and fix that. Sometimes you have to make changes to these things.”

But the controversy and political entrenchment over HB 2 has made talk of change or compromise difficult.

That began to shift last week when Sen. Tom Apodaca (R-Henderson), the powerful chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, told an Asheville TV station he would favor a statewide referendum on HB 2.

“If it was up to me, I’d just put it out to a vote of the people and let them decide what they want to do,” Apodaca said. “Let’s put it on the ballot and get it over with once and for all. If the majority wants this, fine. If they don’t, fine.”

Apodaca is the top lieutenant to Sen. President Pro Tempore Phil Berger. His suggestion was seen by fellow Republicans as a signal that some changes were possible.

Many Republican lawmakers said the intensity of the opposition to HB 2 — including from the business community — took them by surprise.

More than 180 CEOs of major companies have condemned it.

Bruce Springsteen and a number of other entertainers have canceled North Carolina shows in protest.

The NBA, NCAA and NASCAR have denounced it.

The potential cost of the backlash has been estimated as high as a half billion dollars.

All that adds up to growing concern among Republican legislators who supported — and defended — the law.

“I think there has definitely been an economic effect,” Rep. John Faircloth (R-Guilford) said. “I think we’re going to have to address it. The question now is what we do.”

Faircloth said he might favor a referendum as suggested by Apodaca, but would need more details on how that would work before fully supporting it.

Rep. John Blust (R-Guilford) said he hasn’t heard enough about proposed changes to know whether he’d support them.

“But I do resent being called a bigot over all of this, being told what my motives are,” Blust said. “I didn’t want this fight — none of us did. It was thrust upon us by Charlotte overstepping its authority.”

Blust was referring to an ordinance passed by Charlotte’s City Council in February. The ordinance provided broad anti-discrimination protections for LGBT residents and, controversially, would have allowed transgender people to use public restrooms based on the gender with which they identify.

The General Assembly met in a one-day emergency session last month in reaction to the ordinance. Republican legislators said they were spurred to action by concerns that sexual predators would use the law to claim they were transgender and spy on or even assault women and young girls in restrooms.

And so House Bill 2 was born.

But the law went well beyond bathrooms. It also created a statewide non-discrimination law that does not include LGBT people and made it more difficult to sue for discrimination even for protected classes such as age, sex, race and religion.

For those reasons, the law’s critics say nothing short of a full repeal is acceptable. Bills to repeal HB 2 were filed in the House and Senate shortly after the General Assembly began its short session last week.

Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) said she wouldn’t favor deciding HB 2’s fate by referendum. Besides there being too many provisions of the law for a clear and understandable referendum, Harrison explained, it’s just not the kind of thing that belongs in the state constitution.

“Writing discrimination into our laws, into our constitution, is just flat wrong,” Harrison said.

State senator Gladys Robinson (D-Guilford) called House Bill 2 a waste.

“My feeling is they ought to just repeal it and leave it alone,” she said. “We have many more pressing things that we have to deal with than this foolishness.”

Although the state’s GOP leaders have blamed the controversy on the media and activist groups, a growing number of Republican lawmakers seem worried Robinson is right. A new poll may reflect their fears.

Last week, the conservative leaning Civitas Institute released a poll that showed Democrats pulling ahead in races for everything from governor to legislative seats.

The poll also showed Attorney General Roy Cooper leading McCrory 46 percent to 30 percent. The poll, which has a margin of error of 4 percentage points, is the first to show a significant lead for either candidate.

McCrory’s favorability is also at its lowest recorded level, according to the poll, with 49 percent of respondents saying they have an unfavorable view of him.

Unrelentingly negative perception of the law is a problem, Republican lawmakers said this week, but they also signaled that House Bill 2 wouldn’t be repealed without a replacement at the ready.

But whatever the changes and however they happen, those legislators said it’s likely to take two weeks or more as details and compromises are worked out.

http://www.greensboro.com/news/local_news/repeal-of-hb-we-re-having-discussions-hardister-says/article_eff6a6a7-bc77-59f8-97ac-71838b8ab59f.html