The North Carolina legislature ended its special session Wednesday, failing to fulfill the deal they had made with the city of Charlotte and incoming Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to repeal the controversial and discriminatory HB2. Known as the "bathroom bill," it’s actually an expansive restriction on civil and workers' rights. In a chaotic session, the legislature reneged.
Efforts to repeal the damaging law came to a halt during a contentious special session in Raleigh on Wednesday, as some lawmakers tried to make repeal contingent upon the inclusion of a measure that banned local municipalities from advancing their own nondiscrimination ordinances. Originally, the moratorium was for six months—in and of itself an unacceptable provision. Later, lawmakers in the Senate tried to extend the moratorium window, which would have done nothing to resolve the ongoing economic strife faced by North Carolina since the passage of HB2.
Lawmakers later tried to split the bill into two portions—one repealing HB 2, the other essentially voiding that repeal by requiring the lengthy moratorium on municipal nondiscrimination ordinances. A vote on the repeal portion of the bill failed, dooming the possibility of any other productive movement during this special session.
The lack of action during the special session, which was convened explicitly to repeal HB 2, cost North Carolina taxpayers more than $40,000.
The city of Charlotte held up its end of the bargain and repealed its ordinance extending protections to the LGBTQ community—and got nothing in return. Charlotte lost. Cooper lost, making the already stunning and unprecedented coup that the Republican legislature pulled on him even worse. The people of North Carolina lost. The state itself lost, as millions and millions in revenue has been written off because of ongoing boycotts.
In it is an awfully important lesson for North Carolina Democrats and Democrats nationwide: You can't negotiate with Republicans.
Thursday, Dec 22, 2016 · 7:40:30 PM +00:00
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Joan McCarter
The NAACP has announced it will “file lawsuits against the state, organize mass protests, and call for an economic boycott to pressure lawmakers to repeal HB2 and other legislation they say infringes on civil rights.”
Rev. William Barber says “Enough is enough. [...] We must draw a line in the sand. Other states will know that there will be a price to pay whenever people attempt to use a temporary majority status to run roughshod over the Constitution. We need to send the message that if they try this, the people will resist.”