By NIRAJ CHOKSHI
March 29, 2017
North Carolina lawmakers said late Wednesday that they had struck a deal to repeal the state’s contentious bathroom law.
The law, which restricted access to restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms, elicited an outcry from Democrats and businesses that said it allowed discrimination against transgender individuals.
The deal, between Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, and Republicans in the General Assembly, would unwind the law, House Bill 2, which had prompted some national businesses to boycott North Carolina, threatening to cost the state billions of dollars, according to some estimates.
Phil Berger, the Senate Republican leader, announced the deal around 10:30 p.m., providing few further details. A vote on the deal is expected Thursday morning, according The News & Observer of Raleigh.
Mr. Cooper said that he backed the deal, according to a statement shared online by a local reporter.
“I support the House Bill 2 repeal compromise that will be introduced tomorrow,” he said. “It’s not a perfect deal, but it repeals House Bill 2 and begins to repair our reputation.”
The N.C.A.A. had set a Thursday deadline for the state to repeal the law or lose its ability to host sports championships through 2022, the News & Observer reported.
The law, approved in a one-day session last March, was immediately met with protests within the state and from businesses and officials across the country and world.
Last year, more than 160 executives signed a letter from the Human Rights Campaign denouncing Gov. Pat McCrory — the Republican governor who lost his re-election race last fall — and calling for the law’s immediate repeal. That group included the chief executives of 30 of North Carolina’s top 300 employers along with Apple, Pfizer and other major companies.
PayPal canceled plans for a global call center in Charlotte that would have created 400 jobs, a project Mr. McCrory had spent two weeks taking credit for. Deutsche Bank froze plans for a $9 million, 250-job expansion of its technology center. Several states, including New York and California, banned state-funded travel, including state university sports teams. North Carolina tourism bureaus have reported millions of dollars in losses from cancellations.
The Associated Press reported this week that the law would cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost business over a dozen years.
An analysis by the Williams Institute of the University of California, Los Angeles, estimated that the law could cost North Carolina nearly $5 billion in lost federal funds, along with thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue.
The clash escalated in May after Mr. McCrory, then the governor, and the Justice Department, which argued that the law violated the civil rights of transgender people, sued one another. Attorney General Loretta Lynch called the law “state-sponsored discrimination,” while Mr. McCrory accused the federal government of “a baseless and blatant overreach.”
In a tweet on Tuesday night, Mr. McCrory announced his support of the compromise as well, urging legislators and the current governor to “stick with this deal that still respects privacy and let Supreme Court resolve issue for our nation.”