North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore had a pretty clear message from the legislature as a Monday deadline set by the United States Department of Justice approaches.
“We will take no action by Monday,” Moore told reporters on Thursday. “That deadline will come and go.”
The DOJ sent a letter to Governor Pat McCrory, the UNC System and the North Carolina Department of Public Safety on Wednesday to alert leadership that the department had determined House Bill 2 violated federal law.
The department said the controversial legislation is is “facially discriminatory against transgender employees” by forcing them to use the bathroom that matches their biological sex rather than their gender identity.
The letter set a Monday deadline for a response from the state to “remedy these violations” by confirming that the state “will not comply with or implement H.B. 2.”
Moore called the Monday deadline “unreasonable.” Moore added, “We’re going to move at the speed that we’re going to move at to look at what our options are.”
The notice from the DOJ said that the law violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act.
The Title IX violation puts the state at risk of losing billions of dollars in federal funding.
“We don’t ever want to lose any money,” Moore said. “But we’re not going to get bullied by the Obama administration to take action prior to Monday’s date.
“That’s not how this works.”
Moore added the final response from the legislature would be a coordinated response with the University System.
While Moore seemed certain the legislature would take no action by Monday, multiple outlets reported that a spokesperson for McCrory said the governor does plan to have a response to the federal agency by Monday’s deadline.
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