Lawmakers Say House Bill 2 Deal Reached

After hours of negotiation on Wednesday, House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger held a press conference Wednesday night saying they had “reached an agreement” with Governor Roy Cooper regarding House Bill 2.

No details were given at the press conference and Berger and Moore said they had agreed with Cooper to not take questions Wednesday night.

Cooper issued the following statement just before 11:30 Wednesday night:

“I support the House Bill 2 repeal compromise that will be introduced tomorrow. It’s not a perfect deal, but it repeals House Bill 2 and begins to repair our reputation.”

Berger and Moore issued a joint statement:

“Compromise requires give and take from all sides, and we are pleased this proposal fully protects bathroom safety and privacy.”

The agreement was released along with the joint statement from Berger and Moore.

The new proposal would repeal House Bill 2. But the bill would then preempt regulation of multi-occupancy bathrooms, leaving that under the control of the state legislature. Finally, the agreement would put a moratorium on local government bodies passing nondiscrimination ordinances “regulating private employment practices or regulating public accommodations.” That moratorium would expire on December 1, 2020. The release from Berger and Moore said this moratorium would allow “federal litigation to play out.”

Berger said the agreement would be put forward in a proposed committee substitute for House Bill 142, which is currently in the Senate Rules Committee. Berger said the substitute would be debated at 9:15 Thursday morning.

Assuming the bill clears the Senate committee, it would then be heard by the full Senate. It could then be heard for a concurrence vote in the House.

The negotiations over HB2 increased on Wednesday as a deadline was put forward by the NCAA regarding placing future championship events in North Carolina. The organization pulled events, including the first and second rounds of this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament out of Greensboro due to HB2. The NCAA had told lawmakers that if a resolution was not reached by mid-day Thursday, the state would be pulled from consideration of hosting championship events through 2022.