RALEIGH, N.C. _ Brandishing a front-page headline in The News & Observer on Tuesday morning about the loss of college sports championships, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said the General Assembly must move quickly to repeal House Bill 2.
"There is an urgency to get House Bill 2 repealed," Cooper, a Democrat, said at a news conference in Raleigh. " ... If there was ever a time for bipartisanship it was now, a chance to get this stain off our state, a chance to end discrimination and a chance to bring these hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs back to our state."
With the legislature back in session and the pressure to get rid of the law that rolled back anti-discrimination protections, Cooper reiterated that the votes are there to repeal HB2 if House and Senate leaders would permit a floor vote. Such a move has been tied up in opposition from Republican caucus members.
"I believe that Sen. (Phil) Berger and Speaker (Tim) Moore want to see House Bill 2 gone," the governor said, otherwise there would not have been such a push to repeal the bill in December, when the legislature failed to take that action. " ... We didn't get there. That was our best chance, but it cannot be our last chance."
Cooper said he has been telling businesses considering relocating or expanding in North Carolina that voters have elected a new governor who, unlike his Republican predecessor Pat McCrory, opposes HB2. While he said some businesses are encouraged by that, other insist on the legislature getting rid of the law altogether.
On Monday, a letter sent to state legislators by the North Carolina Sports Association warned that the NCAA could soon block its college sports championships from being held in North Carolina through the next six years, unless HB2 is repealed.
