RALEIGH, N.C. _ North Carolina Senate Democrats filed a bill Wednesday afternoon that would repeal House Bill 2 in its entirety, enabling local governments to pass their own nondiscrimination ordinances.
But it's likely the repeal proposal, Senate Bill 25, won't get a hearing or a vote in the Senate.
Under the Senate's standard procedures, the repeal bill will show up on the chamber's published calendar on Thursday. That won't be a vote; Senate leaders will assign the legislation to one or more committees during the session.
From there, the bill's fate rests with the Republican chairs of the committee. They can schedule a committee hearing and vote on the bill, but they don't have to. If the chair never holds a committee vote, the bill dies and never makes it to the Senate floor.
Wednesday's repeal bill filing comes as no surprise: Democrats have repeatedly said that repealing the controversial LGBT law is a top priority for this year's legislative session. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Jeff Jackson of Charlotte, Sen. Angela Bryant of Rocky Mount and Sen. Floyd McKissick of Durham.
Any changes to HB2 won't move forward without support from Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican. Berger said last week that he doesn't think "the votes exist for an outright repeal," which is what the Democrats are proposing.
"I don't see a pathway in the short term for there to be an addressing of that issue _ I think it's something that's going to take some time," Berger told Time Warner Cable News.
