CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday he sees an opening for another possible deal with legislative leaders to repeal House Bill 2.
In Charlotte to speak at the YMCA's annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday breakfast, the Democratic governor said he has been talking with GOP Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore since their last proposed deal collapsed in December.
"We've had it out. A couple of times, we've talked," Cooper, a Democrat, told reporters after the breakfast. "They certainly do want to move forward in some way."
The rub for the legislative leaders, Cooper said, is that they want to have a majority of their fellow Republican lawmakers on board for repeal before holding votes on the floor.
"My argument to them is that there are enough overall votes _ even if you don't have a majority (in the) Republican caucuses _ to pass repeal. And I'm urging them to do so. It's too important to our state."
Cooper also said he would advise the Democratic-controlled Charlotte City Council not to re-enact the non-discrimination ordinance that was nullified by House Bill 2. Late last month, during the negotiations with Cooper and legislative leaders, the council took a symbolic vote to remove the ordinance from the city's books.
But, in the wake of the collapse of the proposed December deal, some on the council have talked about re-enacting it to show they are committed to trying to legally protect the LGBT community from discrimination.
"Charlotte has taken the step that Republican leaders wanted them to take, and now we need to keep pushing the legislature. The ball's in their court. It's time for them to act," Cooper said. "I don't see that there's any need for (the City Council) to (re-enact the ordinance), no."
Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, who also attended the breakfast, echoed Cooper. She said that she has also been talking with Berger and Moore lately and is hopeful all sides can agree on something "positive. Not just a reset."
"We are where we're going to continue to have conversations. And we want to figure out some way forward that repeals HB2 and also sets in place some way to recognize that everyone deserves protection," Roberts said. "We have to let our cities be cities. I don't know what that looks like yet because there's a lot of different ideas about how that may go about."
Roberts also agreed with Cooper that a symbolic re-enactment of the city's non-discrimination ordinance would be seen as a provocation by the GOP legislature.
"I think we have talked about the fact that, if we were to re-enact something that's dead and will stay dead and will just be a symbolic act ... that would be a symbol of provocation," she said.
