North Carolina continues to receive poor news in relation to their HB2 law, otherwise known as the Bathroom Bill. After losing multiple revenue streaming possibilities including the NBA All Star game, a new PayPal facility, NCAA tournament games, and more, the Associated Press has estimated that the law will cost the state more than $3.76 billion.
The House Bill 2 (HB2) law blocks local governments from passing anti-discrimination rules to grant protections to people in the LGBT community. Despite its negative perception, some people still defend the bill as a protection of religious freedoms. Supporters of the HB2 have stated that they are willing to absorb the cost if the law prevents a predator posing as a transgender person from entering bathrooms and molesting young children, and women. Lt. Gov. Dan Forest went as far as saying that the media is making up false stories about the impact of the law.
The Lt Gov. statement is in contrast to a recent CNBC report highlighting canceled projects in the state after HB2 was passed. “Those include PayPal canceling a 400-job project in Charlotte, CoStar backing out of negotiations to bring 700-plus jobs to the same area, and Deutsche Bank scuttling a plan for 250 jobs in the Raleigh area. Other companies that backed out include Adidas, which is building its first U.S. sports shoe factory employing 160 near Atlanta rather than a High Point site, and Voxpro, which opted to hire hundreds of customer support workers in Athens, Georgia, rather than the Raleigh area.”
Brain Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America which is located in North Carolina, said he fears that more companies may also pack their bags and move out of the state due to the bill. “Companies are moving to other places because they don’t face an issue that they face here,”.
This issue has hurt local business and the economy, no matter what any supporter of HB2 says. Ted Koppell said it best; we now live in a time where ideolgy is more important than facts, and that is a scary thought.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/27/bathroom-bill-to-cost-north-carolina-376-billion.html