North Carolina leaders reach deal to repeal bathroom bill, but many see flaws

Update: An agreement to repeal North Carolina's controversial "bathroom bill" has passed its first test, clearing the state's Senate Rules Committee by a voice vote that appeared to fall along party lines, according to CNN affiliates and local media. It now moves on to the Senate floor, where it must survive two additional votes before moving to the House for a final vote. Critics of the repeal bill say it doesn't go far enough.

Earlier story:

RALEIGH, N.C. (CNN) — Late Wednesday night, North Carolina lawmakers and the governor reached an agreement to repeal the state's controversial "bathroom bill," called HB2.

But LGBT groups immediately criticized the deal saying it was a "repeal" in name only with one advocate calling it "HB2.0," and fails to protect transgender people from discrimination.

The repeal goes to a vote at 9:15 a.m. Thursday at the state's Senate Rules Committee, and must survive two additional votes on the Senate floor in a session scheduled for 11 a.m.

HB2 not only forbids transgender people from using restrooms they identify with in government facilities; it also prevents local governments from passing non-discrimination ordinances like the one in Charlotte that inspired it.

The passage of the bill last year triggered a massive outcry and prompted businesses, entertainers and sports leagues to boycott the state. The law is estimated to have cost the state millions through the loss of jobs, businesses and consumer spending.

The NCAA relocated several college athletic championship events for the 2016-17 season over the bill and implied four more years of tournaments are at stake if the law stands.

After much turmoil over the law, Republican lawmakers and the Democratic governor struck an agreement that repeals HB2, but it also retains a critical component of it.

The deal leaves regulation of bathrooms solely in control of the state, meaning that cities and local governments can't pass their own anti-discrimination laws until December 2020.

"l support the House Bill 2 repeal compromise that will be introduced tomorrow," said North Carolina's Governor Roy Cooper. "It's not a perfect deal, but it repeals House Bill 2 and begins to repair our reputation."

Here's what the agreement includes, according to GOP lawmakers:

• A repeal of HB2
• Regulation of multi-occupancy facilities falls under state's control
• Local governments can't pass their own ordinances dealing with employment practices and bathroom regulations (alluding to anti-discrimination ordinances)

"Compromise requires give and take from all sides, and we are pleased this proposal fully protects bathroom safety and privacy," said the state's Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore in a statement.

But groups immediately slammed the new compromise, and began urging North Carolina lawmakers not to support the measure.

The Human Rights Campaign tweeted: "Any NC lawmaker who supports this bad #HB2 "deal" is no ally of LGBTQ people & will have planted themselves on the wrong side of history."

Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality NC, called the agreement a "shell piece of a legislation," in which the LGBTQ groups had not been consulted.

"The initiative is not a repeal," he said. "It's doubling down on the discrimination that HB2 exacts - it's HB2.0. It doesn't allow municipalities to protect people from discrimination to 2020."

"It doesn't do anything to better the lives of LGBT North Carolinians."

Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality expressed disappointment that instead of fully repealing HB2, the deal "enshrined other parts for the foreseeable future."

"NC will become one of only a few states where protecting people's rights is illegal," Keisling posted.

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