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A Republican senator submitted Wednesday the latest legislative attempt to repeal key parts of House Bill 2. The measure features a potential deal-breaker: a religious freedom component.

Senate Bill 474, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Tate, R-Mecklenburg, is titled A common sense repeal to HB2.

Ive had leadership on both sides say (my bill) has major flaws its too logical, Tarte told The Charlotte Observer on Tuesday. Its a true compromise.

The law is known foremost for requiring transgender people to use restrooms, locker rooms and showers at schools and government buildings corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates rather than the gender with which they identify.

Beyond repealing the law, the narrowly focused SB474 would protect individuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender information, disability, pregnancy, citizenship and veteran status in addition to race, sex and other accepted protections.

The protections only affect employers with at least 15 workers.

Limitations on multiple-occupancy bathrooms, showers and changing rooms would revert to those that were set by state law as of Jan. 1, 2015, because people have a right to privacy in public accommodations.

SB474 carves out an exemption to the anti-discrimination standards if a persons bona fide religious beliefs are contrary to the requirements.

There also is an exemption for a person "whose action or inaction has an unintended discriminatory effect" but can prove the "action or inaction was motivated and justified by a business necessity.

Mitch Kokai, a policy analyst with Libertarian think tank John Locke Foundation, said "at this point, the content of the legislation is much less important than the identity of the sponsor.

"If Sen. Tarte is pursuing this measure on behalf of, or with tacit support from, Senate leaders, it might have a chance.

"If the senator is pursuing this on his own, based on his personal assessment of the situation, I'm not sure that this idea will fare any better than the multiple bills that already have been filed in connection with HB2."

Allen Freyer, a policy analyst with left-leaning N.C. Justice Center, said that the General Assembly must not care much about college sports if this bill is any guide.

Most notably, it continues to allow businesses to discriminate against their customers based on their perceived sexual orientation and keeps the ban on local government actions that could give their residents the basic legal protections they deserve.

It is hard to see how the NCAA will see this as an acceptable compromise.

The Human Relations Commission of the state Administration Department would be responsible for receiving, investigating and conciliating discrimination complaints involving public accommodations.

The bill was introduced as an apparent deadline of noon Thursdayloomed for the Republican-controlled legislature. That is how long North Carolina has to approve a repeal bill acceptable to the NCAA, a move that would keep North Carolina athletic venues in consideration for neutral-site championship events for the 2018-22 cycle.

SB474 also became an option a day after Republican legislative leaders unveiled a draft bill that would repeal major portions of the law.

Adding more tension to an already contentious and bitter dispute was the insistence Tuesday night by Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, that the draft bill is Democratic Gov. Roy Coopers proposal, and that he had agreed in principle to the compromise.

However, Coopers office criticized the draft bill for keeping potentially discriminatory language against transgender individuals and adding a religious freedom element that has been a deal breaker for his party.

The Charlotte newspaper reported that Cooper and the legislative leaders met for two hours Tuesday following Berger and Moores news conference, ending with no public resolution to the HB2 repeal effort.

During a special legislative session Dec. 21, GOP legislative leaders failed to advance, as a condition of repealing HB2,a requirement for cities and counties to agree to a moratorium period on anti-discrimination ordinances.

Republican legislative leaders have since tried to put the onus on Cooper to find an HB2 repeal compromise that is agreeable to Republicans.

Republicans have a super-majority in each chamber and can pass a full repeal bill without Democratic support.

The same GOP super-majority passed HB2, with former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signing it into law, all on March 23, 2016.

John Dinan, an political science professor at Wake Forest University, said SB474 represents a different legislative direction in that it expands state anti-discrimination law with additional categories of discrimination.

"This latest compromise plan would encompass sexual orientation, but would not encompass gender identity."

See more here:
Mecklenburg Republican: I have a true compromise for repealing HB2 - Winston-Salem Journal