A new study released by the Center for American Progress says that HB 2 could cost North Carolina over a half-a-billion dollars in “private sector economic activity,” and already has cost the state $86.3 million between canceled expansions and events throughout the state. Great.
The report, authored by three members of CAP’s LGBT Research and Communications Project, says that a further $481 million could be jeopardized between several events and planned expansions that are currently being reconsidered in the wake of HB 2, including over $27 million from a Braeburn Pharmaceuticals expansion and a whopping $195 million for the NBA All Star Game in Charlotte next year. (The game’s unofficial ambassador, Golden State Warriors superstar and Charlotte native Steph Curry, recently came out against HB 2.)
What’s more is that the report’s bottom line doesn’t even include all of the money jeopardized in federal funding. The ACLU has said that the law risks North Carolina’s federal education funding because it violates Title IX, and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, himself a former mayor of Charlotte, said on March 29 that his office was reviewing whether or not HB 2 puts North Carolina’s federal transportation funding at risk.
Earlier this week, the Wake County Tourism Board said the county has already lost at least $700,000 because of HB 2, and could lose a further $24 million.
“Even for those who remained undecided on HB 2, these numbers should leave little doubt that this discriminatory measure is bad public policy and bad for North Carolina,” Sarah McBride, one of the authors of the CAP study, told the INDY. “You cannot be both pro-business and pro-discrimination. These numbers are a conservative estimate that don’t factor in unannounced cancellations and relocations, as well as the billions of dollars of federal funds that remain at risk due to HB 2. Governor McCrory and the legislature have to make a choice, will they help their state recover from the harm they imposed or will they continue to double down on discrimination and job loses.”
Read the full report here.
