NC leaders: We were prepared to agree to governor's HB2 proposal, he now denies it
RALEIGH, NC (WBTV) - RALEIGH, NC (WBTV) -- North Carolina Republican leaders say they were prepared to agree to a proposal from the governor on House Bill 2, but he now denies that a proposal exists.
Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore held a joint press conference Tuesday evening to make the announcement.
Berger said Governor Roy Cooper sent a proposal Thursday, which included a repeal of House Bill 2. The proposal reportedly included four points, including the repeal.
According to Berger and Moore, they called Cooper Tuesday afternoon to let him know they had discussed the proposal and agreed to it, in principle. That's when they say Cooper denied he made the proposal.
Leaders say they have the proposal from Cooper in writing, along with email traffic which validates that the proposal came from Cooper's office. Berger said the proposal came to the Republicans through the business people on behalf of Cooper.
"We're not sure where we are right now, quite frankly," Berger said. "He basically denied that those 4 points were what he proposed."
Berger said Cooper has an issue with the federal non-discrimination standard.
"We think the way to solve this is through the governor's proposal with votes from the Republicans and Democrats," Berger said.
The timeline of legislators taking up the repeal of House Bill 2 is now up in the air, according to Berger, because of the governor's alleged backtrack.
"It's frustrating that Republican leaders are more interested in political stunts than negotiating a compromise to repeal HB2," Governor Cooper's Spokesman, Ford Porter, said in a statement following the Republican press conference. "While Governor Cooper continues to work for a compromise, there are still issues to be worked out, and Republican leaders' insistence on including an Indiana-style RFRA provision remains a deal-breaker. Any compromise must work to end discrimination, repair our reputation, and bring back jobs and sports, and a RFRA is proven to do just the opposite."
House Democratic Leader Darren Jackson spoke to reporters after the press conference saying there was an agreement for the repeal reached last week which would have preempted bathroom access and allowed non-discrimination ordinances in cities.
Jackson says Democrats were willing to support the compromise agreed to last week but says Republicans said they would go "with their own bill."
"I think it's clear they're not gonna be able to get this fixed," Jackson said about the HB2 bill."[They] can't get the votes in their own caucus."
Jackson said he agreed with two points of the Republican proposal, but does not support limiting local non-discrimination ordinances to the federal standard. He said compromise on House Bill 186 had votes to pass in the House, but it isn't clear if it had support in the Senate.
Moore and Majority Leader John Bell said the House Republicans did not agree to a compromise on HB186.
"The rug got pulled right out from under us... again," Jackson said about the Republicans changing the terms of the House Bill 2 repeal deal. "This is all about laying blame, not about fixing the problem."
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