On Thursday, the NCAA threatened that if North Carolina did not repeal the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act — more commonly known as House Bill 2 — soon, the state would lose the ability to host championship events until 2022.
“As the state knows, next week our various sports committees will begin making championships site selections for 2018-2022,” the NCAA said in a statement. “Once the sites are selected … those decisions are final.” The NCAA plans to announce sites on April 18, according to The News & Observer.
This statement from the NCAA came on the one-year anniversary of the passing of the “Bathroom Bill,” which requires everyone to use the bathroom that corresponds with the sex listed on their birth certificate.
Last weekend, Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill played their first-round NCAA tournament games in Greenville, South Carolina, after the games were moved from Greensboro. NCAA officials moved events “because of the cumulative impact HB2 had on local communities’ ability to assure a safe, healthy, discrimination free atmosphere,” the organization said Thursday.
This comes at a time when state government officials are at an impasse when it comes to the repeal of the law. Gov. Roy Cooper expressed his commitment to overturning the law during his State of the State address on March 13. Cooper also blamed legislative Republicans in a statement on Thursday for taking a long time formulating a compromise and expressed the difficulty of meeting halfway to find a solution.
“I have offered numerous compromises and remain open to any deal that will bring jobs and sports back to North Carolina and begin to repair our reputation,” the governor said in a statement. “Legislative Republicans have been all too happy to use their super-majorities to pass damaging partisan laws. It’s time for them to step up, meet halfway and repeal HB2.”
Asked about the legislature’s timeline for HB2 changes, House Speaker Tim Moore, a Kings Mountain Republican, said the issue was the subject of lengthy GOP caucus meetings Wednesday and Thursday, according to The News & Observer.
“We’re taking whatever time is necessary,” Moore said. “We’re not going to move forward until a majority of the caucus is prepared to do something.”
JoDee Winterhof, a senior vice president of the national Human Rights Campaign, said, “The NCAA has put North Carolina on notice,” according to The News & Observer.
“North Carolina lawmakers have run out of time for their reckless political gamesmanship, and they must immediately vote for full and complete repeal of HB2,” Winterhof said.
