Two days after signing House Bill 2, N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory was still receiving information about specific provisions in the controversial bill, according to an email obtained through a records request.
On March 23, the legislature passed House Bill 2 primarily to overturn a Charlotte nondiscrimination ordinance that allowed transgender people to use the bathrooms that matched the gender with which they identified. But HB2 also included provisions related to wages and employment discrimination.
McCrory signed the bill on the same day it passed the General Assembly. But early on March 25, state Sen. Dan Bishop, R-Mecklenburg, sent him an email explaining why the legislature included the additional provisions instead of just striking down the bathroom portion of the Charlotte ordinance. The ordinance would have extended nondiscrimination protections to LGBT individuals.
Spokespersons for the governors office and the McCrory campaign did not respond to a request for comment. In an interview Tuesday, Bishop said that he and McCrory had discussed the matter beforehand, as had lawyers working for the legislature and the governors office.
We had those discussions before that was written, Bishop, HB2s primary author, said of the email. There was disagreement. The governors lawyers wanted to do a bathroom-only provision and so we were explaining why that wouldnt work, why we didnt have the power to do it.
