North Carolina Gov. Cooper signed HB142, repealing HB2 but preempting local LGBTQ nondiscrimination ordinances

On March 30, 2017, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed House Bill 142 (Session Law 2017-4) into law after the General Assembly passed it that day (House 70-48, Senate 32-16). HB142 repealed the 2016 "bathroom bill" (HB2/S.L. 2016-3) but replaced it with two new preemption provisions: a permanent, exclusive state claim over regulating access to multiple-occupancy restrooms, showers, and changing facilities, barring the state's political subdivisions -- including local school boards -- from setting their own access rules; and a moratorium, running through December 1, 2020, on any North Carolina local government enacting or amending an ordinance regulating private employment practices or public accommodations.

LGBTQ advocacy groups and legal observers characterized the bill as falling short of a genuine repeal. Because the moratorium and restroom preemption remained in place, cities such as Charlotte -- whose 2016 nondiscrimination ordinance had prompted HB2 in the first place -- continued to be barred from adopting their own protections covering sexual orientation and gender identity, leaving the state's only public-facility access rule in the hands of a General Assembly that had shown no intention of extending one.

Updates

2019-07-22 — Federal court approved consent decree on HB142 restroom provision [5]

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina Chief Judge Thomas D. Schroeder approved a consent decree in Carcaño v. Cooper (the ACLU/Lambda Legal challenge to HB142), ruling that HB142's restroom-preemption provision (Section 2, codified at G.S. Section 143-760) cannot be applied by state executive officials to prevent transgender people from using multi-occupancy restrooms, showers, or changing facilities in state-controlled buildings consistent with their gender identity, and enjoining enforcement against such use.

2021-01-11 — Hillsborough became first NC town to pass LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections since HB142's moratorium expired [6]

HB142's moratorium on local nondiscrimination ordinances expired by its own terms on December 1, 2020. On January 11, 2021, the Town of Hillsborough passed the first such ordinance enacted in North Carolina since HB2/HB142 barred local action in 2016, with Carrboro and Chapel Hill following within the same week.