House Bill

House Bill 2 repeal legislation sent to Senate committee that never meets

By Colin Campbell

State Senate Democrats’ proposal to repeal House Bill 2 appears to be dead just a day after it was filed.

On Wednesday, senators Terry Van Duyn of Asheville, Jeff Jackson of Charlotte and Mike Woodard of Durham filed Senate Bill 784, which would repeal the controversial LGBT law in its entirety. The bill is identical to one filed Monday by House Democrats.

Senate leaders assigned the bill to committees on Thursday. Because of a budget item included, its first stop is the Senate Appropriations Committee. But if it got approval from that panel, its second assigned stop is the Senate Ways and Means Committee – which is something of an inside joke in the Senate.

The three-member Ways and Means Committee hasn’t held a meeting in years. It’s widely known as the graveyard of the Senate – the place where Senate Rules Chairman Tom Apodaca sends legislation that he wants to kill.

So it’s virtually certain that the repeal bill will never make it to the Senate floor for a full vote.

Meanwhile, the House Democrats’ repeal bill has been referred to the Judiciary IV Committee, which is where House Bill 2 had its first hearing in March. That means the committee’s co-chairmen, Republican Reps. Rob Bryan of Charlotte and Hugh Blackwell of Burke County, get to decide if and when the bill gets a hearing. Both legislators are supporters of House Bill 2.