About a year after North Carolina Republicans passed the anti-LGBT law known as HB2, the Associated Press has calculated that the law will cost the state $3.76 billion in lost business over 12 years.
The AP calculated the loss by looking at projects that were cancelled or moved to another state because of the law using public records requests and interviews. The number reached “is likely an underestimation of the law’s true costs,” per the AP.
HB2 bars local governments from passing their non-discrimination ordinances that contain protections not provided by state law, and also prohibits transgender people from using the public bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.
The law prompted swift backlash at the time of its passage, pushing PayPal to cancel plans for an operations center in Charlotte and prompting the NBA to pull its 2017 All-Star game out of the state. The NCAA warned North Carolina lawmakers last week that it would not hold championships in the state between 2018 and 2022 if lawmakers did not repeal the law.
Lawmakers in the state have made several attempts to repeal the law since it was enacted, but those efforts have come up short.