Tuesday Wrap: HB2 nears one-year mark

As the one-year anniversary of House Bill 2 approaches, lawmakers are still tossing about ideas to repeal the state law limiting LGBT rights and requiring transgender people to use public bathrooms in schools and government buildings that correspond to the gender listed on their birth certificates. Yet, none of them looks poised for passage.

Posted 11:03 p.m. Mar 21, 2017 — Updated 11:03 p.m. Mar 21, 2017

RALEIGH, N.C. — As the one-year anniversary of House Bill 2 approaches, lawmakers are still tossing about ideas to repeal the state law limiting LGBT rights and requiring transgender people to use public bathrooms in schools and government buildings that correspond to the gender listed on their birth certificates. Yet, none of them looks poised for passage.

Meanwhile, Triangle Business Journal reported that Credit Suisse is looking to bring more than 1,000 jobs to the area but is hesitant because House Bill 2 remains on the books. WRAL News reported a couple of weeks ago that a company was looking at a relocation of that size, but no one would confirm the identity of the firm.

On Tuesday's agenda, a Senate committee unanimously approved Machelle Sanders as secretary of the Department of Administration. She is the first member of Gov. Roy Cooper's cabinet to go through the confirmation process following a ruling last week by a three-judge panel that upheld the Senate right to provide advice and consent on the governor's picks to head major state agencies.

The NAACP and other groups in the "Forward Together" movement rallied at the legislature to press for expanding Medicaid, supporting voting rights and other issues. No one was arrested, but people shouted "shame" at House members as they adjourned for the day.

Rep. Greg Murphy, R-Pitt, a physician by training, joined a group of ophthalmologists in opposing a bill backed by some top House Republicans that would allow optometrists to perform some types of eye surgery.

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