CEO: 'Bathroom bill' bad for business

Chamber official meets with local group visiting state Capitol

Yard signs like this one on County Avenue in Texarkana, Ark., were put out last year by proponents of Repeal M-130. The ordinance did not pass in special election last June.
Yard signs like this one on County Avenue in Texarkana, Ark., were put out last year by proponents of Repeal M-130. The ordinance did not pass in special election last June.

A transgender bathroom access bill would be disastrous for Arkansas, a top business advocate told visitors from Texarkana on Wednesday at the state Capitol.

"If we adopt a bill, if we adopt something even close to or that even smells like the North Carolina bill, it's a disaster for the state of Arkansas," said Randy Zook, president and CEO of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.

"You will kill the tourism business. You will kill economic expansion. Any company with national brands, where you've got the potential for consumer boycotts and pressure and that kind of stuff, it would just be a nightmare for them. I really like the governor: 'It's not a problem. Quit worrying about it.' You know, it's a solution looking for a problem, or a fight looking to get picked over some other motivation. We just cannot go there. I hope and pray we don't," he said.

Zook addressed a group of more than 50 business, government and education leaders from Texarkana who traveled to Little Rock for a "legislative day" featuring visits with the governor, lieutenant governor, state House and Senate representatives and other officials. His comments reflected the position of the State Chamber, he said.

He was referring to a controversial North Carolina law, passed last year, that restricts transgender people's choice of public restrooms. The North Carolina bill became a national news story, resulting in businesses boycotting the state, celebrities refusing to perform there, and events like this year's NBA All-Star Game moving elsewhere.

A pair of Republican state senators have filed a one-sentence framework bill, SB346, "concerning gender identity and bathroom privileges," leaving further specifics to be determined. Co-sponsor Gary Stubblefield has indicated the bill will require transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates, according to an Associated Press report.

"If they were born a male, that's where they've got to use the bathroom," Stubblefield said, dismissing concerns about the bill's effects on business.

"We don't need that in Arkansas. If there's a North Carolina-type bill, then I want the Legislature not to pass it," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said earlier this month, according to the AP.

The Arkansas Supreme Court also made news regarding transgender rights with a ruling handed down Thursday.

The court ruled against a Fayetteville, Ark., antidiscrimination ordinance similar to a local ordinance, known as M-130, that Arkansas-side voters repealed in a special election last June.

At issue was whether the Fayetteville ordinance could protect people from discrimination based on sexual preference or gender identity, categories not included in the state anti-discrimination statute. By including those categories, Fayetteville violated a 2015 Arkansas law that prohibits local governments from adopting anti-discrimination rules different from the state's, the court found. The court did not rule on the Fayetteville ordinance's constitutionality.

M-130 also declared sexual preference and gender identity to be protected characteristics. Texarkana, Ark., City Attorney George Matteson declined to speculate as to how the ruling might have affected M-130 if voters had let it stand.

On Twitter: @RealKarlRichter

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