A third Republican lawmaker said the North Carolina General Assembly should call a special session to revise or repeal House Bill 2.
State Representative Jon Hardister of Guilford County added his name to the list of Republicans against HB2 on Friday. He told the Greensboro News & Record that the legislature overreacted when it passed the law. Republican state senators Rick Gunn of Burlington and Tamara Barringer of Cary have previously come out as opposed to the bill.
Barringer was the first Republican to call for a repeal of HB2 earlier this week. In an interview with NPR, Barringer said the decisions by the NCAA and ACC to pull college athletic events out of the state swayed her support of the law.
"The goal − safety and privacy − of the bill, I agree with," she said. "But what has occurred now, is the way the bill is drafted, the way it has been implemented − or not implemented, but almost implemented − has created unintended consequences in North Carolina."
Barringer says HB2 also has distracted members of the legislature from talking about other issues and says she hopes her statements compel the General Assembly to reconvene immediately.
"I hope that the leadership is listening," she said. "I hope and I know that they know how important this is to North Carolina. And I really do believe that this one lone, independent Republican is going to make this difference."
