Dan Bishop is clearly under the false impression that in his campaign to succeed Mark Harris as the Republican nominee in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional district he can avoid talking about issues he doesn’t want to, including his crowning “achievement” HB2.
That seems odd, given it’s the one thing anyone knows about him. But Dan Bishop’s hesitance to discuss his signature bill starts to make sense when you consider the enormou$ harm Bishop’s bill inflicted on North Carolina’s economy. To give you an idea of the baggage it represents for Dan Bishop as he tries to differentiate himself from the field, we spent 10 minutes pulling headlines Bishop’s signature bill generated. Believe me, there’s plenty more where this came from.
DCCC Spokesperson Cole Leiter released the following statement:
“Dan Bishop may not know what ‘new phone, who dis’ references, but he just attempted to ‘new campaign, who dis’ his signature issue. That won’t fly with voters in North Carolina’s Ninth District; they remember all too well the harm Bishop’s HB2 inflicted on North Carolina’s economy. Bishop had better buckle up and get ready to explain why he’s dodging ownership of a bill so reckless it took a $3.76 billion bite out of North Carolina’s economy.”
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Dan Bishop’s track record…
The enduring effects of HB2 on North Carolina’s economy
By Kyle Kissinger | The Seahawk
On March 27, after calculating data collected from public records and interviews, the Associated Press announced that North Carolina’s House Bill 2 has deprived the state an estimated $3.76 billion of revenue due to lost business.
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The largest loss of fallout of HB2 has been Paypal, who had been planning to build an operations center in Charlotte. According to AP, this new center was expected to provide “$200 million annually to the state’s gross domestic product… [and] by the end of 2028, the state expected PayPal to have added more than $2.66 billion overall.
North Carolina, which has formerly been the epicenter for college basketball, has lost support from the NCAA. Although the state was the site of several prior championships, the NCAA has been avoiding North Carolina entirely and has stated they will not return to the state until the bill is repealed.
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A year later, HB2 has cost North Carolina millions. How much worse will it get?
By Jim Morrill, Katherine Peralta and Steve Harrison | Charlotte Observer
House Bill 2 has cost North Carolina a year of lost NCAA and ACC championships, an NBA All-Star Game, jobs and economic development. Now the state can brace for more.
As North Carolina marks the first anniversary of House Bill 2 next week, an ongoing political stalemate is making a prolonged economic backlash – and future anniversaries – likely.
The law, widely criticized as anti-LGBT, has cost North Carolinians jobs, money, performances and events, including this month’s NCAA basketball tournament.
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In Charlotte alone, direct spending only for event-related cancellations over HB2 totals $83.9 million, estimates the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. That figure takes into account canceled events like the ACC Championship football game, the NBA All-Star Game and annual conventions.
North Carolina’s anti-LGBTQ law is costing the state’s economy hundreds of millions a year
By German Lopez | Vox
In total, the AP’s estimate of $3.76 billion over 12 years — around $310 million a year — is a drop in the bucket for the state’s economy, which is valued at more than $500 billion a year.
But the AP’s findings show the economy could be even stronger if it wasn’t for HB2.
The AP’s tally updates previous analyses of HB2’s financial impact. Wired previously estimated that North Carolina as of September had lost $395 million — “more than the GDP of Micronesia” — as a result of the law.
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Since the law passed, it has been mired in huge national controversy. More than 200 business leaders signed a letter asking the state to repeal HB2. Multiple businesses, including PayPal and Deutsche Bank, pulled expansions from the state in response to the law.
Top 10 stories of 2016: HB2 and its impact on N.C.
By Jenna Martin | Charlotte Business Journal
A CBJ analysis estimated sporting events lost due to HB2 could cost Charlotte $300 million by 2020. Charlotte has lost the 2017 NBA All-Star Game and this year’s ACC Football Championship. The ACC and NCAA also moved several more 2016-17 championships games from the state. Other corporate fallout stemming from HB2 included Paypal (NASDAQ: PYPL) abandoning plans for a 400-job center in Charlotte. The law also has been named a factor in real estate firms CoStar Group’s (NASDAQ: CSGP) decision to put a new 732-job headquarters in Richmond.
Charlotte still has to spend money to attract visitors turned off by HB2, records show
By Katherine Peralta | Charlotte Observer
Included in the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority’s current 2019 budget is $2 million in “Post HB2 Marketing/Sales support,” according to email records obtained by the Observer through a public records request.
The funding is for Visit Charlotte, a division of the CRVA. Visit Charlotte received $1 million last fiscal year for post-HB2 marketing/sales support, according to the report.
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Dozens of entertainers, including Maroon 5 and Bruce Springsteen, canceled North Carolina shows because of the law.
Who Has Gained From North Carolina’s HB2 Losses
By Dawn Ennis | NBC News
Researchers said they only accounted for projects that were abandoned or moved because of HB2, and AP concedes there’s really no way to know the full impact of future projects that could have been awarded to North Carolina had there never been such a controversial law put in place.
“This is where most of the activity is,” Connaughton speculated. “The companies that never consider us from last year on because of HB2.”
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Charlotte watched an estimated $100 million in revenue vanish to the Big Easy when the league pulled its basketball tournament from the city.
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A bigger prize was last year’s decision by CoStar, a real estate analytics company, to build a new research center not in Charlotte but in Richmond, Va. The deal will reportedly generate 732 jobs and an $8 million investment that is estimated to be worth a quarter of a billion dollars in local impact. Reports said Charlotte was the favorite until HB2 was passed.
‘Bathroom bill’ to cost North Carolina $3.76B
By Emery Dalesio and Jonathan Drew | Associated Press
Over the past year, North Carolina has suffered financial hits ranging from scuttled plans for a PayPal facility that would have added an estimated $2.66 billion to the state’s economy to a canceled Ringo Starr concert that deprived a town’s amphitheater of about $33,000 in revenue. The blows have landed in the state’s biggest cities as well as towns surrounding its flagship university, and from the mountains to the coast.
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All told, the state will have missed out on more than $3.76 billion by the end of 2028. The losses are based on projects that already went elsewhere — so the money won’t be recouped even if the law is struck down in court or repealed.
By the end of 2017 alone, the lost business will total more than $525 million.
North Carolina has lost a staggering amount of money over its controversial ‘bathroom law’
By Mark Abadi | Business Insider
Last week alone, the state lost out on an estimated $91 million in revenue when the NCAA and Atlantic Coast Conference announced they were moving 15 college championship events from the state, citing values of equality and diversity.
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Two more college sports conferences with member schools in North Carolina — the Southern Conference and Division II’s Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association— are reportedly mulling whether to move their championship events from the state.
The CIAA’s departure would be particularly devastating. Its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, held annually in Charlotte, generated more than $55 million for the city in 2015, the most recent year for which statistics were available
Economic directors fear possible NCAA decision on HB2 could trickle down
By Zora Stephenson | WNCT
It’s not the first time we’ve heard about the economic impact of sporting events leaving North Carolina because of HB2. However, many fear if sports leave there’s going to be a trickle-down effect to other things.
A number of communities in our area have already reported losses. They say organizations and event planners don’t want to use facilities in North Carolina. If the NCAA decides to pull major events out of North Carolina leaders here in the east fear others could follow suit.
“HB2 has become a cloud.” Lenoir County Commissioner Craig Hill said.