City coalition slams bathroom bill
Business execs urge Abbott to block measure they fear will curtail growth
AUSTIN — The Greater Houston Partnership, Chevron and other pillars of the city’s business establishment urged Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday to drop the so-called bathroom bill limiting transgender access before it sullies Texas’ reputation and harms economic growth.
The coalition, comprising more than two dozen corporations and firms, pulled no punches in a letter to Abbott and staked out battle lines within Texas’ dominant Republican Party between pro-business moderates and cultural conservatives, led by the governor and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
“We support diversity and inclusion, and we believe that any such bill risks harming Texas’ reputation and impacting the state’s economic growth and ability to create new jobs,” the business leaders said in the letter. “Innovative companies are driven by their people, and winning the talent recruitment battle is key. Any bill that harms our ability to attract top talent to Houston will inhibit our growth and continued success — and ultimately the success of our great state.”
The letter asks Abbott to “avoid any actions, including the passage of any ‘bathroom bill,’ that would threaten our continued growth.”
Police chiefs, mayors and local elected officials statewide have already spoken out in rallies, marches and public hearings against the legislation, which was passed last week by the state Senate during the Legislature’s special session and now moves to the more moderate House, where Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, and dozens of other members have repeatedly said the Legislature has more pressing issues to work on.
Similar legislation limiting bathroom access based on the gender on a person’s birth certificate — which would, for example, prohibit transgender women from using women’s restrooms — have led to economic boycotts in North Carolina. Texas business leaders say the state risks losing millions of dollars for events that organizers threaten to cancel or move elsewhere if lawmakers pass the bill.
$66 million lost already
Talk of the bathroom bill already has led to about $66 million in lost convention business, convention officials from Texas’ top cities have told legislative committees. If the measure is enacted, the state could lose about $1.4 billion from lost conventions, sports contests and other events, they said.
Patrick and other supporters have disputed those numbers. Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the letter, but the governor said in an interview after a speech to law enforcement officials that members of the public need to “calmly look at what the bill actually says before they cast some misguided judgment.”
The Houston letter came as the Texas Association of Business made public a poll showing that only 26 percent of Republican primary voters support the bill. The poll was conducted in five GOP controlled legislative districts selected to represent a crosssection of the state, officials with the group said. Last week, the association sponsored a $1 million broadcast ad campaign in the Dallas-Fort Worth area against the bill.
Jeff Moseley, CEO of the Texas Association of Business and a former CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, said the new poll results show a paucity of support for the bathroom bill in GOP strongholds.
Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political scientist, said Monday’s letter from Houston business leaders could help kill the bill in the House.
“Business leaders in Texas have seen what happened in North Carolina after they passed a bathroom bill, and they’ve been worried about what would happen in Texas,” he said. “This fullcourt press by Texas business leaders will definitely complicate the ability of Republicans to pass a bathroom bill, and Republicans who may not have wanted to vote for it before now have a good reason not to.”
Terri Burke, executive director of the American Liberties Union of Texas, agreed.
“I don’t think it had a lot of chance to pass the House before but will probably be enough to give Republicans in the House the cover they need not to vote for it . ... Business has run this state for most of my life, back when the Democrats were in charge now when Republicans are, and this letter speaks very strongly that the business community doesn’t support this bill,” Burke said.
But lawmakers who support the measure have not been swayed by the growing pressure from big business, saying they remain strongly in favor of the bill. They noted that Houston did not suffer after the 2015 repeal of an equal-rights ordinance that would have prohibited discrimination against transgender people using bathrooms of their choice.
Such strong support, said Lisa Sheps, interim executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas and an opponent of the measure, means the bathroom bill still could pass the House. Nonetheless, she said, “I’m really proud of the business community in Texas for stepping up and standing behind trans Texans.”
As passed by the Senate, the bathroom bill restricts bathroom access based on the gender on a person’s birth certificate. Supporters, including Republican organizations and pastor groups, insist the law is needed to protect the privacy of women and girls, while transgender advocates and business groups say it is discriminatory and will hurt the Lone Star business climate.
Long list of businesses
Monday’s letter from Houston’s business establishment was signed by top officials of the Greater Houston Partnership, Chevron North America Exploration and Production, Accenture, Amegy Bank, Andrews Kurth Kenyon LLP, Atlantic Partners Group LLC, Baker Botts LLP, BBVA Compass, BP, The Boston Consulting Group, BHP Billiton Petroleum, Bracewell LLP, Capine Production, Camden Property Trust, CenterPoint Energy, Chase Source, Dow Chemical Company, DeMontrond Automotive Group, ConocoPhillips, Ernst & Young LLP, ExxonMobil Global Services Company, Foster LLP, Genesis Park LLP, Group 1 Automotive, Gilbane Building Co., GSL Welcome Group, James Post Interests, Houston JLL, Halliburton, Haynes and Boone LLP and Locke Lord.
Abbott, in an interview after a speech to law enforcement in North Texas earlier in the day, took issue with police chiefs who have criticized the bathroom bill as being an added burden to them.
“There is not a role for law enforcement to play,” Abbott said Monday at the annual Sheriffs’ Association of Texas Training Conference and Expo in Grapevine. “Enforcement of this law is done by the attorney general.”
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Abbott said because enforcement of the legislation is a civil action and not a criminal one, police will not be affected.
Patrick, who has been the legislation’s most vociferous proponent, blasted the Houston letter.
“The Partnership is out of touch with the majority of Houstonians who voted overwhelmingly in 2015 to reject the same kind of ordinance that Senate Bill 3 will prohibit,” he said. “They warned of economic doom at the time, but there has been no negative impact on the city’s economy. In their rush to be politically correct, this business group is ignoring the fact that companies continue to expand and new ones are moving to Houston. The people of Texas are right about this issue ,and they are wrong.”
Even so, the companies whose executives signed the letter stood by their position.
“Diversity and inclusion are core to Chevron’s values. Diversity is critical to developing a talented, high-performing workforce needed for ongoing business success,” Isabel Ordóñez, Chevron’s upstream senior external affairs advisor, said in a statement, echoing sentiments of other signators. “It is our policy that no one at Chevron should ever be subject to discrimination, including on the basis of gender identity. We do not support any legislation that is counter to these beliefs.”
‘Keeping the pressure on’
Manny Garcia, deputy executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, predicted the growing opposition from Texas business leaders will force House Republicans to decide whether they will disregard the voice of their traditional political allies — Texas business — or forego enacting the controversial legislation.
“Increasingly, the business community in Texas agrees with Democrats that the bathroom bill is discriminatory, on education funding, on immigration policy and against discrimination and letting all Texans to live their lives freely,” he said. “This is a moment when Texas business is living in fear of what the Texas Republican establishment will do . ... Opposition from the business community is keeping the pressure on.”