Transgender bill won't move this year in North Carolina, Senate leader says

Legislation that would have required teachers to inform on students won't get a floor vote, Senate leadership says.

Posted 3:44 p.m. Apr 20, 2021 — Updated 4:13 p.m. Apr 20, 2021

Travis Fain

, WRAL statehouse reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — The most controversial bill at the North Carolina statehouse this year targeting transgender students won't move forward, a spokesman for top legislative leadership said Tuesday.

Senate Bill 514 would have banned treatment for transgender people under 21 and required teachers and other state employees to notify parents if their child displayed "gender nonconformity." It's one of several bills filed this year touching on transgender rights, and it had backing from key members of majority leadership, including Deputy President Pro Tem Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell.

But a spokesman for the No. 1 Senate Republican, and Republican leadership in general, said Tuesday the bill won't come to the floor for a vote. WFAE radio in Charlotte first reported the development.

"We do not see a pathway to Senate Bill 514 becoming law," said Pat Ryan, spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger.

That may be because of the potential for Gov. Roy Cooper to veto the measure if it passed the Republican-controlled General Assembly, which doesn't have the numbers to overturn the governor's vetoes,

Another bill dealing with young transgender people is alive at the General Assembly and would forbid transgender girls and women from joining women's sports teams if they were born male.

That bill got a hearing in the North Carolina House last week but hasn't yet gotten a committee vote, leaving it a long legislative path to become law.

Suggest A Correction