RALEIGH — A deal has fallen apart to undo the North Carolina law known as the "bathroom bill'' in a sign of the state's bitter political divide. 

The state's legislature was called into a special session Wednesday to consider repealing the law known as HB2 after months of pressure, including lost jobs and canceled sporting events and concerts. 

But the Republican-controlled legislature showed once again that it preferred to go its own way. 

The latest special session was called by Gov. Pat McCrory after Charlotte gutted a local nondiscrimination ordinance that Republicans had blamed for necessitating the statewide law. 

Among other things, HB2 requires transgender people to use restrooms corresponding with the sex on their birth certificate in many public buildings.

Republican Senate leader Phil Berger criticized Democrats on Wednesday night for failing to support legislation that would have repealed the law known as House Bill 2. Berger told reporters it appears Gov.-elect Roy Cooper and his fellow Democrats want to keep HB2 as in issue. 

The sticking point was a measure in the Senate that would have barred from local governments from passing ordinances that expanded non-discrimination protections until next summer. 

Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin says Republican lawmakers are the ones that have hurt LGBT people by failing to follow through on a deal to repeal the law.

North Carolina Gov.-elect Roy Cooper says Republican legislators had a chance to do the right thing by repealing a contentious LGBT law, but they failed to live up to their promise.

The Democrat said there had been a bipartisan deal that called for a full repeal but that GOP leaders at the legislature went back on their word by adding a moratorium that he said "doubled down on discrimination.'' 

Cooper told reporters he had worked on forging a deal for about 10 days. He says he'll keep working on repeal because the law is a "great stain'' on the state that's resulting in lost jobs and sporting events. 

Cooper released a full statement which reads: 

"The legislature had a chance to do the right thing for North Carolina today, and they failed.

"I am disappointed that Republican legislative leaders refused to live up to their promise to fully repeal House Bill 2. I’m disappointed for the people of North Carolina — the jobs that they may not get. I’m disappointed that we haven’t yet removed the stain from our reputation around the country and around the world.

"People want us to work together for the good of our state. I know there were enough Democratic and Republican votes to fully repeal HB 2 by itself. But Republican legislative leaders have broken their word to me and broken their trust with the people. 

"My staff and I worked day and night through the past week to forge an agreement that would bring back jobs and sporting events. For the first time ever on this issue, we had House Republican leaders, Senate Republican leaders, Senate Democrats, House Democrats, the Charlotte City Council, business leaders, sports leaders and the LGBT leaders in agreement. The Charlotte City Council held up its end of the deal by repealing its ordinance. When it came time for Republican legislative leaders to do their job, they failed.

"This was our best chance. This cannot be our last chance."

The NC GOP chairman Robin Hayes released the following statement:

"After months of threatening boycotts and misleading rhetoric, not a single Democrat voted to repeal HB2 on a straight up and down vote. It's even more absurd that Govenor-elect Cooper privately pressured Senate Democrats to reject the deal while publicly calling on lawmakers to support a repeal. This is nothing more than smoke and mirrors and the people of North Carolina deserve more than the lies and collusion that Roy Cooper has fashioned himself accustomed to."

Governor McCrory released a statement saying:

"As promised, I called a Special Session to reconsider a manufactured political issue that strategically targeted the city of Charlotte and our state by well-funded left-wing interest groups. This was at least the third time that pressure from the left sabotaged bipartisan good faith agreements for political purposes.

"As I've stated multiple times, the balance between privacy and equality is not just a North Carolina issue, it is a national issue that will be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in the near future.

"North Carolina will continue to be one of the nation's leaders in job growth, education, quality of life and equality for all of our citzens."

 

The fifth special session happened after the Charlotte City Council met Wednesday morning to repeal the Queen City's non-discrimination ordinance.

Spectrum-Time Warner Cable News reporter Jonathan Lowe joined us live from the Government Center with more about leaders in Charlotte.