As Blasting News reported, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said that he would work on getting Governor Greg Abbott to call for a special session where he can get a controversial bathroom bill and others passed. During the recent 85th session for both the state House and Senate, the Bathroom Bill was one of the few that they weren't able to pass before the session ended. One of the reasons for this was because the House Speaker Joe Straus felt that the state might take a hit from businesses that have already threatened to boycott the state in retaliation over passing the bill.

North Carolina and Texas: financial repurcussions

As the Blasting News article noted, North Carolina already took a financial hit when Pat McCrory passed a similar bill and a large number of businesses pulled out of the state, even the National Basketball Association (NBA) which decided to hold their annual all-star event elsewhere. The impact to the state was enough to force their legislature to toss the bill and it might have even been the reason Pat McCrory did not get re-elected. But even though Straus acknowledged the possible implications of passing the bathroom bill, the Governor's surrogates and the office itself has defied the threat which claims that Texas could lose $8.5 billion in GDP and hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Politifact pointed to some of these numbers quoted and said the claims were mostly false but the devil is in the details.

Much like the mentioned NBA event, the Super Bowl was considered one event that would have moved from Houston -- which took place in Feb when the bill was being considered.

A more recent study that was comissioned by the San Antonio Area Tourism Council and conducted by the Waco-based Perryman Group published in April claimed that the bathroom bill could cost the state $3 billion in annual tourism. That's out to $129 billion on average per year. One "conservative" view of the "impact" of the bathroom bill boycott in North Carolina was published by Blasting News in March, which provides a different view of the boycott's "failure."

Businesses boycott against right-wing ideology?

This would impact other cities, especially since it was reported that Rep.

Ron Simmons (R-Corsicana) introduced a bill in April that would prevent cities and districts throughout the state from passing their own bills that prevent discrimination. The state's tourism industry had to lay out their priorites for the year and saw the bathroom bill as a threat to their bottom line, which they apparently prioritized.

But according to one report by Dallas News, it might be that taking away business dollars might no longer be a strategy that works anymore. They refer to Mark McKinnon who was a former advisor for George W.

Bush and John McCain who wrote an op-ed for the Texas Tribune wondering when Republican leadership became so anti-business. Various monster tech firms such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple (to name four) have threatened to boycott the bill.
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