The Austin Chamber team braced the sweltering heat to stand with more than 40 business leaders and the Keep Texas Open for Business Coalition to oppose Texas lawmakers’ discriminatory bathroom legislation.

“As a global company with over 10,000 employees here in Texas, IBM stands firmly against any discriminatory legislation that would hurt our ability to attract and retain talent in the state,” said Phil Gilbert, Global Head of Design at IBM. The company has been a member of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce since August 1967. “It goes against long standing Texas values where independence and grit are the meaningful measures of any person. It’s been these Texas qualities that have allowed us to bring thousands of talented people into this state.”

Three anti-LGBT bills have already been introduced during the 85^th Texas Legislature special session. The bills include HB 46 which prohibits municipalities and schools from protecting transgender students from discrimination, HB 50 which is identical but only applies to school districts, and SB 23 which prohibits cities and towns from passing ordinances that protect LGBT people from discrimination and rescinds existing ordinances.

The discriminatory bills are similar to North Carolina’s HB 2, the state’s controversial bathroom law that cost the state $450 to $630 million since its passage. Just recently, North Carolina lawmakers decided to partially repeal the bill.

“As of today, we have been able to track $66 million in conventions and events that have already been canceled in Austin, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Arlington. Simply because we’re talking about discriminatory legislation,” said Philip Jones, President, and CFO of Visit Dallas. “We are facing a total risk of $1.4 billion in confirmed and potential convention and sports losses in this state. These numbers will continue to rise over time as long as Texas continues to pursue this type of legislation.”

A report by AngelouEconomics on behalf of the Texas Association of Business estimates that Texas will lose $5.6 billion a year if this kind of discriminatory legislation is passed. During the regular session, the Austin Chamber joined Chris Wallace, President of the Texas Association of Business, and the Metro 8 Chambers of Commerce in opposition to the bill.

The Texas Legislature convened July 18 for the special session. It is expected to last 30-days.

Voice your concern regarding the bathroom bill here.

For questions regarding the Chambers state agenda, contact Dana Harris, VP of Federal and State Advocacy at 512-322-5647 or Drew Scheberle, SVP of Policy and Advocacy at 512-322-5628.

Pictured: (L-R) Robert Watson, General Manager of Hilton Austin; Dana Harris, Vice President of Federal and State Advocacy of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce; and John Howard, Government Affairs and Public Policy Director of Dell.