SAN ANTONIO – A study by noted economist Ray Perryman shows the potential losses from Senate Bill 6, otherwise known as the bathroom bill, would be $411.8 million in revenue and 4,650 jobs in the San Antonio metro area. Statewide, the impact could be $3.3 billion and 36,000 jobs if SB6 is adopted, mandating that people use bathrooms that match their biological gender at birth.
Before it was revised, a similar bill cost North Carolina an estimated $500 million in revenue after several major sporting and entertainments events boycotted the state in response.
Casandra Matej, president and CEO of Visit San Antonio, said the impact here would be “seismic.”
The study, “The Potential Impact of Social Legislation on Business Activity,” was commissioned by Visit San Antonio and the San Antonio Area Tourism Council.
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Steve Atkins, the council’s immediate past chair, said SB 6 “looks like a solution trying to find a problem.”
Matej said as a result, San Antonio already has lost two conventions worth $40 million in revenue, and nine others are pending.
“Not only are we updating them, trying to assure them that we want to work with them in San Antonio,” Matej said. “But that is a possibility, they will pull out of our city.”
The study did not take into account the Final Four expected in San Antonio next year. It was pulled out of North Carolina last year after that state enacted a bathroom bill there.
Richard Oliver, Visit San Antonio spokesman, said the NCAA has not issued San Antonio a warning, but it has indicated “an overall philosophy they will not tolerate discriminatory legislation.”
Matej said whether the Final Four comes to San Antonio or not, “We will be in a bidding situation for a future rotation and that for sure, we would not make the cut.”
Oliver said there is concern if SB 6 is adopted, “It would have that kind of damaging impact in the long run.”
The Texas Senate has passed the bill, but a vote has not been scheduled in the House.
However, HB 2899, introduced last week, has a committee hearing Wednesday. It would declare non-discrimination ordinances, including San Antonio’s, “null and void.”
WATCH: San Antonio's Non-Discrimination Ordinance: Two years later
Atkins said HB 2899 would only serve to amplify the message given by the bathroom bill, “One of confusion, concern and ill will.”
Advocates of the bathroom bill have said it is a matter of public safety.
Atkins said it isn’t necessary.
“The answer is no bill, and certainly not a bill and then a revised bill, and then an ‘I’m sorry’ bill,” he said.
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