What impact will Ohio's 'bathroom bill' have?

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Legislation known as the bathroom bill, which will largely impact transgender students, is now on Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk for consideration.  

When the bill first passed at the Ohio Statehouse on Wednesday, NBC 4 brought you their voices. Now, NBC 4 is looking at the possible economic impact.    

Ohio’s bathroom bill requires both public and private K-12 schools and all Ohio universities to prohibit non-gendered bathrooms and will ban transgender students from using bathroom that align with their gender identity.    

“The legislative branch in the state of Ohio needs to weigh in on this,” the bill’s sponsor, Ohio Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) said. “We should not sit on the sideline and allow that federal executive branch and the judicial branch to decide this issue.”    

“It’s just a totally misguided approach that is the result of having a legislature that’s not accountable to the voters,” Ohio Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) said.    

DeWine has indicated that he will sign the bill into law.  

 All public and private schools across the state will have to be in compliance with the law 90 days after DeWine signs it if he does.  

The Ohio Legislative Service Commission estimates that it will cost schools between $30 and $100 to replace each bathroom sign that needs it.   

“I’m not worried at all,” Bird said when asked if he thinks schools will be able to comply.

NBC 4 reached out to several colleges across the state. Cleveland State University and Ohio State University responded.    

 
“Cleveland State University is currently evaluating the details of the bill and assessing our facilities as they relate to our compliance responsibilities under the bill. It is our plan to be in compliance with the law,” a Cleveland State spokesperson wrote.    

“We are reviewing the legislation and are committed to a welcoming environment for all members of our community,” a spokesperson for OSU wrote.    

But what about the state as a whole?    

“It’s hard for me to imagine a company saying, ‘You know, we really like that their legislature is obsessed with the culture war issues. That’s where we want to go,’” Isaacsohn said.  

North Carolina passed the nation’s first bathroom ban back in 2016. It was rolled back in 2017, but in the short time it was enacted, the NCAA pulled tournaments from the state, PayPal canceled an expansion, and some performers canceled their shows. 

“I don’t know much about that bill, and I don’t know the circumstances surrounding it,” Bird said. “There may be some local politics involved there that, that you and I don’t know about.” 

A request for comment from the NCAA and Intel about a similar reaction to the law have not been returned. 

Bird believes the law will have the opposite effect of what happened in North Carolina. 

 
“I think that this has, this will have a positive impact on Ohio, and I think it will have a positive impact on business in Ohio,” Bird said. “People will want to relocate. They’ll want to stay here because of bills like this that they know that their children will be protected.”    

“There is no data to support that claim,” Isaacsohn said. “That’s just what they hope.” 

Since North Carolina’s law was rolled back, 11 other states have passed some sort of bathroom ban and have faced little to no attributable economic backlash. Bird said he thinks that, plus election results last Tuesday, shows that Americans, and Ohioans, want these types of laws.    

“The people of America voted for Donald Trump and spoke pretty clearly on that issue,” Bird said.  

 
“It’s a question of priority. I agree that Americans spoke pretty clearly last Tuesday and I think what they said was we want a focus on economic issues. The costs are too much for most families, we have to bring costs down, we have to address inflation. We can’t have a crisis of the border,” Isaacsohn said. “The only Ohioans I know who are obsessed with the culture wars are the ones in the statehouse and some of the special interest groups that lobby them but the everyday people are not obsessing over these culture war issues.”   

Isaacsohn said he looks at it like a “big multinational global corporation.”

“Do you want to move to a state where they’re obsessed with fighting the culture wars, or are you probably more interested in, is it a population with really high reading scores?,” Isaacsohn said. “What’s the high school graduation rate? How many people can do critical thinking and have high-level math skills? What’s the what are the public safety numbers like? How can the employees we hire afford to buy a home? What’s access to housing like? And how are we going to deal with childcare for the workforce? So those are the issues that companies care about.”   

“I think people will move to Ohio, will come to Ohio, will relocate their business to Ohio because they want to come to a place that is business-friendly, prepares their children to be the workforce of tomorrow,” Bird said.    

 The governor has 10 days from the time he receives the bill to decide whether he will sign it.