Could New Hampshire's Bathroom Bill Kill Job Growth? - Granite Grok

Could New Hampshire’s Bathroom Bill Kill Job Growth?

Target Bathroom Bill killed business
Could HB478, New Hampshire’s latest bathroom bill, keep businesses away? It is a worthy question.

We know that sexual predators will inevitably try to take advantage of unbridled access to ladies changing rooms and bathrooms. It is a given that religious organizations will be at risk of having to face penalties or follow their faith. But what about the economics? Target instituted a system-wide transgender “bathroom bill” of its own last year, and the economic consequences for the company have been brutal.

(Market Watch) Target Corp.’s stock TGT, -1.60% plunged 14% in active premarket trade Tuesday, in the wake of a disappointing fiscal fourth-quarter report, putting it on track to open at a 2 1/2-year low. Current volume of about 276,000 shares made the stock the most actively traded before the open. The stock’s $9.41, or 14.1%, drop to $57.50 ahead of the open would put it on track to open at the lowest level seen since Aug. 7, 2014. The stock would suffer the biggest one-day price drop since it went public in January 1972, and the third-biggest-ever percentage decline, and the biggest since Aug. 31, 1998. Earlier, Target missed fiscal fourth-quarter profit expectations, and provided first-quarter and full-year outlooks that were well below analyst projections. The stock has tumbled 15% over the past 12 months, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETFXRT, -0.09% has gained 1.6% and the S&P 500 SPX, +1.37% has climbed 22%.

Some estimate the loss in value as high as $15 billion in less than one year.

Take note. Online business wasn’t too bad for Target (despite how crappy their website is), but in-store foot traffic is way down. Target recently abandoned some high-profile ventures that will not set them back against online behemoths like Amazon and Wal-Mart with its new 2-day free shipping on everything program.

Business is bad for Target. Could the same bathroom bill nonsense translate into economic problems for New Hampshire?

If we pass a bathroom bill, will businesses who might have come here look elsewhere to avoid the problems that might come with men indiscriminately wandering into their ladies rooms or locker rooms? Does it increase lawsuit potential if a sexual predator attacks someone on their property?

The average business has plenty to deal with under any set of circumstances but who needs that crap when there are dozens of states competing for those jobs and tax revenue who won’t add this to the mix?

HB478 is a potential threat to moms, daughters, sisters, and wives, religious liberty, and now jobs and the state’s economy.

Enough already. Kill the bill.

 

 

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