Berkeley Adopts 'Hate States' Travel, Contract Ban

Berkeley officials this week adopted the strongest response yet to so-called hate states that have enacted LGBT discriminatory laws, such as North Carolina and Mississippi.

In addition to joining the growing list of cities and states that have banned taxpayer-funded travel to states with anti-LGBT laws, Berkeley will now prohibit city agencies from entering into contracts with companies in those states.

San Francisco is likely to follow suit, as gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener introduced an ordinance Tuesday, April 26 that would make banning both city-funded travel to those locales that discriminate against LGBT people and contracting with businesses in "hate states" official city policy. It comes after Mayor Ed Lee already issued executive orders banning city-funded travel to North Carolina and Mississippi.

At its meeting Tuesday evening, the Berkeley City Council unanimously adopted the legislation that was introduced earlier this month by its three out members. At the request of lesbian City Councilwoman Lori Droste, the council added the item to its consent calendar for adoption without the need to hold a separate hearing on the proposal.

The members of the council's agenda committee had initially pulled the item from the consent calendar due to concerns about the contract stipulation. But interim City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley raised no objections to implementing the policy.

"There are no concerns from my office," she said during the council meeting.

Also at the meeting City Councilman Max Anderson announced he wanted to sign on as a co-sponsor of the legislation along with Droste and gay City Councilmen Kriss Worthington and Darryl Moore.

The legislation instructs the city manager "to refrain from entering into new contracts and consider discontinuing existing contracts with businesses headquartered in North Carolina or Mississippi."

It also enacts a moratorium on having the city cover the cost of its employees and officials traveling for business purposes to any other state that enacts "legislation that discriminates toward the LGTBQ community."

As part of the legislation, the Berkeley City Council also officially endorsed Assembly Bill 1887, authored by gay Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), which would ban state-funded travel to states with anti-LGBT laws. The bill is currently under review by Assembly members.

Under Berkeley's government structure, the City Council sets policy and the city manager then enacts it. While the legislation "urge(s)" the city manager to review the city's contracts to see if there are any with businesses in hate states, the intent is clear, Worthington told the Bay Area Reporter.

"We are genuinely polite and deferential to the city manager. On the other hand, when the City Council votes unanimously to urge the city manager, they in general do what we urge them to do," said Worthington. "They have started to review existing contracts."

In response to a request for comment, city spokesman Matthai Chakko stated in an emailed reply that, "The council sets policy. The city manager ensures that staff implement their policy direction. We cannot take action until they decide."

In meetings with the city manager, Worthington said he has suggested that before the city ends any contract, it first send a letter to the impacted company to explain why it needs to cancel its contract. The hope, said Worthington, is that those business leaders will in turn advocate for the repeal of their state's anti-LGBT laws, and if rescinded, the contracts can remain in place.

"We want to leverage them. I think businesses from that state are going to get listened to more than us," he said. "We are trying to be practical and strategic. If we do have any contracts, we want to get those businesses to lobby that state."