Almost immediately, Republicans in the state legislature vowed to overturn the law, even though the assembly is not in session. North Carolina has become a fierce battleground for culture war issues. Since the GOP captured the legislature in 2010 and the governorship in 2012, there’s been a steady stream of conservative changes, from much stricter voter laws to looser gun laws to overhauling taxes. The legislature even considered a proposal to establish Christianity as the official state religion.

The state is deeply divided between liberal cities and conservative rural areas, and with few prospects to take back control in Raleigh, progressives have looked to local government as a way to enact change. The general assembly has not looked kindly on those efforts. In September, just as the legislative calendar was ending, lawmakers heard a bill that would prevent cities from passing higher minimum-wage laws, establishing affordable-housing mandates, or instituting rules about landlord-tenant relations. It would also have likely banned any LGBT-discrimination bans. Another failed bill would have required state approval for cities wishing to create new bike lanes.

Although the push to preempt city laws failed as the clock ran out, Charlotte’s new ordinance created a new impetus. McCrory, a former mayor of Charlotte, opposed the law but declined to call a special session, so on Monday lawmakers did so themselves. On Wednesday, members who could make it in time traipsed back to Raleigh to overturn the Charlotte rule. (Some missed the session, saying they did not have time to travel.) What exactly would be in the bill remained a mystery almost up to the moment the session gaveled in—the text was made public just minutes ahead of time.

Once released, it was clear that the legislative language was more sweeping than expected. Not only does it prevent local governments from writing ordinances that allow people to use the bathroom corresponding to the gender with with they identify, it also preempts cities from passing their own nondiscrimination standards, saying the state’s rules—which are more conservative—supersede localities. Local school district would be barred from allowing transgender students to use bathrooms or locker rooms that don’t correspond to the gender listed on their birth certificate. The bill would also ban cities from passing their own minimum-wage laws.

It’s a striking example of how North Carolina’s Republicans have decided that culture-war issues ought to take precedence over traditional conservative preference for local control. But they also pit the North Carolina GOP’s professed desire to improve the business climate in the state against social conservative impulses. Representative Paul Stam, a sponsor of the bill, called it a commerce bill, but many large corporations have stated their opposition to this law and others, concerned that they could interfere with business or hiring.