The NAACP and American Library Association are among several groups threatening to yank their conventions from San Antonio if Texas lawmakers pass the so-called transgender bathroom bill — costing local hotels, restaurants and attractions millions of dollars.

So far, two groups have passed over San Antonio as a host city for their conventions since state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick introduced Senate Bill 6 in February, according to Visit San Antonio, the former city Convention and Visitors Bureau. Another nine are considering locating their conventions in other states.

Should all 11 conventions take their business elsewhere, the city could lose almost $40 million in total economic fallout, according to estimates from Visit San Antonio.

“Because this bill contradicts our fundamental values, and it is in distinct opposition to the fundamental principles upon which libraries are founded, ALA would have no choice but to move” its 2022 mid-winter convention from San Antonio to another state, American Library Association President Julie Todaro said in a Feb. 16 letter to Visit San Antonio.

The convention, scheduled for January 2022, is estimated to generate $5 million in total economic spending, including the more than 5,500 projected attendees who are expected to rent hotel rooms for the five-day conference, Visit San Antonio spokesman Richard Oliver said.

And San Antonio wouldn’t be the only Texas city that loses out on convention business because of the legislation, Todaro added. The association would consider other states in lieu of Texas if state lawmakers approve the bill.

“As much as we love San Antonio, it’s just not going to be a popular conference” if the Texas bill passes, Todaro” said in a phone interview. “Our members would be very unhappy."

The American Library Association canceled its National Institute conference in Charlotte, North Carolina after former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed the Tar Heel State’s bathroom bill into law last year.

North Carolina lost dozens of events and projects in the aftermath of the bill’s passage. The NBA pulled its All-Star Game from Charlotte in July, and the Atlantic Coast Conference withdrew its college football championship and woman’s college basketball tournament from the state.

The NAACP rejected a bid from Charlotte for its 2018 annual convention and instead chose San Antonio, a move now in doubt because of Senate Bill 6. The gathering is projected to bring 10,000 visitors and generate an economic impact of $10 million.

“Not since the days of Jim Crow have we seen such obvious attempts to cast our fellow citizens into a second class citizenship status by hate-inspired legislation,” NAACP Board Chairman Leon Russell wrote in a statement to the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee.

Russell said in a phone interview Wednesday he plans to meet with NAACP’s organizers at the national and state levels along with local civil rights groups about a “game plan” in light of the bill’s move to the full state Senate. He said the NAACP “would definitely take action of some nature if the bill passes the Legislature.”

“I just don’t understand what compels any state legislature to want to legislate discrimination and put it into public law,” Russell said. “It just makes no sense to me.”

Visit San Antonio submitted letters and statements on behalf of five organizations to the State Affairs Committee, which approved the bill Wednesday morning by a 7-1 vote after hearing roughly 13 hours of testimony.

State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, was the only committee member to oppose the controversial bill, which would require individuals to use restrooms and other facilities in government buildings based on the gender on their birth certificate, rather than gender identity. Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., a Democrat, voted in support of Senate Bill 6 after publicly backing it on Monday.

Hundreds of people signed up to testify before the committee, most of them in opposition to the bill.

Public Responsibility in Health and Medicine, a Boston-based organization that advocates for ethical practices in research involving humans and animals, could pass up San Antonio for its 2020 conference, the group said in a March 3 letter — taking with it more than 2,500 attendees and an estimated $2.1 million impact.

“Because it rises to the level in our view of such a fundamental ethical human rights issue, this is an occasion on which … we feel we can’t stay silent,” Executive Director Elisa Hurley said in an interview.

The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, a higher education group, said in a March 1 letter that it fears many of the 6,800 attendees slated to descend on San Antonio for its 5-day conference beginning Friday could boycott the meeting. The group plans to nix its Austin conference in 2022 and bar Texas cities from consideration for future events if the bill passes, NASPA President Kevin Kruger wrote.

The bill could cost San Antonio repeat convention business. Martha Abbott, executive director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, told Visit San Antonio in a March 6 letter that adopting Senate Bill 6 “will cause our organization to seriously reconsider our commitment to returning to San Antonio for our convention.” The council held conventions in San Antonio in 1993, 2007 and 2014 and in Dallas in 1986 and 1999.

Tourism officials may not be able to calculate the total cost to San Antonio’s convention business, Casandra Matej, executive director of Visit San Antonio, told state senators during the committee hearing Tuesday.

“My biggest fear is the unknown,” Matej said in a statement Wednesday. “What groups are out there that would have contacted San Antonio or Texas about meetings, but instead are saying, ‘We’re not even going to Texas with all that’s going on, there are other options for us.’ ”