HOUSTON – The Texas "bathroom bill," which is still waiting to be taken up by the House, was the focus of a letter sent to Gov. Greg Abbott Monday.

While police chiefs, sheriffs and business leaders have come out in opposition to the bathroom bill, now a cross-section of Houston's businesses is adding its voice to the opposition.

The collective authors of the letter include the CEOs of 50 Houston-area companies, giants in the oil and gas industry such as Halliburton, BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil to name a few.

The letter sent to Abbott was on the letterhead of the Greater Houston Partnership. The letter warns that the bathroom bill will do great economic harm to our state if passed. A portion of the letter reads, "We support diversity and inclusion, and we believe that any such bill risks harming Texas' reputation and impacting the state's economic growth and ability to create new jobs."

[READ THE LETTER HERE]

File: GHP letter to Gov. Abbott

In addition to the chair, vice chair and president and CEO of the Partnership, the letter also bears the names of more than 50 leaders from banking, the energy sector, education and mass transit -- all asking for the Legislature not to pass this bill.

KPRC2 tried to speak with someone from Abbott's office, but have not yet gotten a response.

We did receive a statement from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, calling the Greater Houston Partnership "out of touch" with the will of Houstonians and saying, "The people of Texas are right about this issue and this group is wrong."

The Texas Association of Business said 26 percent of Republican primary voters support the bathroom bill, according to its survey.

"Texas business has long opposed the bathroom bill because it is unnecessary and will have significant negative economic impact on Texas. The significance of these surveys is the voice of individual Republican primary voters echoing the business perspective with over 60 percent of the opposing respondents saying that the bill is unnecessary and distracts from the real issues facing Texas today," Jeff Moseley, CEO of the Texas Association of Business, said.

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