How AP tallied the cost of North Carolina's "bathroom bill"

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Associated Press used dozens of interviews and multiple public records requests to determine that North Carolina's "bathroom bill" will cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost business over a dozen years.

A state Commerce Department analysis shows officials expected a planned Charlotte PayPal operations center to contribute more than $200 million annually to the state's gross domestic product — an overall measure of the economy.

The fiscal cost-benefit analysis model has been used for more than a decade when the state offers major discretionary tax breaks to attract jobs.

Using the same model, the Commerce Department estimated that a Deutsche Bank project in Cary would pump about $47 million annually into the economy once fully staffed at 250 jobs in 2017.

When CoStar announced in October 2016 that it had picked Virginia for a research center employing 732 people, that state said the project's economic impact would be $250 million based on payroll, capital investments and other factors.

CoStar's CEO had recommended Charlotte to his board and was preparing for final negotiations for a site there when the board backed out because of negative publicity over the law, according to a September 2016 email exchange between Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and city officials.

By late June, North Carolina Economic Development Partnership recruiter Evan Stone bemoaned that the company's "site location decision is imminent, and High Point was the preferred site but is being rejected solely on the basis of recent legislation."

The AP conducted more than a dozen interviews and email exchanges with tourism officials and planners to determine the state lost more than $196 million from sporting events, conventions, concerts and other events.