NC House passes bill that would reopen gyms and bars. It now goes to the governor.

The North Carolina House passed House Bill 594 on Tuesday, which would reopen both gyms and bars and allow them to operate at 50% capacity.

The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Rick Gunn of Burlington, is the legislature’s second attempt to reopen businesses that Gov. Roy Cooper shuttered in March to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The House passed the bill in a vote mostly split along party lines, 69-50.

House Bill 536, a similar bill that would have reopened bars and doubled restaurant capacity, was vetoed by Cooper on Friday.

After the veto, Gunn updated HB 594 on Monday to include restaurants and bars, in addition to gyms.

He also introduced an amendment on the Senate floor Tuesday that allows the governor to close gyms, bars and other businesses again if a spike in coronavirus cases occurs. That failsafe would also require approval from the rest of the Council of State, which is made up of six Republicans and four Democrats.

Gunn said the amendment was added in an attempt to “give the governor what he asked for.”

“I don’t know if these bills are perfect, but the reason we are passing them is,” Gunn said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “This is not a partisan bill.”

Still, the bill faced little-to-no support from Democrats in either chamber, who expressed concerns about the lack of a “safety switch” in the bill Cooper vetoed Friday, which was also sponsored by Gunn.

In the Senate, only seven Democrats voted in favor of HB 594. It passed the Senate 36-13 Tuesday, after a long and fiery debate.

“I thought we really shared the same goal, and that was to fight the curve so that we can reopen,” Representative Darren Jackson, a Democrat from Raleigh said on the House floor Wednesday. “We appear not to be willing to do that anymore.”

The bill will now go to the governor’s desk, where it will likely face the same fate as HB 536.

Reopening requirements

Cooper has not allowed bars to reopen under his current coronavirus order. HB 594 would change that.

The bill allows a bar to reopen and serve 50% of its customer capacity outdoors. It also allows a restaurant to seat 50% of its capacity outside, in addition to the 50% allowed inside under Cooper’s Phase Two guidelines.

Gyms, yoga studios and other fitness facilities would also be authorized to reopen at 50% capacity, while requiring employees to get their temperature taken daily. Temperature checks would not be required for gym customers.

Employees would also be required to wear masks unless they’re leading a fitness class with social distancing. Gym members are “strongly encouraged” to wear masks under the bill.

Gyms would also be required to have contact-less check-in procedures, to implement social distancing, to provide disinfectants throughout the facilities and to limit water fountains for only filling water bottles.

In a committee hearing Monday, gym owners said the bill would help them “make it out of this.” They also assured legislators they would be able to put everything required in the bill into practice.

“We can use common sense and reason along with the guidelines included in HB 594 to operate safely and serve our members,” said Joseph Ogburn of Triangle CrossFit.

Change of plans

Tentative plans for the second phase of reopening indicated that both bars and gyms would be able to reopen. But Cooper took a more “modest” approach when he announced guidelines for Phase Two, which began May 22.

Both gyms and bars have filed lawsuits since.

Cooper spokeswoman Dory MacMillan said last week in response to HB 594 that “the governor and state health officials have laid out criteria for lifting restrictions to bolster our economy while protecting the health of North Carolinians. Gov. Cooper will continue to follow the data, and work with the private sector to move forward,” The News & Observer previously reported.

NC Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen previously said keeping gyms closed in Phase Two isn’t “a sweat thing, it’s an exertion and breathing issue.” She has also said it’s hard to keep gym users socially distanced.

For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.

This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 4:06 PM with the headline "NC House passes bill that would reopen gyms and bars. It now goes to the governor.."