NC House passes third reopening bill as lawmakers debate their own coronavirus risk
The North Carolina House on Tuesday passed a bill that would reopen bowling alleys and skating rinks ahead of Gov. Roy Cooper’s phased plan to lift restrictions, as lawmakers debated their own risk of coronavirus infection in personal terms.
It passed 68-52 mostly along party lines, with three Democrats voting with Republicans. One Democrat who voted against the bill is Rep. Graig Meyer of Hillsborough. During the floor debate on the bill, Meyer said his daughter has tested positive for COVID-19 and thinks she got it from working at a bar in Charlotte.
Meyer questioned how the state will stop transmission with such limited contact tracing. He said North Carolinians are going to have to live with some exposure to the virus. Continuing to reopen, he said, “is putting the cart before the horse.”
Rep. Larry Yarborough, a Roxboro Republican, wanted to know why Meyer would be at the legislature if he was exposed.
Meyer said that he hasn’t seen his daughter in two weeks, and turned the question on Yarborough.
“Rep. Yarborough, why are you not wearing a mask? Why are you putting me and everybody here at risk?” Meyer asked.
While lawmakers of both parties wear masks, more Democrats on the House floor appeared to be wearing masks than Republicans.
The reopening debate turned partisan as months passed during statewide shutdowns to control the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.
Meyer told The News & Observer after the vote that his daughter works at a bar that’s in the “gray area” between restaurants and bars. Under Phase Two of easing restrictions, restaurants are allowed to be open along with wineries, breweries and distilleries, but not bars. Meyer said his daughter lost two jobs during the coronavirus shutdown and went back to work because she had to, but did not want him to share the name of where she works.
His daughter, who is 28, told her boss about testing positive and is self-isolating at home now. Other employees were not told, Meyer said.
“We’re expecting [business owners] to do the ethical thing to inform people and stay safe, but clearly you have an economic interest to stay open,” Meyer said.
He said there needs to be enforcement for employers to tell people who have been exposed, and much-expanded contact tracing that includes tracing people who have visited restaurants where they may have been exposed to the virus.
Meyer said he doesn’t like being at the legislature during coronavirus and that it is stressful.
Reopening bills
This is the third attempt to reopen businesses before Cooper and N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen want them open. Three bills, all led by Republicans, speed up the process of reopening.
The Democratic governor vetoed the first bill, which would have reopened bars for outdoor seating only and increased restaurant seating capacity. A second bill, which would reopen gyms as well as bars, is on Cooper’s desk to sign or veto. This third bill would reopen bowling alleys and skating rinks as well as increase outdoor seating at restaurants.
Cooper and Cohen said Monday that they would announce at the start of next week if June 26 will still be the start of the next phase. North Carolina’s COVID-19 cases are increasing. The state is still in its first wave, Cohen told reporters, because it never had a spike.
Rep. John Szoka, a Fayetteville Republican, introduced SB 599 in a House committee meeting on Monday as a response to the economic fallout from businesses being closed. In addition to bowling and skating facilities, the bill would also allow restaurants at minor league ballparks to open.
“I frankly don’t know whom to believe in the medical community and I’m not sure we should put the medical community in charge of our economy,” Szoka said.
Other Republicans also stressed the economy, including Rep. Jimmy Dixon of Duplin County.
“We’d better start addressing the economic health of this state,” Dixon said during the committee debate.
“In my opinion we’re all going to get [COVID-19], and the sooner we get it the better off we are,” Dixon said, referring to reaching herd immunity.
Rep. Zack Hawkins, a Durham Democrat, said during debate on the floor that he is concerned about protecting workers on the front lines of businesses who “take the money, open the doors.” He said there are not enough safety precautions in place to continue expanding reopening.
“I understand what the business community is going through every day,” Hawkins said. “At the end of the day our health and the health of our society has to take precedent.”
Debate in the House committee meeting on Monday fell mostly along party lines, too, with Republicans supporting lifting restrictions and Democrats wanting not to lift restrictions earlier than Cooper’s plan.
The bill now goes to the Senate, which will decide whether to send it to Cooper’s desk for a potential veto.
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 16, 2020 at 5:37 PM with the headline "NC House passes third reopening bill as lawmakers debate their own coronavirus risk."
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