To assist small businesses, Rep. Lisa Stone Barnes and her colleagues passed a bill that would allow amusement parks and arcades to reopen. | Stock Photo
To assist small businesses, Rep. Lisa Stone Barnes and her colleagues passed a bill that would allow amusement parks and arcades to reopen. | Stock Photo
North Carolina lawmakers OK'd legislation that would allow more establishments to reopen to help out small business owners during COVID-19, a representative said.
The proposal from the House calls on the governor to approve reopening amusement parks, arcades, fairs, carnivals, venues for receptions and parties, as well as dining and beverage establishments at outdoor stadiums would be allowed to operate, House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) posted to his website on June 23. These businesses have been ordered to remain closed under Phase 2 of Gov. Roy Cooper's reopening plan.
“Family businesses across North Carolina are hanging by a thread because of Governor Cooper’s scattershot executive orders and the lawless mobs he’s allowed to ransack our cities and towns," Moore said in a statement. "I urge Governor Cooper to sign this bill and provide relief to struggling families.”
Cooper has vetoed legislation that would allow gyms, fitness centers and health clubs to reopen under a 15-point safety plan. That bill also would have treated beverage and dining establishments equally and allowed them to operate at 50% capacity.
"My colleagues and I passed HB 258, to open more venues like amusement parks, arcades, and fairs, in order to help out more small businesses that have been affected by the Governor's haphazard executive orders," Lisa Stone Barnes (R-Franklin) said in a post to her Facebook page on June 24.
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