Tennessee passes bill granting businesses choice to follow either state or local pandemic guidelines

A Tennessee bill granting businesses the choice to follow either state or local guidelines during pandemics heads to Gov. Bill Lee’s (R) desk after the state House passed it on Monday.

Under the Business Fairness Act, establishments would be required to comply with either local or state health restrictions but could decide which of the two series of regulations to follow. 

The bill passed both chambers with widespread bipartisan support, with a 90-0 vote in the state House on Monday and a 28-0 vote in the state Senate last week, the Tennessean reported. 

The legislation intends to ensure businesses in the state have an equal playing field during a health crisis after metropolitan areas enforced stricter COVID-19 regulations on businesses while officials loosened statewide rules.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses in Tennessee drafted the bill, based on legislation in Georgia and Alabama, to mitigate the differences in health rules that businesses are subjected to solely based on location, according to the Tennessean.

State Sen. Bill Powers (R) told the newspaper that the legislation aims to help small businesses that struggled during pandemic shutdowns while larger businesses such as Walmart earned the title of essential. 

“That puts them on a level playing field because it allows the small businesses to pick and choose the mandate that they want to abide,” Powers said.

The bill comes after Lee, like many governors, shut down nonessential businesses last year in the early weeks of the pandemic while cities made their own restrictions to stop the virus from spreading. 

But after Lee rescinded the closure, other cities and localities continued theirs, leading to frustration and some lawsuits from business owners.