Following more than an hour of partisan debate Tuesday, the Senate voted in favor of a measure that would reopen gyms and bars during the pandemic, despite restrictions put in place by Gov. Roy Cooper.

With the 36-13 vote, the bill heads back to a House for a final vote before it could go to Cooper, who already vetoed one attempt to reopen bars by allowing them to set up outdoor seating to serve customers.

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In the wake of that veto, Sen. Rick Gunn, R-Alamance, tacked the outdoor seating provisions, which also would allow restaurants to expand beyond the 50 percent capacity they now operate at, onto a separate bill allowing gyms to reopen.

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Gunn said the updated legislation would allow the governor to close gyms and bars again, if needed because of a spike in coronavirus infections, but he would need the approval of the Council of State to do so.

Sen. Wiley Nickel, D-Wake, said requiring Council of State approval effectively shifts power from Cooper to Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, Cooper's opponent in the November gubernatorial election, because Republicans hold a 6-4 advantage on the council.

Forest and other Republican members of the council have publicly questioned some of Cooper's responses to the pandemic in recent weeks.

"We're here to help people, not a political party," said Sen. Jim Perry, R-Lenoir.

But the debate split along party lines to the extent that Sen. Rick Horner, R-Nash, called it a "partisan battle royale."

"This is, without question, nuts – absolutely nuts," Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, said of keeping businesses closed to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Steinburg painted a dystopic image of boarded up businesses, spiraling property values and higher taxes, saying Cooper and Democrats were "holding the rest of the state hostage to something that is never going to happen."

Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, said Cooper is "on shaky legal ground" to keep his restrictions in place, unless he believes he's got the "courts stacked" to support his efforts.

"This has defied logic. This has defied data," Hise said.

Sen. Natasha Marcus, D-Mecklenburg, noted the bill requires masks only of gym employees and not customers, includes no social distancing rules other than the check-in area, puts no restrictions on group fitness classes and would hinder any contact tracing efforts by not requiring records of who was at a specific gym when.

"This is broad strokes," Marcus said of the bill. "It's just not good enough, not safe enough."

Cooper has said he’s using health data to make decisions about reopening bars and gyms. But Gunn noted that states that border North Carolina have reopened their bars and gyms in some capacity.

However, data from Johns Hopkins University shows North Carolina has one of the highest percentage of positive tests in the country – higher than all neighboring states but Virginia. North Carolina also reported a new high in virus-related hospitalizations on Tuesday.

Several Democrats backed the bill in the Senate: Sens. Don Davis, D-Pitt, Kirk DeViere, D-Cumberland, Paul Lowe, D-Forsyth, Harper Peterson, D-New Hanover, Erica Smith, D-Northampton, and Mike Woodard, D-Durham.

Following the vote, a coalition of North Carolina fitness club operators, the Fitness Operators for Responsible Reopening, called on Cooper to allow them to reopen.

"As an industry, we are committed to the highest health and sanitation standards to provide our members the confidence needed to safely return to their workout routines," FORR said in a statement. "We thank Governor Roy Cooper for working with us to this point and encourage him to sign this solutions-oriented legislation for the physical and mental well-being of our communities."

Meanwhile, the North Carolina Bar and Tavern Association, which is challenging Cooper's restrictions in court, released new data showing that 85 percent of the businesses that hold state liquor permits have been open for several weeks under the restrictions – everyone except bars.

"Bars and taverns are just as capable of following social-distancing protocols as hotel bars, restaurant bars or brewery bars. Surely, Governor Cooper has a good reason for rewarding 85 percent of bars while bankrupting the remaining 15 percent, but we have yet to hear it," NCBATA President Zack Medford said in a statement.

Senior Business Court Judge James Gale on Wednesday denied a request by several gym owners and a Southport bar for a restraining order that would block Cooper's restrictions and allow them to reopen.