District lunks have found a champion in Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans. As the District preps to become the country’s first jurisdiction to regulate personal trainers, Evans introduced a bill today that would repeal the regulations.

“The citizens don’t want it, and somehow it got in there, and this is an attempt to repeal that,” Evans said on the dais.

The fight started with legislation passed last year, in light of the Affordable Care Act provisions about trainers, that would create a District registry of trainers.

In theory, that’s so insurance covers help from actual fitness trainers and not, say, your uncle and the weight bench in his garage. But the regulation process has drawn fire from the likes of CrossFit, which fears being forced to change its courses by the regulation.

This morning, under a deluge of complaints from constituents, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh says the Council didn’t scrutinize the legislation enough last year.

“The truth is we never really focused on it,” Cheh said.

Evans’ legislation scored six cosponsors, including At-Large Councilmember and fitness nut Vincent Orange.

That slim majority means that the legislation stands a good chance of eventually passing the Council. But Ward 7 Councilmember and health committee chairwoman Yvette Alexander urged her colleagues to wait until they see the proposed regulations.

“Everybody’s jumping the gun,” Alexander says.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery