RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina House voted to override Gov. Pat McCrory’s veto of a bill that allows magistrates and county register of deeds employees to opt out of performing marriages for religious reasons.

WRAL reported that Senate Bill 2 was voted into law Thursday morning in a 69-41 vote. Utah is the only other state to have passed such a similar exemption for court officials.

The bill had been on the House calendar for more than a week, but House Republican leaders waited until three-fifths of the members could be present to override the veto.

Since the Senate overrode the veto last week, the measure now becomes the law. It passed by just over the three-fifths majority needed.

The law “protects sincerely held religious beliefs while also ensuring that magistrates are available in all jurisdictions to perform lawful marriages,” House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said in a statement, according to WTVD.

While opposed to same-sex marriage, Gov. McCrory has said that no public official who swears to support and defend the Constitution should “be exempt from upholding that oath.”

“It’s a disappointing day for the rule of law and the process of passing legislation in North Carolina,” McCrory said in a statement.

The measure previously passed the Senate in a 32-16 vote. Same-sex marriage has been legal in North Carolina since October.