Arizona House passes bill banning school mask mandates
(The Center Square) – If the Arizona Republicans get their way, the government and schools in the state will no longer have the power to require children to wear a face-covering without the express consent of their parent or guardian.
The Arizona House sent the state Senate legislation that would do just that: HB 2616. State Representative Joseph Chaplik, R-Scottsdale, sponsored the bill, which passed along partisan lines. All 31 Republicans supported it and all 29 Democrats opposed it; 28 Democrats voted against it and one Democrat did not vote.
Chaplik celebrated the bill’s passage in a press release on Feb. 18.
“This is a bill to return the right to make medical decisions for their children to the parents, which I expect to become the law in Arizona,” he said in the press release. “This is a win for parents, students, and schools who have been forced by their district leadership to mandate masks.”
The bill will now head to the Arizona Senate for consideration.
It would not ban students from wearing masks in schools but would allow families to decide whether or not they want their children to do so.
The bill comes when several Arizona school districts still have mask mandates in effect.
School districts that still had mask mandates in effect as of Feb. 15 include: Alhambra Elementary, Cartwright, Creighton, Flagstaff Unified, Isaac, Laveen, Litchfield Elementary, Madison Elementary, Osborn Elementary, Paradise Valley Unified, Phoenix Elementary, Phoenix Union High School, Roosevelt Elementary, and Tucson Unified.
However, most school districts in the state do not have mask mandates in place.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey does not support mask mandates in schools.
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