The Republican-led Kentucky General Assembly soundly rejected Gov. Andy Beshear’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic late Thursday night, overriding his vetoes of two bills that stripped the Democratic governor’s ability to issue statewide mask mandates in schools or anywhere else.
The action came as lawmakers ended a special session of the General Assembly just before midnight. The session, called by the governor to comply with a Kentucky Supreme Court decision last month that said the legislature must approve the governor’s emergency orders, began Tuesday.
Both the Senate and House late Thursday overrode Beshear’s vetoes of Senate Bills 1 and 2, which he had issued shortly after the bills were initially approved by lawmakers. Senate Bill 1 would nullify emergency regulations mandating masks at public schools and daycare centers, leaving that decision to local officials and business owners. Senate Bill 2 bans any type of statewide mask mandate until June 2023.
Beshear has said he needs that authority to fight the coronavirus, which has claimed the lives of more than 7,800 Kentuckians and is leaving hospitals severely strapped for staff and resources.
The Senate overrode SB 1 on a 21-6 vote and SB 2 on a vote of 23-5.
Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey urged his colleagues to sustain the governor’s veto of SB 1, saying the governor needs the power to protect unvaccinated children during a worldwide health crisis. Sen. Reggie Thomas, D- Lexington, agreed and said the federal Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics support universal masking in schools.
The House then overrode the veto of SB 1 in a 69-24 vote. The bill carried an emergency clause, which means it became law immediately. Under the law, the Kentucky Board of Education’s mask mandate will be voided in five working days, giving school districts a limited amount of time to decide if they will impose their own mask requirements.
There was no debate in the Senate on the veto of SB 2 veto before it was handed to the House, where members overrode the governor’s veto of SB 2 in a 69-22 vote.
Earlier in the day, the House on a 69-24 vote gave final approval to Senate Bill 2, which officially nullified administrative regulations that the state previously relied on to enforce a mask mandate across Kentucky.
This information is no longer being updated. The last data update was on May 23, 2022.
MASK MANDATE BAN IN EFFECT
MASK MANDATE BAN BLOCKED, SUSPENDED, OR NOT BEING ENFORCED
MASK REQUIREMENT IN EFFECT
PREVIOUSLY HAD MASK REQUIREMENT
NOTES
In January 2022, the Missouri attorney general, Eric Schmitt, sued some school districts that required masks, citing a November ruling by a county judge that said local health orders tied to COVID-19 were illegal. (The ruling was interpreted differently by different districts.) The state’s treasurer announced he would also crack down on schools with mask mandates. In mid-March, Schmitt began dropping lawsuits against school districts that no longer required masks. On May 19, 2022 Schmitt announced new lawsuits against several districts that had reinstated mask requirements.
On Feb. 23, 2022, New Hampshire’s governor announced the state was no longer recommending universal indoor masking and therefore schools have to end mask mandates, arguing they violate state education department rules. Soon after, the department advised districts that the mandates “are inconsistent with” their rules. There’s disagreement over whether districts still have the authority to require masks, but at least one district changed its policy in response. A bill that would have banned mask mandates was vetoed by Gov. Sununu in May 2022.
Updated 5/23/2022 | Sources: Local media reports, Education Week reporting | Learn more here
That same bill also requires the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to work with local health care providers to set up regional monoclonal antibody treatment centers across Kentucky. This form of therapy is often administered to people at risk of severe coronavirus infection who test positive as a way of staving off a severe infection that would require them to be hospitalized.
SB 2 also codifies that residents in long-term care facilities be allowed one “essential compassionate care visitor,” who can visit them in person even if facilities limit visitation as community spread worsens across Kentucky.
It also outlines a media strategy to publicize the voices of community leaders on the dangers of the virus and the importance of the vaccine. That’s a subsection of the bill Senate President Robert Stivers said was drafted, in part, because Beshear and Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack have “desensitized” Kentuckians on these issues by updating them so often on coronavirus.
It also allows certified paramedics to work in hospitals and prohibits bans on some nursing home visitors.
Another major bill the House gave final approval on an 84-8 vote and sent to Beshear for his consideration was House Bill 3, which would earmark more than $69 million in funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act to address the pandemic.
It allows the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services to increase COVID-19 testing and help providers with monoclonal antibody treatments.
The House also gave final approval to Senate Bill 5, which would spend more than $410 million in incentives to try to attract economic development projects with investments of more than $2 billion. The vote was 91-2.
Beshear called for the special session on Saturday, in keeping with a recent Kentucky Supreme Court decision that said the legislature must approve emergency orders that Beshear had, up until last month, been issuing on his own.
Since the pandemic began, Republicans have been at odds with the Democratic governor over emergency orders he has enacted to mitigate spread of the virus, including issuing a statewide mask mandate that was in effect for almost a year.
“All we ever wanted in this process was [for Beshear to say], ‘Hey, we need to work together and get through this,” said Rep. Stephen Rudy, R- Paducah. “Governor, include the policy-making branch in your decisions, and he refused to do so.”
Late Thursday night, Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R- Winchester, urged the governor to amend the agenda for the special session to allow lawmakers to provide $81 million in federal funds to help lure and keep frontline health workers.
He expressed concern that some nursing homes will have to close due to President Biden’s directive Thursday that mandates vaccines for more than 100 million Americans.
Sen. Danny Carroll, R- Paducah, chimed in with Alvarado’s plea, looking into the camera and telling Beshear the Senate doors were open and he could come in and amend the call.
Sen. Karen Berg, D- Louisville, said Republicans were being “disingenuous.” She said she begged lawmakers in the summer of 2020 to help frontline workers and she was not heard.
Her remarks upset Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, R- Georgetown. He said Berg should take a lesson in decorum.
